Pathways through tropical Sahul: the archaeology of the Great Papuan Plateau (ARC Discovery Project administered by the University of Southern Queensland) (2019-2022)

When and how did the first modern humans arrive on the Greater Australian continent (Sahul)? Recent discoveries suggest that humans arrived in northern Australia by 65,000 years ago and were in southeast Asia by at least 80,000 years ago. Dating the timing and movement of the human colonisation of the Great Papuan Plateau, a large karst system situated between Australia and Southeast Asia, has potential to reveal evidence of the earliest eastward movement of peoples into Sahul (now Australia and New Guinea). Archaeological excavations of limestone caves with rock art and deep cultural floor deposit recorded across the plateau will provide answers to fundamental questions about the early occupation of Sahul by early modern humans.