Graham Hancock on archaeology: what the evidence says · JRE #2215

What the evidence says 01 / RECORD

Both parts of the claim align with the peer-reviewed record. Optical dating of stone artefacts at the Madjedbebe rock shelter in northern Australia set a minimum age of about 65,000 years for human occupation, so a figure of 50,000 years ago is a conservative lower bound rather than an overstatement (some researchers argue for a date closer to 50,000, but none younger). On the crossing, modeling of the peopling of Sahul (Australia, New Guinea and adjacent islands joined at low sea level) finds that reaching the continent required at least one open-ocean crossing of roughly 100 km plus several shorter crossings of 20 to 30 km, and that this water gap persisted even at the maximum glacial lowstand of about 125 m below present sea level. The requirement for genuine open-water voyaging at the lowest sea level is therefore well established.