Archaeological excavations in a remote island cave off northwest Australia reveal incredible details of the early use by people of the continent's now-submerged coast.
Out latest study reveals that at lower sea levels, this island was used as a hunting shelter between about 50,000 and 30,000 years ago, and then as a residential base for family groups by 8,000 years ago.
Three main excavation squares within Boodie Cave.
Credit: Peter Veth, Author provided
Phys.org: Cave dig shows the earliest Australians enjoyed a coastal lifestyle
These were adventurers from the start.
The earliest landfall on the continent is now likely to be at least 50m below the present ocean. Until now we have known very little about these first coastal peoples.
- PO
In part the motivation behind presenting the article is because if you have ever been to Australia, almost all of it is along the coasts and it's a burning hell in the interior. The primary motivation is the observation the sea level was fifty meters lower not long ago.
When Boodie Cave was first occupied, Barrow Island was part of the mainland, with the shoreline between 10km and 20km further west.
The shoreline became even more distant as the planet moved into an ice age and sea levels dropped to 125m below present, around 20,000 years ago. Shortly thereafter global temperatures warmed and, as the ice melted, sea levels rose quickly.
- PO
During the 2.5 million year span of the Pleistocene, numerous glacials, or significant advances of continental ice sheets in North America and Europe, have occurred at intervals of approximately 40,000 to 100,000 years. These long glacial periods were separated by more temperate and shorter interglacials.
WIKI: Interglacial
The expectation from those who do nothing about the current global warming is this is just an interglacial and the Earth will cool again afterward. There might even be merit to it if any scientist in the world agreed with them.
In a recent article, it was shown the sea levels are expected to rise 230' above where they are now but that shouldn't be too surprising when the level has risen 150' feet already and there's no evidence the cooling is starting but rather the converse in which the melting is accelerating. (Ithaka: Earth Under Water | Documentary)
Out latest study reveals that at lower sea levels, this island was used as a hunting shelter between about 50,000 and 30,000 years ago, and then as a residential base for family groups by 8,000 years ago.
Three main excavation squares within Boodie Cave.
Credit: Peter Veth, Author provided
Phys.org: Cave dig shows the earliest Australians enjoyed a coastal lifestyle
These were adventurers from the start.
The earliest landfall on the continent is now likely to be at least 50m below the present ocean. Until now we have known very little about these first coastal peoples.
- PO
In part the motivation behind presenting the article is because if you have ever been to Australia, almost all of it is along the coasts and it's a burning hell in the interior. The primary motivation is the observation the sea level was fifty meters lower not long ago.
When Boodie Cave was first occupied, Barrow Island was part of the mainland, with the shoreline between 10km and 20km further west.
The shoreline became even more distant as the planet moved into an ice age and sea levels dropped to 125m below present, around 20,000 years ago. Shortly thereafter global temperatures warmed and, as the ice melted, sea levels rose quickly.
- PO
During the 2.5 million year span of the Pleistocene, numerous glacials, or significant advances of continental ice sheets in North America and Europe, have occurred at intervals of approximately 40,000 to 100,000 years. These long glacial periods were separated by more temperate and shorter interglacials.
WIKI: Interglacial
The expectation from those who do nothing about the current global warming is this is just an interglacial and the Earth will cool again afterward. There might even be merit to it if any scientist in the world agreed with them.
In a recent article, it was shown the sea levels are expected to rise 230' above where they are now but that shouldn't be too surprising when the level has risen 150' feet already and there's no evidence the cooling is starting but rather the converse in which the melting is accelerating. (Ithaka: Earth Under Water | Documentary)
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