Discoveries of Late Pleistocene Man at Kow Swamp, Australia

Thorne, Alan; Macumber, Phillip G.

doi:10.1038/238316a0

Cited by 85 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although the geographic and locally adaptive origins of the different Australian morphologies are controversial (28), most workers have linked them to migration into Australia by morphologically distinct groups (29)(30)(31)(32)(33). The morphologies of the more robust ancient individuals are outside the range of living indigenous Australians (34), but unlike the situation in Europe, there is a consensus that all prehistoric Australian human remains represent part of the ancestry of living Aboriginal Australians.…”

Section: -------------mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Pleistocene LM3 skeleton and three other gracile individuals from the Holocene (LM4, LM15, and LM55) are from LM and other localities in the Willandra Lakes area of western New South Wales. The remaining six individuals (KS1, KS7, KS8, KS9, KS13, KS16) are from Kow Swamp (KS) in northern Victoria, a burial area dated to the terminal Pleistocene͞early Holocene (31). All are robust.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We performed an analysis similar to the first analysis in which the original set of sequences was supplemented by the Mezmaiskaya Neandertal and 21 sequences from the mtDNA database (database numbers: 14,30,31,32,35,36,38,44,46,51,79,84,102,116,125,181,187,209,860, 945) representing all major lineages known from Africa (53,54). Analyses were performed with the use of various substitution models and character weighting schemes, and the likelihoods of more than 10 12 trees were explored.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Mitochondrial DNA sequences in ancient Australians: Implications for modern human origins

Adcock

Dennis

Easteal

et al. 2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

189

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

DNA from ancient human remains provides perspectives on the origin of our species and the relationship between molecular and morphological variation. We report analysis of mtDNA from the remains of 10 ancient Australians. These include the morphologically gracile Lake Mungo 3 [≈60 thousand years (ka) before present] and three other gracile individuals from Holocene deposits at Willandra Lakes (<10 ka), all within the skeletal range of living Australians, and six Pleistocene/early Holocene individuals (15 to <8 ka) from Kow Swamp with robust morphologies outside the skeletal range of contemporary indigenous Australians. Lake Mungo 3 is the oldest (Pleistocene) “anatomically modern” human from whom DNA has been recovered. His mtDNA belonged to a lineage that only survives as a segment inserted into chromosome 11 of the nuclear genome, which is now widespread among human populations. This lineage probably diverged before the most recent common ancestor of contemporary human mitochondrial genomes. This timing of divergence implies that the deepest known mtDNA lineage from an anatomically modern human occurred in Australia; analysis restricted to living humans places the deepest branches in East Africa. The other ancient Australian individuals we examined have mtDNA sequences descended from the most recent common ancestor of living humans. Our results indicate that anatomically modern humans were present in Australia before the complete fixation of the mtDNA lineage now found in all living people. Sequences from additional ancient humans may further challenge current concepts of modern human origins.

show abstract

Section: -------------mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Mitochondrial DNA sequences in ancient Australians: Implications for modern human origins

Adcock

Dennis

Easteal

et al. 2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

189

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The five directly dated burnt human bones, all exhibiting gracile morphology, are placed as post-Last Glacial Maximum. Three skeletons from Garnpung are in the same age range as the robust skeletons from Kow Swamp (Thorne and Macumber 1972), and since similar numbers of both gracile and robust skeletons are recorded at Garnpung (Webb 1989), it seems probable that both groups were present in the same region at the same terminal Pleistocene time. CAMS-1930 21,190 ± 190 Fish otolith Surface collection, square B6.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Burnt and Unburnt Carbon: Dating Charcoal and Burnt Bone from the Willandra Lakes, Australia

Gillespie¹

1997

Radiocarbon

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT. A new analysis of previous results on conflicts between shell and charcoal dates and on burnt human bones, with new data presented here, suggests that alternative interpretations are possible for the archaeology and environmental history of the Willandra Lakes region. Black sediment samples from archaeological sites at Lake Outer Arumpo exhibit wide variation in burnt and unburnt carbon content; high humic acid concentrations in midden layers and in one group of hearth/ ovens are absent in another, older, group of hearth/ovens. There are no acceptable results on charcoal from hearth/ovens older than ca. 31 ka BP, and no evidence that these samples are associated with numerous midden shell dates at 34-37 ka BP. Similar logic applied to humic-free residue dates on burnt human bones places five gracile skeletons (including Mungo 1) as postLast Glacial Maximum.

show abstract

“…One of the primary limitations in relation to explanations for this variability is the lack of well-dated skeletal populations. At present dated burial populations are restricted to a small number of sites including Broadbeach, Queensland (Haglund 1976), Coobool Creek, New South Wales (Brown 1989), Kow Swamp, Victoria (Thorne and Macumber 1972), Lake Mungo, New South Wales (Bowler et al 1972;Webb 1989a;Harvey et al 1998;Thorne et al 1999) and Roonka, South Australia (Pretty 1977;Pate et al 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

AMS radiocarbon dating of bone collagen: Establishing a chronology for the Swanport Aboriginal burial ground, South Australia

Pate

Owen

Lawson

2003

Australian Archaeology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Swanport Aboriginal skeletal population has played a significant role in physical anthropological research in Australia. This paper provides the first chronometric dates for this important burial population. AMS radiocarbon determinations on bone collagen from six individuals showed a calibrated 2σ range from 1027 BC to 1521 AD. On the basis of this sample, the Swanport population appears to pre-date all European contact in Australia. These dates contradict previous assumptions that associated the Swanport burial population with a recent protohistoric period or a discrete period of time related to historic smallpox epidemics in the 19th century. The current chronometric range of approximately 2500 years for inhumations at Swanport indicates the use of the site as a burial ground over an extended period of time during the late Holocene.

show abstract

Discoveries of Late Pleistocene Man at Kow Swamp, Australia

Cited by 85 publications

References 4 publications

Mitochondrial DNA sequences in ancient Australians: Implications for modern human origins

Mitochondrial DNA sequences in ancient Australians: Implications for modern human origins

Burnt and Unburnt Carbon: Dating Charcoal and Burnt Bone from the Willandra Lakes, Australia

AMS radiocarbon dating of bone collagen: Establishing a chronology for the Swanport Aboriginal burial ground, South Australia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About