AussiePOD: Aussie Picture Of the Day

The exact timing of the arrival of the ancestors of Aboriginal people has been a matter of dispute among archaeologists. The most common view is that the first humans in Australia arrived via insular southeast Asia more than 50,000 years ago. This means there have been more than 1250 generations in Australia. The 48,000 BC date is based on a few sites in northern Australia dated using thermoluminescence. A large number of sites have been radiocarbon dated to around 38,000 BC, leading some researchers to doubt the accuracy of the thermoluminescence technique. Thermoluminescence dating of the Jinmium site in the Northern Territory suggested a date of 198,000 BC. Although this result received wide press coverage, it has been questioned by most archaeologists.