Chi furono i primi australiani?

Una popolazione di uomini anatomicamente moderni che uscì dall'Africa circa 75.000 anni fa e che si è stanziata in Australia circa 60.000 anni fa, producendo così una discendenza di 2500 generazioni ininterrotte ed isolate, fino ad oggi.


Who were the first Australians? 

ArchaeoHeritage, Archaeology, Australasia, Australia, Breakingnews, Genetics, Indigenous Cultures, Oceania 

The Bradshaw rock paintings, or the Gwion Gwion figures, found in the north-west Kimberly region of West Australia have in the past been used to argue that Indigenous Australians were not the first Australians.

The Bradshaw, or Gwion Gwion, rock paintings  [Credit: WikiCommons] 

Archaeologists claimed these paintings were produced by a different race. 
About 20,000 years old, the Gwion Gwion figures are more recent than other paintings in the area, which have been dated as being up to 40,000 years old. But Dr Michael Westaway, biological anthropologist from Griffith University, said genome sequencing dispels the myth that Indigenous Australians were not the first Australians.

"This is absolutely not in doubt," Dr Westaway told Richard Glover on 702 ABC Sydney. "Many decades ago there were many hypotheses around but that hasn't really stood against any of the evidence." 
A lock of hair taken from an unknown young Indigenous man in the 1920s has provided genetic evidence that Aboriginal Australians are descended from the first modern humans to walk out of Africa nearly 75,000 years ago. 
The research was conducted by a team led by evolutionary biologist Eske Willerslev, director of the Centre for Ancient Genetics at the University of Copenhagen, and published in 2011. 
"This proves an unbroken lineage over 2,500 generations — about 65 to 70,000 years," Dr Westaway said. 
The first Aboriginal genome reinforces archaeological evidence that people arrived on the Australian continent at least 50,000 years ago, and that they share one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world. 
"The DNA evidence is extraordinary," Dr Westaway said. "We know that they moved out of Africa over 60,000 years ago. We have this remarkable trail that has been recovered for the genomic sequence of the first Australians."

Lake Mungo in New South Wales is another key site. 

It contains some of the oldest human remains outside Africa — including Mungo Man and Mungo Woman dating back 42,000 years.

"The morphology of Mungo Man is very similar to the first Australians of today," Dr Westaway said. "We have some of the earliest evidence of first Australians in Arnhem Land 55,000 years ago." 
Dr Westaway said there was no archaeological, DNA, or human paleontological evidence to suggest there were people here prior to the first Australians. 
Nineteenth century observational theories existed that there were genetic links between Indigenous Australians and Indians. 
"This just doesn't hold up against the huge body of scientific evidence," Dr Westaway explained. He said the weight of scientific evidence supported the notion that the first Australians were a continuous population isolated from the rest of the world for over 50,000 years.


Author: John Donegan | Source: ABC News Website [June 30, 2015]

Falso?

Uno 'stencil', rappresentante una mano aborigena australiana antica, si è rivelato essere solamente vecchio circa 4 anni. Lo scopritore che lo individuò lo scorso aprile è un prospector, Chris Jonkers, che si cura della qualità delle acque e del suolo e delle piante, non un esperto di arte aborigena o di archeologia.
Lo stencil si trova in una zona nella quale vorrebbe estendersi (non senza controversie) una società di ricerca ed estrazione del carbone. Per tale motivo l'area era già stata supervisionata dagli archeologi nel 2010: lo stencil, semplicemente, non c'era.
In più, esso non possiede affatto le qualità che dovrebbero essere presenti in una genuina opera aborigena antica: i ricercatori - per non dare troppe istruzioni ai falsari - ne hanno citata una sola, ad esempio. Lo stencil è stato fatto con uno strato troppo spesso di vernice ed è troppo visibile.
Chris Jonkers ha dichiarato: "Non pensavo vhe qualcuno potesse volere falsificare una cosa così!".
Venga in Sardegna, signor Jonkers!



Aboriginal cave art 'only few years old' 


 A piece of cave art resembling an ancient Aboriginal hand stencil, found near a controversial Australian coalmine project, has turned out to be less than four years old, it's been reported. 

Aboriginal hand stencil [Credit: The Australian] 

The drawing was found by environmentalist Chris Jonkers in a cave in the Ben Bullen forest west of Sydney in April. 

Mr Jonkers is non-committal on the possible origins of the painting. "We're not experts on Aboriginal heritage," he told The Australian newspaper. 
"We're sort of plant people, interested in water quality and environment, but the Aboriginal heritage stuff is not our forte." 
The Australian coal-mining company Coalpac is trying to expand the operations of the Invincible Colliery and Cullen Valley Mine in the area, a project opposed by some environmentalists and Aboriginal groups. 
The Lithgow Environment Group, which has Mr Jonkers as its vice-president, says it has serious concerns that the proposed highwall mining practices would destabilise the cliffs and lead to a "permanent loss of irreplaceable cave art" and yet-to-be-discovered archaeological sites. 
The report assessing the stencil as a modern replica was written by the engineering consultancy firm Aecom Australia for Coalpac. 
It says the "questionable" hand stencil has none of the hallmarks of genuine traditional stencils, and that its colour pigment has been applied too thickly and is easy to see.

The "now obvious" rock stencil was not there when the site was previously inspected by archaeologists in December 2010, the paper reports. But Mr Jonkers says he did not think the stencil would be so young. 
"I didn't think anyone would do such a thing," he says. "I must admit I didn't look all that carefully." 

Source: BBC News Website [June 24, 2014]

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