Humans reached Australia 60,000 years ago, new DNA study reveals

Description

Scientists have uncovered compelling evidence that humans reached New Guinea and Australia around 60,000 years ago—earlier than some recent theories suggested. By tracing maternal DNA lineages, the team discovered that these early travelers likely used at least two different migration routes through Southeast Asia. This points to sophisticated navigation and seafaring skills far earlier than once believed. The research helps clarify a long-standing mystery about how humans spread across the globe.

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Professor Richards said: "We feel that this is strong support for the long chronology. Still, estimates based on the molecular clock can always be challenged, and the mitochondrial DNA is only one line of descent. We are currently analysing hundreds of whole human genome sequences -- 3 billion bases each, compared to 16,000 -- to test our results against the many thousands of other lines of descent throughout the human genome. In the future, there will be further archaeological discoveries, and we can also hope that ancient DNA might be recovered from key remains, so we can more directly test these models and distinguish between them."