Australian aboriginals come from a massive migration from Africa.
(Mirror Daily, United States) Researchers have recently discovered that migration from Africa is one of the most important facts about human evolution. People migrating from Africa more than 70,000 years ago settled down in Australia, and they are the ancestors of Indigenous Australians today. A DNA test showed that they are the most ancient human population on Earth, older than Eurasian populations.
The scientists in charge of the study explain that the massive migration from Africa occurred, more precisely, 72, 000 years ago. People headed towards the Australian continent that we know today, where they remained isolated from the world until four thousand years ago. There were speculations in the scientific community that Aboriginal populations living in Australia could be one of the oldest in the world.
The scientific proof of this theory comes only now, as a DNA examination. Researchers studied the DNA of people living in the Australian tribes today and established a link between them and their ancestors who led the migration from Africa thousands and thousands of years ago.
When the migration from Africa occurred, the populations found a new land, called Sahul. It included lands such as modern day Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania. Researchers suggest that the people who left Africa split into two groups, one of which reached this new land.
The researchers were able to sequence the DNA and find relevant data about the first humans leading the migration. The study is based on the results obtained from eighty-three Aboriginal Australians and twenty-five Papuans.
The new study provides the researchers with data on the evolution of the populations in Australia. They were considering the possibility of successive migrations, but in light of the recent discovery, there was only the migration from Africa. The evolution of the Australian Aboriginal populations went on with the arrival of the European population.
The research is also proof that Indigenous Australians are the oldest race on the Earth.
The new study on the DNA of modern indigenous Australian populations was published in the journal Nature. The research was conducted by Professor Eske Willerslev (University of Cambridge). Colleen Wall was the co-author.
There are two more studies on human evolution and migration published in the journal Nature.
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