Leslie Massey
Neanderthal remains have never been found in Australia. However, Aboriginal Australians carry small amounts of DNA from an unknown, extinct human species. It is speculated that the ancestors of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans may have mated with a previously unknown human species, similar to how ancient Europeans interbred with Neanderthals. The oldest human fossil remains found in Australia date back to around 40,000 years ago, while Neanderthals went extinct around the same time.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of arrival in Australia | 50,000 years ago |
| Date of arrival in Sahul | 50,000 years ago |
| Percentage of Neanderthal DNA in Indigenous Australians | 2-3% |
| Percentage of Denisovan DNA in Indigenous Australians | 3-5% |
| Date of Neanderthal extinction | 40,000 years ago |
| Date of earliest human fossil remains in Australia | 40,000 years ago |
| Date of earliest human burial in Australia | 42,000 years ago |
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What You'll Learn
- Aboriginal Australians carry DNA of an unidentified, extinct human species
- Aboriginal Australians are direct descendants of the first people to inhabit Australia
- Neanderthals inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia
- Aboriginal Australians carry 3-5% of Denisovan DNA
- The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians may have interbred with a previously unknown human species
Aboriginal Australians carry DNA of an unidentified, extinct human species
Aboriginal Australians have long claimed that they belonged to the oldest sustained civilization on Earth, with a history of oral storytelling that stretches back tens of thousands of years. Recent DNA analysis has provided evidence to support these claims, suggesting that Aboriginal Australians are, in fact, the world's oldest society.
This genetic analysis has also revealed intriguing insights into the ancestry of Indigenous Australians. In addition to finding that Aboriginal Australians carry DNA from Neanderthals and Denisovans, two hominid species that migrated out of Africa, researchers have discovered that they also carry DNA from an unidentified, extinct human species. This discovery suggests that the ancestors of Indigenous Australians may have interbred with a previously unknown hominid species.
The research, led by statistical geneticist Ryan Bohlender, investigated the percentages of extinct hominid DNA in modern humans. By using a computer model, Bohlender and his team were able to determine the amount of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA present in different populations. They found that Europeans and Chinese people carry about 2.8% of Neanderthal DNA, while Europeans have no Denisovan ancestry and Chinese people only have 0.1%.
However, when it came to the DNA of Aboriginal Australians and Pacific Islanders, the team found discrepancies in previous analyses. They concluded that interbreeding with Neanderthals and Denisovans alone could not account for all the extinct hominid DNA present in these populations. Bohlender estimated the amount of Denisovan DNA in Aboriginal Australians to be about 1.11%, lower than the 3-6% estimated by other researchers. This led to the conclusion that a third group of hominids may have bred with the ancestors of Melanesians, contributing to the DNA of Pacific Islanders and Aboriginal Australians from Papua New Guinea and northeast Australia.
This discovery highlights the complex genetic history of our ancestors and raises new questions about the mysterious third hominid species. Further genetic analysis and research will be crucial in shedding light on this unknown relative and its role in the evolution of modern humans.
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Aboriginal Australians are direct descendants of the first people to inhabit Australia
Aboriginal Australians are the Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, and over time formed as many as 500 language-based groups. The first major genomic study of Aboriginal Australians ever undertaken has confirmed that all present-day non-African populations are descended from the same single wave of migrants, who left Africa around 72,000 years ago.
The study, by an international team of academics, sequenced the complete genetic information of 83 Aboriginal Australians, as well as 25 Papuans from New Guinea, to produce a host of significant new findings about the origins of modern human populations. The study also found that the ancestors of Indigenous Australians and Papuans may have mated with a previously unknown human species, just like ancient Europeans interbred with Neanderthals.
Mineral pigments, such as ochre, provide the oldest evidence for human arrival in Australia. Used pigments have been found in the earliest occupation levels of many sites, with some pieces dated at about 50,000 years old. This suggests that art was practised from the beginning of the first settlement. The oldest human fossil remains found in Australia date to around 40,000 years ago. Mungo Woman, also referred to as Lake Mungo 1, is the most securely dated human burial in Australia and the earliest ritually cremated remains found anywhere in the world.
Aboriginal Australians have developed across Australia for over 50,000 years. They have a broadly shared, though complex, genetic history, but it is only in the last two hundred years that they have been defined and started to self-identify as a single group, socio-politically. The National Museum of Australia acknowledges First Australians and recognises their continuous connection to Country, community and culture.
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Neanderthals inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia
Neanderthals, or *Homo neanderthalensis*, were a group of archaic hominins that occupied large parts of Europe and parts of Western and Central Asia from 30,000 to 300,000 years ago. They were the first human species to permanently occupy Europe, with the earliest fossils discovered in the Neander Valley, Germany, in 1856. Pre-Neanderthals are mostly identified in Western Europe, while classic Neanderthals are recorded across Europe and Southwest and Central Asia, up to southern Siberia. The southernmost find was recorded at Shuqba Cave in the Levant, and their easternmost presence was recorded at the Denisova Cave in Siberia.
