The stratigraphic integrity of archaeological deposits in the seasonally wet tropics can be disrupted by termite activity and other processes. Significant questions have been raised about the surprisingly old age estimates for artefacts recovered from two sites in northern Australia: Nauwalabila and Madjedbebe. If accurate, a 65,000‐year date for the latter would represent a 30% increase in the currently accepted length of human occupation of the continent. The oldest estimate for Nauwalabila falls just short of that. These dates would have important implications for human dispersal across Eurasia in the Late Pleistocene. No other data from Australia support them. Smith et al. (2020) claim to refute the notion that termite disturbance accounts for these anomalies. Here we show that the criteria on which the assertion is based are invalid. Radiocarbon data from both sites, not cited by Smith et al. (2020), are consistent with the termite‐disturbance hypothesis. Luminescence data claimed to offer strong support for the early Madjedbebe estimate are also consistent with termite disruption. We conclude that the early dates for human presence at Madjedbebe and Nauwalabila must be rejected along with any chronometric inference about human behaviour to the degree it relies on them.
Tenison Woods' paper "The Hawkesbury Sandstone" presented to the Royal Society of NSW in 1882 bears clear testimony to his considerable stature as a scientist and pioneer Australian geologist. His interpretation of the Hawkesbury Sandstone as a wind-blown formation is supported by his observations of its geometry, lithology, sedimentary structures and fossil content; by comparison with aeolian and other formations in Australia and in various other parts of the world, either through the literature or by personal observation; by experiments he conducted with wind-blown sand, and by personal observation of aeolian processes in the field. Although his interpretation of the origin of the Hawkesbury Sandstone as a whole is not accepted today (he did not have available to him the detailed knowledge we now have of the processes and products of fluvial and other environments) his method was sound and his competence undoubted.
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