Prehistory of Australia
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The prehistory of Australia is the period between the first human habitation of the Australian continent and the colonisation of Australia in 1788, which marks the start of consistent written documentation of Australia. This period has been variously estimated, with most evidence suggesting that it goes back between 50,000 and 65,000 years.
This era is referred as prehistory rather than history because of the lack of written documentation of human events. As no metal technology was developed, the whole period falls into the Stone Age. Australia, in contrast to New Guinea, has generally been held not to have had a Neolithic period, with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle continuing until the arrival of Europeans, although there is evidence of land management by practices such as cultural burning, and in some areas, agriculture, fish farming, and permanent settlements.
See also
- Australian Aboriginal sacred site
- Australian archaeology
- Dreamtime, Aboriginal mythology about Australian prehistory
- European maritime exploration of Australia
- Juukan Gorge caves, destroyed in May 2020
- Lake Mungo remains
- Ten Canoes, a 2006 film about Australian prehistory