Neanderthals shared the same common ancestor as modern humans, or *Homo sapiens*, between 700,000 and 300,000 years ago. Neanderthals and modern humans inhabited the same geographic areas in Western Asia for 30,000–50,000 years, and genetic evidence indicates that they interbred with non-African modern humans. However, they ultimately became distinct branches of the human family tree. Neanderthals may have had little direct interaction with modern humans for tens of thousands of years until a cold period when modern humans spread into Europe. The presence of modern humans may have prevented Neanderthals from expanding into their previously favoured areas and contributed to their extinction.
Neanderthals had shorter and stockier bodies, large middle facial features, angled cheekbones, and large noses to humidify and warm cold, dry air. Their brains were just as large, if not larger, than those of modern humans, proportional to their brawnier bodies. Neanderthals were skilled hunters of large animals, such as reindeer, horse, aurochs, and steppe bison in Europe, and mountain gazelle, Persian fallow deer, wild goat, and camels in Southwest Asia. They also occasionally consumed small game, fish, shellfish, dolphin, and bird species. They made and used sophisticated tools, controlled fire, lived in shelters, wore clothing, and occasionally made symbolic or ornamental objects.
Neanderthals are known to have deliberately buried their dead and sometimes marked their graves with offerings, such as flowers. This sophisticated and symbolic behaviour sets them apart from other early human species and primates. While Neanderthals disappeared from the fossil record approximately 40,000 years ago, there is evidence that they may have persisted for thousands of years longer in small areas of Western Europe and the Near East.
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Aboriginal Australians carry 3-5% of Denisovan DNA
No evidence of Neanderthal remains has been found in Australia. However, Aboriginal Australians and Pacific Islanders carry DNA of an unknown human species, according to research analysis.
The ancestors of Indigenous Australians were the first group to split off from a single wave of migration out of Africa between 51,000 and 72,000 years ago. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans may have mated with a previously unknown human species, similar to how ancient Europeans interbred with Neanderthals.
The Denisovan species was discovered in 2008 when paleoanthropologists found a 40,000-year-old tooth and pinkie bone from a young girl in a Siberian cave. Scientists examined the DNA from the bone and found that the girl was closely related to Neanderthals but distinct enough to be classified as a new species. There was a genetic overlap between the Denisovan genome and that of some present-day East Asians and a group of Pacific Islanders living in Papua New Guinea.
Melanesians and Aboriginal Australians carry about 3-5% of Denisovan DNA. This is explained by the interbreeding of eastern Eurasian Denisovans with the modern human ancestors of these populations as they migrated towards Australia and Papua New Guinea.
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The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians may have interbred with a previously unknown human species
The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians are believed to be the world's oldest society, with the first wave of migration out of Africa taking place between 51,000 and 72,000 years ago. The ancestors of Indigenous Australians and Papuans were the first group to split off from this migration, around 58,000 years ago.
While Homo sapiens are not the first human species to explore other parts of the world, with older species like the Neanderthals and Denisovans having done so earlier, the ancestors of modern non-Africans are believed to have left the continent in waves or all at once.
A genetic analysis revealed that the ancestors of Indigenous Australians and Papuans may have mated with a previously unknown human species, just like ancient Europeans interbred with Neanderthals. The study also found that people from Papua New Guinea and northeast Australia carry small amounts of DNA from an unidentified, extinct human species. This suggests that a third group of hominids, separate from Neanderthals and Denisovans, contributed to the DNA of Pacific Islanders.
The analysis of 83 Aboriginal Australians and 25 Highland Papuans revealed that Papuan and Aboriginal ancestors left Africa around 72,000 years ago and then split from the main group around 58,000 years ago. This is supported by evidence of mineral pigments, such as ochre, which provide the oldest evidence for human arrival in Australia, with some pieces dated at about 50,000 years old. Additionally, the oldest human fossil remains found in Australia date back to around 40,000 years ago, while the most securely dated human burial, Mungo Woman, is 42,000 years old.
While the identity of this mysterious human species remains unknown, further genetic analysis may provide insights into this ancient relative and shed light on the complex history of human migration and interbreeding.
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Frequently asked questions
No, Neanderthal remains have not been found in Australia. The latest Neanderthal sites are in Spain and the Ural Mountains.
Neanderthals went extinct 40,000 years ago.
Much of our knowledge about the earliest people in Australia comes from archaeology. The physical remains of human activity include stone tools, rock art, ochre, shell middens, and charcoal deposits, as well as human skeletal remains.
The oldest human fossil remains found in Australia date back to around 40,000 years ago. The most securely dated human burial is that of Mungo Woman, also known as 'Lake Mungo 1', discovered in 1968.
No, Aboriginal Australians do not have Neanderthal DNA. However, they do have a high proportion of Denisovan DNA, with around 2-5% of their DNA coming from this ancient hominin species.
