Scientists find the 70,000-year-old Australian “Atlantis”.

A new study published in Quaternary Science Reviews It revealed that about 70,000 years ago, a large area of ​​land now submerged off the coast of Australia would have been home to half a million people. This area of ​​underwater land was so large that it could have served as a migration point between present-day Indonesia and Australia.

The expanded ancient Australian land of Atlantis was part of the ancient continent called Sahol, which united Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. The study also revealed that between 71,000 and 59,000 years ago, sea levels were about 40 meters lower than they are today, revealing an archipelago that was close to the island of Timor in Southeast Asia.

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“We are talking about a very submerged area, today more than 100 meters below sea level,” says Kasih Norman, the researcher responsible for the study. Moreover, it clarifies Live sciencesBetween 29,000 and 14,000 years ago, during the height of the last ice age, there was a sudden drop in sea level, exposing a large area of ​​land adjacent to modern Australia.

research results

• The research indicated that this submerged area has characteristics suitable for the development of human life, such as large freshwater lakes, rivers and landscapes suitable for establishing shelters.
• Norman estimates that this area could have housed between 50,000 and half a million people.
• However, towards the end of the last ice age, the melting of the polar ice caps caused sea levels to begin rising rapidly, causing land flooding;
• Over a period of 400 years, about 100,000 square kilometers of land disappeared under water;
• This hypothesis was confirmed by recent genetic research conducted on the Tiwi Islands, close to the continental shelf, which was published in 2011. natureThe archaeological record in coastal areas of Australia.

Regarding the population estimate, the researcher points out that “it is important to keep in mind that we are not talking about real population numbers, but rather it is only a matter of projecting the carrying capacity of our landscapes.” Basically, we say so [a região] There could have been a lot of people.”

He emphasizes the disappearance of the land: “People would have really seen the landscape change in front of them, and they would have been driven away from this invasive coast very quickly.”

There was an underlying assumption in Australia that our continental margins were probably unproductive and were not actually used by people, despite the fact that we have evidence in many parts of the world that people were certainly on these continental shelves in the past.

Kasih Norman, the researcher responsible for the study

The discovery of these ancient Australian lands and the possibility that they were inhabited by a large population has sparked the interest of researchers in their archaeological importance.

Norman hopes that the research will stimulate others to take a closer look at this area and that this discovery could provide valuable insights to address climate change and sea level rise in the future. “It is amazing to see how people responded dynamically to past events and clearly survived and thrived,” he adds.