Deep Time History Exam-

Human Evolution:

The Theory of Evolution suggests that all living things are related and species change over time. From scientific perspective, the peopling of Australia is a story that starts with our evolution as a species. To confirm this hypothesis, we use the following dating techniques.

Relative dating: to determine relative (approximate) order of past events. This includes techniques such as; stratigraphy - looking at layers in the ground. 

Absolute dating: determine absolute (true) date or date range. This includes techniques such as; radiocarbon dating (C14) and Optically stimulated luminescence.

Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors. One of the earliest defining human traits, bipedalism -- the ability to walk on two legs -- evolved over 4 million years ago. Other important human characteristics -- such as a large and complex brain, the ability to make and use tools, and the capacity for language -- developed more recently.

Out of Africa Theory:

Early humans first migrated out of Africa into Asia probably between 2 million and 1.8 million years ago. They entered Europe somewhat later, between 1.5 million and 1 million years.

Species of modern humans (Homo Sapiens) populated many parts of the world much later. For instance, people first came to Australia probably within the past 65,000 years and to the Americas within the past 30,000 years or so.

The First People of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands

Scientists generally believe that the first Australians made the journey from South-East Asia sometime during a long Ice Age period. It would have been possible to walk much of the way and still stay in sight of land when crossing the water. It is thought that the ocean levels were at their lowest approximately 55,000 years ago.

Birdsell (1977) proposed that people travelled from Asia to Australia via two possible routes that involved island hopping.

•         Northern route via New Guinea

•         Southern route via Flores and Timor

It is possible that the Aboriginal settlement of Australia occurred over many generations and that the first Australians travelled along different routes.

-          Joseph Birdsell suggests that small groups of people settled the inland areas of Australia first and then spread rapidly across the continent as their population increased. Birdsell’s ‘fast-track model’ estimated that within 3000 years the settlement would have extended all the way to the eastern and southern coasts.

Test Revision: Environmental Processes

Pleistocene: Older than 10,000 BP (up to 2.58 million years ago)

·       Colder climate and sea level lower

·       Australia is a larger continent (‘Sahul’)

Holocene: 10 000 BP to 1788

·       Warmer climate, sea levels higher

·       Current Australian landform

How did Australia change from the Pleistocene era to the Holocene? (Epochs)

Sea Level Change and Oral Traditions

According to Patrick Nunn and Nicholas Reid (2016), Aboriginal stories about postglacial drowning are of two types:

Ordinary stories: narratives which may describe a time when the sea level was lower than it is today, and the shoreline of a particular part of Australia was consequently further seawards. Such narratives describe what then happened, how the ocean rose, flooding familiar landscapes and transforming their environments and their livelihood possibilities.

Sacred myths: alluding to changes to coastal environments similar to those described in the narratives but explaining these changes in terms of the actions of particular individuals –sometimes superhuman, more often non-human (like God-like beings)

Both types of stories can be interpreted in the same way. They report a time when the sea level rose across the land, flooding and then drowning it until it came to appear the way it does today.

Stories of flooding: Spencer Gulf (SA)

The Narrangga tribe living on Yorke Peninsula ‘had a story that has been handed down through the ages’ which recalled a time when Spencer Gulf was dry land, ‘marshy country reaching into the interior of Australia’ (Smith 1930, 168–169).

Another account, probably from a different source, this country is described as ‘a valley filled with a line of fresh-water lagoons’, each associated with particular types of water bird; the ‘open country between the lagoons’ was occupied by ‘emus, curlews and mallee fowls’ while elsewhere there were other creatures (Roberts and Mountford 1989, 18).

Both versions of the story describe the initial flooding of the Gulf as having been catastrophic rather than gradual, the result of a mythical/giant kangaroo using a magic bone to cut a trench; ‘the sea broke through and came tumbling and rolling along in the track … it flowed into the lagoons and marshes which completely disappeared’ (Smith 1930, 172).

Stories of flooding: Cape Grafton (QLD)

There are numerous Aboriginal stories from this area about a time when the shoreline was further out ‘where the barrier reef now stands’ (Dixon 1980, 46). According to Gungganyji informants from Cape Grafton, the barrier reef was the original coast here at a time when a man called Gunya (Goonyah) was living here. Having consumed a customarily forbidden fish, the gods caused the sea to rise in order to drown him and his family. He evaded this fate by fleeing to the hills but ‘the sea … never returned to its original limits’ (Gribble 1932, 56–57).

