Aboriginal Australian Discussion

Dedicated for all DNA, Analysis Results, History, Research topics related to: Aboriginal Australian

Aristotle and Ptolemy once believed there was too much land in the northern hemisphere and that there must be some undiscovered continent balancing the globe somewhere in the south. As the last part of the New World to be discovered, Indigenous Australians or Aborigines numbered around 500,000 by modern estimates when the Europeans first arrived. Early encounters were sometimes peaceful and sometimes not. These inhabitants were thought to have arrived in two phases - the first from the Indian subcontinent around 65,000 years ago via a land bridge connecting the continent to New Guinea bringing people who spoke the Paman and Ngumbin languages. A second migration wave arrived with Austronesians as early as 2000 BC who introduced the dingo, a breed of Asian dog. Archaeological evidence shows most Indigenous communities were semi-nomadic, moving in a regular cycle over a defined territory folllwing seasonal food sources. Aboriginal Australians along the coast and rivers were expert fisherman who mastered trapping and harpooning.