Rock find ‘rewrites’ history. Aboriginal people may have entered Australia 65,000 years ago.

Archaeologists have found the first evidence to suggest that Aboriginal people have been in Australia for at least 65,000 years.

The discovery indicates their arrival on the continent was up to 18,000 years earlier than previously thought.

It was made after sophisticated artefacts were excavated from a rock shelter in the Northern Territory.

Researchers unearthed what they say are the world’s oldest stone axes and ochre crayons, thought to be used for art.

Although there is some debate, scientists have previously estimated that humans arrived in Australia between 47,000 and 60,000 years ago.

“We have managed to establish a new age for first occupation in Australia and pushed it back by about 18,000 years beyond what was the previous established age of about 47,000 years,” said Associate Prof Chris Clarkson, from the University of Queensland.

“This has huge implications for everything from the out-of-Africa story to the extinction of megafauna and Aboriginal peoples’ own knowledge of how long they have been in this country…

Source: Rock find ‘rewrites’ Australian human history – BBC News