Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra 2601, ACT Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra 2601, ACT Australia.
Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra 2601, ACT Australia; Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan 4111, QLD Australia.
J Hum Evol. 2018 Dec;125:59-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.10.003. Epub 2018 Oct 26.
Archaeological records from Australia provide the earliest, indirect evidence for maritime crossings by early modern humans, as the islands to the north-west of the continent (Wallacea) have never been connected to the mainland. Suggested in 1977 by Joseph B. Birdsell, the two main routes from Sunda (mainland Southeast Asia) to Sahul (Australia-New Guinea), still in debate today, are a northern route through Sulawesi with a landing in New Guinea, or a southern route through Bali, Timor and thence landing in northern Australia. Here we construct least-cost pathway models of human dispersal from Sunda to Sahul at 65 ka and 70 ka by extending previous out-of-Africa least-cost models through the digitization of these routes. We recover overwhelming support for a northern route into Sahul, with a landing location on present-day Misool Island. Minimal support is also recovered for the southern route at 70 ka, with a possible crossing to Sahul from eastern Timor. Review of archaeological records on the Wallacean islands crossed by our northern route indicate a dearth of archaeological research in this region. Meanwhile, the comparatively better studied southern islands still lack any archaeological dates comparable to those known for initial occupation in Sunda and Sahul. Based on our model results we suggest Misool Island as the initial landing site for early modern humans on Sahul and recommend a future focus on archaeological fieldwork in the northern Wallacean islands.
澳大利亚的考古记录提供了最早的、间接的证据，证明早期现代人类曾进行过海上穿越，因为该大陆西北部的岛屿（华莱士区）从未与大陆相连。约瑟夫·B·伯塞尔（Joseph B. Birdsell）于 1977 年提出，从巽他群岛（东南亚大陆）到萨胡尔（澳大利亚-新几内亚）有两条主要路线，今天仍在争论中，一条是穿过苏拉威西岛的北线，在新几内亚登陆，另一条是穿过巴厘岛、帝汶岛的南线，然后在澳大利亚北部登陆。在这里，我们通过对这些路线进行数字化，扩展了之前的非洲以外的最低成本模型，构建了人类从巽他群岛到萨胡尔群岛在 65 千年前和 70 千年前的最低成本路径模型。我们发现，强烈支持人类通过北线进入萨胡尔，登陆地点在现今的米索尔岛。我们还在 70 千年前恢复了对南线的最小支持，有可能从东帝汶穿越到萨胡尔。对我们北线穿越的华莱士区岛屿的考古记录进行审查后发现，该地区的考古研究很少。与此同时，相对较好研究的南部岛屿仍然缺乏与已知的巽他群岛和萨胡尔群岛初始居住时期相比的任何考古日期。根据我们的模型结果，我们建议米索尔岛作为早期现代人类在萨胡尔的初始登陆点，并建议未来关注北部华莱士区岛屿的考古实地工作。
