Humans First Arrived in Australia 65,000 Years Ago

A selection of vocabulary flashcards based on the topic of human arrival in Australia, their coexistence with megafauna, and the archaeological methods used to date early artifacts.

Aboriginal Australians

The Indigenous people of Australia, believed to be the ancestors of the first humans to inhabit the continent.

Megafauna

Large animals that lived during the Pleistocene epoch, including giant wombats and wallabies that coexisted with early humans in Australia.

Madjedbebe site

An ancient Aboriginal rock shelter in Australia where significant archaeological findings were uncovered, indicating human presence dating back 65,000 years.

Radiocarbon dating

A method used to determine the age of an object containing organic material by measuring the amount of carbon-14 it contains.

Optically stimulated luminescence dating

A dating technique that estimates the last time mineral grains were exposed to sunlight, used to date sediment layers containing artifacts.

Artifacts

Objects made by humans, typically an item of cultural or historical interest, used as evidence of human activity.

Edge-ground axes

Stone axes that have been ground to create sharp edges, found at the Madjedbebe site and considered to be some of the oldest examples in the world.

Coexistence

The state of living alongside other species, such as humans and megafauna, for extended periods without driving them to extinction.