Abrupt onset of intensive human occupation 44,000 years ago on the threshold of Sahul

Ceri Shipton (), Mike W. Morley (), Shimona Kealy (), Kasih Norman, Clara Boulanger, Stuart Hawkins, Mirani Litster, Caitlin Withnell and Sue O’Connor
Additional contact information
Ceri Shipton: University College London
Mike W. Morley: Flinders University
Shimona Kealy: The Australian National University
Kasih Norman: The Australian National University
Clara Boulanger: The Australian National University
Stuart Hawkins: The Australian National University
Mirani Litster: The Australian National University
Caitlin Withnell: University College London
Sue O’Connor: The Australian National University

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Archaeological evidence attests multiple early dispersals of Homo sapiens out of Africa, but genetic evidence points to the primacy of a single dispersal 70-40 ka. Laili in Timor-Leste is on the southern dispersal route between Eurasia and Australasia and has the earliest record of human occupation in the eastern Wallacean archipelago. New evidence from the site shows that, unusually in the region, sediment accumulated in the shelter without human occupation, in the window 59–54 ka. This was followed by an abrupt onset of intensive human habitation beginning ~44 ka. The initial occupation is distinctive from overlying layers in the aquatic focus of faunal exploitation, while it has similarities in material culture to other early Homo sapiens sites in Wallacea. We suggest that the intensive early occupation at Laili represents a colonisation phase, which may have overwhelmed previous human dispersals in this part of the world.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48395-x

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