--- description: Archaeologists in Australia have uncovered proof that aboriginal people arrived on the continent at least 65,000 years ago title: Humans Have Been In Australia a Lot Longer Than We Thought image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2293a50145fb7bde/6988d66e22fb851894e220ad/rtx3c5vo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Australia](/tag/australia/) ## Australia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Humans May Have Been In Australia About 20,000 Years Longer Than We Thought by [Joseph Hincks](/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 20, 2017 9:55 AM CUT  Elspeth Hayes talks with Mark Djandjomerr and traditional owner May Nango as she extracts samples at a cave near the Madjedbebe site located in the Kakadu region in northern Australia, July 14, 2017. Elspeth Hayes talks with Mark Djandjomerr and traditional owner May Nango as she extracts samples at a cave near the Madjedbebe site located in the Kakadu region in northern Australia, July 14, 2017.Vincent Lamberti—Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation/Reuters by [Joseph Hincks](/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 20, 2017 9:55 AM CUT Archaeologists in Australia have uncovered evidence that aboriginal people inhabited the continent at least 65,000 years ago, rewriting commonly accepted estimates about when modern humans may have reached the area from Africa and across south Asia. Findings on about 11,000 artifacts unearthed at Kakadu National Park, an enormous nature reserve at the uppermost tip of Australia’s Northern Territory, belie the formerly prevailing (if contentious) claim that modern humans have lived in Australia for between 47,000 and 60,000 years. Some of the Kakadu artifacts potentially date back 80,000 years, the _Guardian_ [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/19/dig-finds-evidence-of-aboriginal-habitation-up-to-80000-years-ago "undefined"), citing research published in the science journal _Nature_ Thursday. “People got here much earlier than we thought, which means of course they must also have left Africa much earlier to have traveled on their long journey through Asia and south-east Asia to Australia,” the study’s lead author, Associate Professor Chris Clarkson of the University of Queensland, told the _Guardian_. Clarkson added that the findings also undermine the theory that aboriginal colonization of Australia almost immediately wiped out the country’s megafauna. “\[T\]he time of overlap with the megafauna, for instance, is much longer than originally thought,” Clarkson said, “maybe as much as 20,000 or 25,000 years.” Australia’s indigenous Mirarr people — on whose traditional lands the excavation took place — reportedly retained total control over the dig and its artifacts. Under a landmark agreement, researchers were required to report their findings to the Mirarr and return the artifacts to them at the end of the project. \[[_Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/19/dig-finds-evidence-of-aboriginal-habitation-up-to-80000-years-ago "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4865907/australia-archaeology-aboriginal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4865907/australia-archaeology-aboriginal/"},"headline":"Humans May Have Been In Australia About 20,000 Years Longer Than We Thought","datePublished":"2017-07-20T09:55:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:38:09.494Z","description":"“People got here much earlier than we thought\"","url":"https://time.com/4865907/australia-archaeology-aboriginal/","keywords":["Australia","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2293a50145fb7bde/6988d66e22fb851894e220ad/rtx3c5vo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph Hincks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2293a50145fb7bde/6988d66e22fb851894e220ad/rtx3c5vo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A supplied image shows Elspeth Hayes talking with Mark Djandjomerr and traditional owner May Nango as she extracts comparative samples at a cave near the Madjedbebe site located in the Kakadu region in northern Australia","caption":"A supplied image shows Elspeth Hayes talking with Mark Djandjomerr and traditional owner May Nango as she extracts comparative samples at a cave near the Madjedbebe site located in the Kakadu region in northern Australia","creditText":"Vincent Lamberti—Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation/Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/australia/","name":"Australia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4865907/australia-archaeology-aboriginal/","name":"Humans May Have Been In Australia About 20,000 Years Longer Than We Thought"}}]}] ```