Ancient Australia

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**Ancient Australia** (also called the **Prehistory of Australia**), is the time from when the first humans came to Australia to the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artefacts have been found. They most likely lived in Australia for over 80,000 years.

Sea levels were lower because more water was in the form of ice. So migration from Asia to Australia was easier than it is now. Several long sea crossings would still be needed. These crossings would be across 90100&nbsp;km of open sea. It is not known what kind of boat would have been used for these crossings, but they were probably a raft made from bamboo. Research shows that the Indigenous Australians were part of a group that left Africa 24,000 years before the groups that settled in Europe and Asia. This makes them one of the oldest indigenous peoples outside Africa. Many Aboriginal stories from northern Australia say that the people came to Australia from across the sea. Each of these language groups was made up of many smaller groupings. These smaller groups often combined for ceremonial and trade activities. Because they were all different, it is difficult to make general claims about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditions and beliefs.

## Changes over time 
The changes to the fauna were even more dramatic. Megafauna, species larger than humans, disappeared, as well as many of the smaller species. About 60 different vertebrates became extinct, including the Diprotodon family (very large marsupials that looked rather like hippos), several large flightless birds, meat eating kangaroos, a five-metre lizard and Meiolania, a tortoise the size of a small car.

The direct cause of the mass extinctions of the megafauna is uncertain. It may have been fire, hunting, climate change, or a combination of all. Without large herbivores to eat the vegetation, the extra fuel made fires burn hotter, further changing the landscape.

In the period from 18,000 to 15,000 years ago, Australia became dryer, with lower temperatures and less rainfall. Between 16,000 and 14,000 years ago the sea levels rose quickly. One scientist has  sea levels rose 50 feet in 300 years. At the end of the Pleistocene, about 13,000 years ago, rising sea levels cut the land access across the Torres Strait to New Guinea, the Bass Strait between Victoria and Tasmania, and to Kangaroo Island.

The Aboriginal Tasmanians were cut off from the rest of Australia. By 9,000 years ago there were no longer people living on the small islands in Bass Strait or Kangaroo Island.

Studies of language and genes shows that there has been long-term contact between Australians in the far north and the people of modern-day New Guinea and the islands. This seems to have been mainly trade with a little intermarriage. Macassan praus are also recorded in the Aboriginal stories from Broome to the Gulf of Carpentaria. There were some semi-permanent settlements established, and cases of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander settlers finding a home in Indonesia.

## Culture 
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people did not develop writing but they painted pictures on rocks and bark. They also scratched or carved designs into rocks. They used paint that they made from crushed rocks and water in colours like brown, red, orange, and yellow. Many ancient cave paintings have been all over Australia. As the paints made form crushed rock and clay are not organic, it is not possible to use carbon dating to date these pictures. Some paintings have been found showing megafauna that became extinct over 40,000 years ago. These paintings are some of the oldest known paintings in the world. Another site in Arnhem Land has charcoal drawings that have been radiocarbon-dated at 28,000 years old.

Aboriginal people had a strong spirituality. They believed that everything had come from the Dreamtime and that the Earth was sacred. They believed that ancestor spirits such as the Rainbow Serpent had made the world and everything in it. The laws and customs of the Dreamtime are passed on from parents to children. They have complex ritual songs and dances which are performed at corroborees.

## References