Test Revision: Social Organisation

Dreaming: explains creation and the nature of the world, the place that every person has in that world and the importance of ritual and tradition. The Dreaming also teaches people about their country and where water, food and shelter would be found. The Dreaming is handed from one generation to the next through stories, music, dance and art. It tells of the time when the ancestral beings moved across the continent creating and moulding the land and its rivers, lakes, mountains and all living creatures.

The Dreaming established the laws and the nature of the relationships between different groups of Aboriginal people. The links between people were built upon their connections to the land and to the Dreaming. Aboriginal tradition taught people that the place of their birth and their clan established the country they belonged to.

Kinship: relates to relationships between people and between people and the land. The kinship system ensures everyone knows their responsibilities within the communities. Kinship relationships are more complex than the Western notion of family and involve strict rules and obligations. Kinship links are tied to spiritual belief as the Dreaming ancestors were considered to have genealogical links with living people and their land, and so are important in deciding each person’s kinship connections

Aboriginal Elders: would teach younger people about bush tucker, bush medicine and share their knowledge about the Dreaming through songs and stories. If there was a problem in the community, the Elders would make decisions together about how to settle things. Elders would also lead initiation ceremonies for younger people. A person did not just become an Elder when they got old. Respect and authority had to be earned by showing understanding and dedication to the community.

Marriage: For many Indigenous Australians, there were strict rules about marriage as part of kinship. Relationships in the Kulin nations had a lot to do with people’s totems. A marriage had to be between a man and a woman of different moieties (totems or symbols).

A totem is a special species of plant, insect, bird or animal that is held sacred and expresses the connection between the people and nature. The totem was inherited and represented the spirit world as it existed in daily life. A person shared a totem with other clan members and was given an individual totem around the time of their birth.

Test Revision: Cultural Practices

Initiation ceremonies: A general English translation of Indigenous Australian initiation ceremonies is to be put through the law; meaning that initiation passed on the knowledge of the Elders, the sacred lore of the Dreaming and the right to participate in the ritual and ceremonies of country. Initiation taught young people codes of conduct, customs and good manners. A person gained status with initiation.

Funeral customs: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples believed that with death a person’s spirit would return to the Dreaming ancestors. Funeral and mourning ceremonies differed according to clan and country, but they were all elaborate rituals that could last for many months. The ceremonies were a time to recognise the deceased and the Dreaming ancestors. The ceremonies surrounding death in all traditional Australian Indigenous communities expressed the powerful link between people and country.

Test Revision: Heritage

Cultural heritage includes artefacts, monuments, a group of buildings and sites, museums that have a diversity of values including symbolic, historic, artistic, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological, scientific and social significance.

World Heritage is the designation for places on Earth that are of outstanding universal value to humanity and as such, have been inscribed on the World Heritage List to be protected for future generations to appreciate and enjoy. The World Heritage List classifies sites on the following categories:

•         Cultural

•         Natural

•         Mixed

The Australian governments also now recognise the rights that Indigenous communities have over human remains, artefacts and heritage sites. There are many sites in Australia today that are of historical, cultural and archaeological significance. In addition to this, the Australian government has established over 70 Indigenous Protected Areas. These areas are managed by the traditional owners who look after the plants, animals and any special sites. Indigenous rangers manage the impact of visitors, particularly tourists, who come to the area. In this way, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can keep their culture strong.

Lake Mungo:

Lake Mungo is one of the 17 lakes in the Willandra region, a series of fossil lakes that is a World Heritage Site because of its natural and cultural importance.

The remains of fireplaces, shell middens and human burials provide evidence of a time when Lake Mungo was full of water and supported an abundance of life. In 2003, another remarkable archaeological discovery was made when the 20 000-year-old footprints of the Willandra people were found.

The evidence of the lives of the ancient people who lived on the shores of the now dry beds of Lake Mungo, in the Willandra Lakes region of western New South Wales, has been exposed by erosion. In 1968, wind erosion uncovered the charred remains of a young woman in the sand dunes near Lake Mungo. This skeleton, known as ‘Mungo I’, had been cremated and then the bones had been crushed before burial. The first archaeologists to study her remains estimate the burial had taken place 25 000 years ago, making it the oldest known cremation in the world. More recent studies have concluded that Mungo I is closer to 40 000 years old.

Many other human remains and hundreds of artefacts have since been found in the eroded dunes of the vast Lakes region. Possibly the oldest human remains are the skeleton of a person, probably a tall man, who died between 38 000 and 42 000 years ago. Archaeologists have named him ‘Mungo III’. The body had been carefully laid out, with hands clasped together and knees slightly bent. Archaeologists believe that so much ochre had been spread over the body during burial that traces of it turned the surrounding soil pink. A sense of the dignity, ritual and respect for the dead were preserved for thousands of years in the remains of Mungo I and III.