History Files
 

Far East Kingdoms

Early Cultures

 

Palaeolithic Oceania
c.60,000 - 9650 BC

The continent (or otherwise) of Oceania starts where South-East Asia ends, although its territory is somewhat debatable. Broadly it encompasses Australasia (Australia, New Zealand, and some minor islands), Melanesia (incorporating islands between New Guinea and Tonga), Micronesia (incorporating thousands of islands which stretch up to Japan's Bonin Islands), and Polynesia (including Hawaii, Easter Island, everything to the east of New Zealand).

Once anatomically modern humans in the form of Homo sapiens reached Asia, and specifically South Asia, between about 70,000-60,000 BC, small groups either remained in what is now India from their earliest point of arrival after leaving the Near East, or migrating along the coastline to reach South-East Asia, Oceania, and East Asia by about 60,000 BC.

FeatureThe Palaeolithic period in Oceania marks the arrival of modern humans in the region, although it can also be extended to cover the existence of older human types, just as South-East Asia's Palaeolithic can include Homo floresiensis on the island of Flores in Indonesia which survived until about 50,000 BC (see feature link).

FeatureOther examples of older human types in Oceania include the Denisovans, a group of archaic humans whose remains have been discovered in Siberia and East Asia (see feature link), but who are known to have interbred with modern humans in South-East Asia and Oceania. Genetic analysis has revealed that modern humans in the region have a small amount of Denisovan DNA, indicating that there was some level of interbreeding between the two groups.

Although the precise arrival date for Australian natives is still being fine-tuned, Oceania in general was becoming occupied by about 50,000 BC. These people quickly spread across the region, adapting to the diverse environments they encountered. Human behaviour and technology changed to adapt to the region's circumstances.

Seafaring witnessed significant advances. People built boats and canoes which allowed them to travel across the vast expanses of ocean which separated the islands of Oceania. This allowed them to colonise even the most remote and isolated islands, including places such as Hawaii and Easter Island.

Archaeological evidence shows that early humans in the region used a variety of tools, including stone tools and bone tools, to hunt, gather, and process food. They also created art, such as rock paintings and carvings, and engaged in symbolic behaviour, such as burial practices.

The extinction of many large animals is another hallmark of the period. Many of the large animals which had once roamed the region, such as giant kangaroos and marsupial lions, disappeared shortly after the arrival of humans. Their disappearance is believed to have been caused by a combination of hunting by early humans and environmental changes which may have been brought about by their presence.

Occupation of Oceania has been carried out in stages, some of them remarkably recent. Micronesia has a history of settlement by successive waves of arrivals, but with a very recent starting date which is yet to be pinned down but which almost certainly does not predate about 3000 BC.

The many islands of Polynesia are home to the Polynesian people, a sub-group of the Austronesians, originally East Asians who occupied Taiwan and then the coastal areas of South-East Asia before becoming seafarers of some repute from about 3000 BC. By then Palaeolithic Oceania had already transitioned to Neolithic Oceania.


Bradshaw rock art, Australia

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by ChatGPT 3.5 (base introduction only), from Investigating Archaeological Cultures: Material Culture, Variability, and Transmission, Benjamin W Roberts & Marc Vander Linden (Eds), from The Lapita Peoples, P V Kirch (Blackwell, 1997), from Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago, C Clarkson et al (Nature, 547(7663), pp 306-310, via ChatGPT 3.5), from New fossil remains of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber, South Africa, J Hawks et al (eLife, 6, e24232, 2017, via ChatGPT 3.5), from The antiquity of the island Southeast Asian maternal lineages, R Wood et al. (American Journal of Human Genetics, 2013, via ChatGPT 3.5), and from External Links: Foreign Bodies: Oceania and the Science of Race 1750-1940, Bronwen Douglas & Chris Ballard (ANU Press, 2008, and available via JSTOR), and Standard country or area codes for statistical use (United Nations), and Sequencing Uncovers a 9,000 Mile Walkabout, Dr Morten Rasmussen (University of Copenhagen, 2012, available to download as a PDF via Illimina), and New Guinea People (archived feature, World Wildlife Fund), and ChatGPT 3.5.)

c.60,000 BC

Early Melanesia is first populated between this point and 50,000 BC in Palaeolithic Oceania, although a less approximate date is yet to be fixed (the WWF places the date as late as 40,000 BC). These initial arrivals migrate from South-East Asia, reaching islands as far east as the Solomon Islands.

Melanesia
Fiji is part of Melanesia, an island nation which comprises the volcanic remnants of a landmass which was submerged by post-ice age sea level rises

The region's population is greatly enhanced over more recent millennia by successive waves of arrivals, giving New Guinea and the large number of other islands one of the most complex, multi-layered populations in the world. Micronesians, however, appear to pass swiftly through this region to settle Micronesia itself, plus Polynesia.

c.50,000 BC

FeatureThe first humans reach Australia at some point around this time (see feature link). That early Australian population, if it leaves any related communities in South-East Asia, quickly loses connection with them, and they are replaced outside of Australia by populations of later South Asians and East Asians.

c.40,000 BC

A re-examination in 2002 of the so-called Mungo Man skeleton, found in Australia in 1974, produces a probable burial date of 40,000 BC, with humans having lived in the area for some ten thousand years prior to that.

Text
Mungo Man, named for what had been the lush Lake Mungo lagoon which was teeming with fish and water birds until about 18,000 BC, is Australia's oldest find to date of human remains

c.30,000 BC

Human settlement in the Solomon Islands begins around this time. The Lapita settlers who reach the islands later branch out to other places, first to the Santa Cruz islands, actually the eastern part of the Solomons, and to Vanuatu in 1200 BC and then to Fiji by 1100 BC.

c.9650 BC

Early populations of Oceania continue to migrate outwards to the various land masses, aided initially by lower sea levels and larger land areas. Palaeolithic Oceania transitions to the beginnings of a Neolithic Oceania.

 
Images and text copyright © all contributors mentioned on this page. An original king list page for the History Files.