HistoryPrehistoricAustraliahigh confidence

Modern humans (Homo sapiens) arrived in Australia at least 40,000 years ago.

Notes on verification

Well-corroborated by multiple independent sources including peer-reviewed research (Nature) and archaeological dating from Lake Mungo and Madjedbebe. The 40,000-year figure is a conservative lower bound; current consensus suggests arrival may be even earlier (47,000-65,000 years ago). [cascade flags: aggregator_dropped_primary_exists,wikipedia_dropped_other_sources_exist | tier=silver indep_score=1.0 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable | framework convergence=partial (upstreams: Madjedbebe optical dating study (Clarkson et al., Nature 2017), Lake Mungo radiocarbon/luminescence dating studies, 2025 archaeogenetic study in Science Advances) — publishers independent, evidence may not be | kind=empirical eligibility=high]

Sources