63 The Dispersal of Modern Humans into Australia Chapter 6 The Dispersal of Modern Humans into Australia enter desert environments willingly or persisted in their occupation of landscapes that subsequently became arid (cf. chapters in Veth et al. 2005b). This occurred as early as 40,000 to 60,000 years ago — and possibly earlier. Persistence of modern humans in the glacial landscapes of Europe and Eurasia also occurred during this time, likely underpinned by complex information sharing behaviours — reflected in widespread sharing of iconographic objects such as Venus figurines. Indeed Gamble et al. (2004) have noted parallels in regional occupation paerns from the northern hemisphere in response to glacial cycles associated with the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to archaeological trends from the LGM of the southern hemisphere (aſter Veth 1993; 2005a). This creates the fascinating scenario in which modern humans appear to have explored and seled the worlds’ deserts at the same time they developed other ‘modern’ aributes underpinning their successful global diaspera; such as complex information exchange and long-distance maritime voyaging (Balme et al. 2009; Veth 2005b). How old are the Australians? Despite extravagant claims that Australians may be up 1,000,000 years old and that Homo forensiensis (the Hobbit) may have reached Australian shores (R. Roberts, ABC TV 2004) our collaborative research over the last 15 years from East Timor and the Aru Islands, combined with what we know from the rest of Greater Australia (Sahul), demonstrates the presence of anatomically modern humans whose behaviours can only be described as ‘modern’. All of these sites date to within the last 60,000 bp years — even adopting the most ‘optimistic’ dating scenarios (cf. O’Connor & Chappell 2003). A great deal has been wrien recently about the date people first arrived in Australia and the reliabil- ity of both the different radiometric methods used to achieve this end and the measurements obtained (cf. chapters in O’Connor & Veth 2000). There is essentially Peter Veth Preamble On current evidence it appears that modern humans dispersed from Africa, across southern Asia and into Greater Australia (or Sahul) some time between 100,000 to 50,000 years ago (cf. Balme et al. 2009; O’Connell & Allen 2007; Lahr & Foley 2004). This spread was likely rapid and I believe these peoples were ‘infinitely adaptable’ (Veth 2005a). In this paper I will argue that the movement of anatomically modern humans through the increasingly depauperate islands and biogeographic boundaries of the Indonesian Archipelago towards Greater Australia was a unique event — especially given that Australia was the most arid continent colonized by modern humans (Fig. 6.1). A combination of factors including island biogeogra- phy and increasing aridity served in concert, I believe, to create uniquely modern cultural configurations. Some of these include the earliest global evidence for long-distance sea voyaging, cremation of the dead, production of ‘art’, personal ornamentation, long- distance exchange of goods and graphic systems and, not the least, entry into and persistence within a major desert continent. Pleistocene cycles of both cold and hot deserts — such as the ice sheets of Europe and the expanding deserts of Australia (cf. Smith & Hesse 2005) provide a canvas for population dispersal and isolation. Ref- uges — whether located in oceans, ice sheets or deserts (aſter Veth 1993) are arguably the powerhouses for bio- logical evolution, cultural innovation and ultimately the emergence of differences in social dynamics. A Eurocentric perspective of deserts, as captured in the imagination of novelists, film makers, theolo- gians and even earlier anthropologists has seen them as harsh and uncompromising landscapes. They are equated with extreme experiences including revela- tions, religious epiphanies, treks through the ‘wilder- ness’ and privations of the most horrible kind. And yet archaeological evidence from around the world suggests that people actually chose to