A Different Paradigm for the Initial Colonisation of Sahul: Archaeological, genetic, demographic and geographic perspectives

The questions of when and how humans reached Sahul, the Pleistocene continent of Australia and New Guinea, has remained a central issue of Australian archaeology since its development as an academic discipline in the mid-twentieth century. Additionally, this has been a dominant theme linking Australian and world archaeology. Modelling this event has persistently appealed to minimal assumptions - the simplest watercraft, the shortest routes, the smallest viable colonising groups. This paper argues that Australian archaeology can no longer ignore the way our understanding of this initial colonisation is being reshaped by current genomic research. It reviews this evidence and concludes that a colonising wave of hundreds or perhaps low thousands of people were involved. If correct, it suggests that we need to rethink our models, modify or discard the minimalist assumptions that have so far driven them and consider how this different paradigm affects our understanding of early settlement in Sahul.