Compiled by: Graham Avery Date: 7/1/2025
Introduction
This page presents scientific publications on First Nations peoples and their ancestry within the Sahul region, including Australia and Papua. It is designed for readers who wish to explore the deep history of First Nations peoples. The publications featured here were written by scientists, archaeologists, and geneticists from various universities who have conducted research and produced scientific evidence on the long-term occupation and history of First Nations peoples from the Late Pleistocene (60,000-10,000 years ago).
Late Pleistocene Sahul (60,000–10,000 BP)
1970
| 1970, Pleistocene human remains from Australia: a living site and human cremation from Lake Mungo, western New South Wales (archaeology) |
1972
| 1972, Prehistoric Man at Lake Mungo, Australia, by 32,000 Years BP (archaeology) |
| 1972, New ages for human occupation and climatic change at Lake Mungo, Australia (archaeology) |
1975
| 1975, KOW SWAMP AND LAKE MUNGO Towards an osteology of early man in Australia (craniology) |
1977
| 1977, The Deep Skull of Niah: AN ASSESSMENT OF TWENTY YEARS OF SPECULATION CONCERNING ITS EVOLUTIONARY SIGNIFICANCE (craniology and migratory) |
1989
| 1989, COOBOOL CREEK A morphological and metrical analysis of the crania, mandibles and dentitions of a prehistoric Australian human population (craniology) |
1999
| 1999, Peopling of Sahul: mtDNA Variation in Aboriginal Australian and Papua New Guinean Populations (DNA) |
| 1999, Australia’s oldest human remains: age of the Lake Mungo 3 skeleton (archaeology and dating) |
2000
| 2000, On the reliability of age estimates for human remains at Lake Mungo (archaeology and dating) |
| 2000, The Pleistocene Peopling of Greater Australia: A Re-examination (Sahul peopling/archaeology) |
| 2000, Redating Australia’s oldest human remains: a sceptic’s view (archaeology and dating) |
2001
| 2001, Mitochondrial DNA sequences in ancient Australians: Implications for modern human origins (DNA) |
2003
| 2003, Dating the colonization of Sahul (Pleistocene Australia–New Guinea): a review of recent research (archaeology) |
| 2003, New ages for human occupation and climatic change at Lake Mungo, Australia (archaeology and dating) |
| 2003, Last Glacial Maximum ages for robust humans at Kow Swamp, southern Australia (craniology) |
2008
| 2008, Pleistocene Sahul and the origins of seafaring (migratory) |
| 2008, Northern Papua DNA (DNA) |
| 2008, The great arc of dispersal of modern humans: Africa to Australia (DNA and migratory) |
2009
| 2009, Explaining the Linguistic Diversity of Sahul Using Population Models (languages) |
2010
| 2010, Whole-Genome Genetic Diversity in a Sample of Australians with Deep Aboriginal Ancestry (DNA) |
2011
| 2011, Dispersals into Asia An Aboriginal Australian Genome Reveals Separate Human (DNA) |
| 2011, A multi-method approach to dating the burial and skeleton of Kiacatoo Man, New South Wales, Australia (archaeology) |
2012
| 2012, The Q2 Mitochondrial Haplogroup in Oceania (DNA) |
2013
| 2013, Origins of the Australian and New Guinean Aborigines (DNA) |
| 2013, Craniodental Affinities of Southeast Asia's "Negritos" and the Concordance with Their Genetic Affinities (craniology and genetic) |
2016
| 2016, Deep Skull from Niah Cave and the Pleistocene Peopling of Southeast Asia (craniology, migratory, and genetic) |
| 2016, A Genomic History of Aboriginal Australia (DNA) |
| 2016, Ancient mtDNA sequences from the First Australians revisited (Mungo Man and Mungo Lady - DNA) |
| 2016, Deep Roots for Aboriginal Australian Y Chromosomes (DNA) |
2017
| 2017, Aboriginal Australian mitochondrial genome variation – an increased understanding of population antiquity and diversity (DNA) |
| 2017, Aboriginal mitogenomes reveal 50,000 years of regionalism in Australia (DNA) |
| 2017, 50,000 years of archaeological site stratigraphy and micromorphology in Boodie Cave, Barrow Island, Western Australia (archaeology) |
| 2017, Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago (archaeology / Madjedbebe NT) |
| 2017, An early colonisation pathway into northwest Australia 70-60,000 years ago (migratory) |
2018
| 2018, When did Homo sapiens first reach Southeast Asia and Sahul? (migratory) |
| 2018, Least-cost pathway models indicate northern human dispersal from Sunda to Sahul (migratory) |
2020
| 2020, Insights Into Aboriginal Australian Mortuary Practices: Perspectives From Ancient DNA (DNA) |
| 2020, Papuan mitochondrial genomes and the settlement of Sahul (DNA) |
2021
| 2021, Ages for Australia’s oldest rock paintings - 17,300 kya of kangaroo rock art (archaeology) |
| 2021, A contextualised review of genomic evidence for gene flow events between Papuans and Indigenous Australians in Cape York, Queensland (DNA) |
| 2021, Papua New Guinean Genomes Reveal the Complex Settlement of North Sahul (DNA) |
| 2021, Skeletal remains of a Pleistocene modern human (Homo sapiens) from Sulawesi (DNA and archaeology) |
| 2021, Mitogenomes Reveal Two Major Influxes of Papuan Ancestry across Wallacea Following the Last Glacial Maximum and Austronesian Contact (DNA) |
| 2021, Skeletal remains of a Pleistocene modern human (Homo sapiens) from Sulawesi (DNA, migratory, archaeology, and craniology) |
2023
| 2023, Indigenous Australian genomes show deep structure and rich novel variation (DNA) |
2024
| 2024, The genetic origins and impacts of historical Papuan migrations into Wallacea (DNA) |
2025
| 2025, A High‐Resolution Genomic Study of the Pama‐Nyungan Speaking Yolngu People of Northeast Arnhem Land, Australia (DNA) |
| 2025, Genomic evidence supports the “long chronology” for the peopling of Sahul (DNA) |
| 2025, TROPHIC AND TAXONOMIC RESTRUCTURING OF SAHUL’S LARGE-BODIED ANIMAL COMMUNITY SINCE THE LATE PLEISTOCENE (archaeology) |