Just realized. The Science paper has some interesting dates which allows us to make the above inference. - Separation between Europeans and East Asians 25-38 thousand years before present. - Gene flow between proto-East Asians and proto-Australians before the Native Americans diverged from the former 15 thousand years before the present. - A conservative first landing in Australia 40-45 thousand years before the present. The Native American result, where they share some derived variants unique to East Eurasians (mutations which emerged after the separation from West Eurasians) with Aborigines, pegs a minimum date of admixture ~15,000 years ago. But, obviously the admixture had to occur after the divergence of West and East Eurasians. Let's say ~30,000 years ago. Even assuming that the gene flow between East Eurasians and proto-Australians occurred immediately after the separation 38,000 ago, there were anatomically modern humans in Australia for thousands of years already! The implication ...
The Australian Aborigines may not be just descendants of first settlers
Discover the timeline of the first landing in Australia, revealing early interactions between anatomically modern humans and unique gene flows.
More on Discover
Stay Curious
SubscribeTo The Magazine
Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.
Subscribe