Fresh evidence

 
Published: Wednesday 30 June 1999

a fresh analysis of the skeletal remains found at Lake Mungo in New South Wales, Australia, 25 years ago indicate they may be up to 68,000 years old -- 28,000 years older than earlier scientific estimates. The revised dating of the remains by scientists at the Australian National University rewrites the history of Australia's occupation and has profound implications for worldwide debate over the origins of modern man.

Cross matching a range of recent dating tests puts the minimum date of the burial of the remains at 56,000 to 68,000 years ago. The research, came up with almost identical dates. But the researchers added that the location of the Mungo skeleton, deep in Australia's south-east, suggests that Homo sapiens arrived in the north-east much earlier, but they took their time to migrate inland and adapt to the desert conditions before travelling down the continent.

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