In a major breakthrough for Australian archaeology, Thermoluminescence (TL) dating has been applied to scorched stones found in submerged hearths off the coast of South Australia. The research, published in Science, dates these coastal occupation sites to 55,000 years ago, during a period of lower sea levels.
This study provides irrefutable dating evidence for the early arrival and rapid coastal dispersal of humans across the Sahul shelf, predating many previous inland estimates. The research emphasizes the importance of underwater archaeology in reconstructing the earliest phases of human migration into Oceania.