Far East Kingdoms

Early Oceania

Palaeolithic Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

Considered in some quarters to be a continent in its own right, one which is largely composed of water rather than land, Oceania starts where South-East Asia ends. The territory which forms Oceania is somewhat debatable, as is that potential status as a continent.

Broadly it encompasses Australasia (Australia, New Zealand, and some minor islands), Melanesia (neighbouring Australasia to the north and east, and incorporating islands between New Guinea and Tonga), Micronesia (on the northern flank of Melanesia and east of the Philippines, and incorporating thousands of islands which stretch up to Japan's Bonin Islands), and Polynesia (on the eastern flank of all three of the others, and stretching north to include Hawaii, east to Easter Island, and south-west towards New Zealand). Some authorities include New Zealand in Polynesia while the UN excludes islands which are part of other political formations, such as Hawaii for its connection to the USA.

South Asia had a presence of anatomically modern humans in the form of Homo sapiens from about 70,000-60,000 BC - with small groups either remaining 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.

The first humans reached Australia at some point around 50,000 BC (see feature link). That early Australian population, if it left any related communities in South-East Asia, quickly lost connection with them and they were replaced outside of Australia by populations of later South Asians and East Asians.

The system which has evolved to catalogue the various archaeological expressions of human progress is one which involves cultures. For well over a century, archaeological cultures have remained the framework for global prehistory. The earliest cultures which emerge from Africa are perhaps the easiest to catalogue, right up until human expansion reaches the Americas. The task of cataloguing that vast range of human cultures is covered in the related feature (see link, right).

Considering the fact that the bulk of Oceania is composed of water, its overall population is higher only than than of Antarctica. It is also the only region (or continent) to cross the international date line down the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so that its easternmost territories are also technically its westernmost territories, and they exist a day behind the rest of Oceania.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information 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), 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 (World Wildlife Fund archived feature).)

c.300,000 BC

Homo denisovan populations exist by this time in the Altai Mountains of Siberia (pinpointed to Baishiya Karst Cave) and in Tibet. They probably exist alongside East Asian populations of Homo erectus.

Although remains have not been found, they are theorised either to enter South-East Asia and also Oceania, or interbreed with East Asian Homo sapiens prior to a migration into Melanesia. Later genetic analysis reveals that modern humans in that region especially have a small amount of Denisovan DNA.

This autumn view of Jiangla river valley shows the general location in which Baishiya Karst Cave is located, home to a population of Homo Denisovans which also populated the Altai Mountains in Siberia

Palaeolithic Oceania
c.60,000 - 9650 BC

Palaeolithic Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

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. The 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).

Other 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, by about 50,000 BC Oceania in general was becoming occupied. 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.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by ChatGPT (base text 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), from New fossil remains of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber, South Africa, J Hawks et al (eLife, 6, e24232, 2017, via ChatGPT), from The antiquity of the island Southeast Asian maternal lineages, R Wood et al. (American Journal of Human Genetics, 2013, via ChatGPT), 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.)

c.60,000 BC

Early Melanesia is first populated between this point and 50,000 BC, 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.

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

The 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.

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