Australian skeletal remains exist as two morphologically distinct categories that are very different to each other and to any known living population.
>Gracile specimens are 42k years old and are more like modern humans
>Robust specimens are 9-15k years old and look archaic with many erectus features
>burials between 12-30k years old of robustic specimens have been found with evidence of intentional cranium modification and erectus bone dimensions with archaic facial, dental and skull architecture
>Some aboriginals still carry mild robust traits
This difference is explained by robusticity via phenotypic plasticity where diet, work and founder effects changed them. However the degree of change in some specimens puts them outside of modern human range and into erectus or archaic on multiple metrics simultaneously. No DNA has ever been tested from the most extreme robust specimens. The most controversial and comprehensive explanation for this is the multiregional hypothesis. Modern humans entered and bred with various existing hominids. Supported by the ghost dna they carry that diverged before neanderthals and denisovans. It is not that simple.
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There is evidence of multiple parallel cultures. This is just one key find.
>Budj Bim complex
A large scale settlement in the Gracile zone with 200+ stone walled homes and water engineering 100sq km of canals and water holding ponds dug into basalt bedrock
This site is an enigma. Stone home architecture is found nowhere else on the continent. The engineering required generational data. Morphology is Gracile. The Brewarrina fish traps possibly 40k years old are cited in comparsion but rocks placed in rivers can not be compared to a permanent settlement.
80-90% of all aboriginal languages come from a single language that appeared in the far north QLD 6k ago and rapidly expanded. This rate of expansion is not possible for a nomadic hunter gather people. Separately in 2025 it was found that every aus language originates from a single proto language also from the far north. Far north aboriginals are more likely to carry the indian gene that entered from the same place 5k years ago.
The skeletal morphology PhD thesis covering 2,500 individuals and 45 cranial traits found;
>"Two major divisions are identified, a large northern and a much smaller southeastern zone."
>"The River Murray stands out as a region of extreme diversity."
Exactly what you would expect at a contact zone. At the same time 6k years ago we see robust like skeletal remains vanish from the record and proper burial sites in formal cemeteries.
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This is the pama-nyungan expansion hypothesis. There were already two or three existing and morphologically distinctive cultures. A third entered from the far north 6k years ago and aggressively swept over the existing cultures. Budj Bim was established in the centuries before the arrival. The main point of contact was in Victoria with a significant amount of bone trauma found on remains in this area which significantly deviates from the continetial norm. The Murray River robust population and the Budj Bim Gracile population may or may not have lived peacefully, but both came into contract with the aggressive pama-nyungan people.
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>>18517190
>Aboriginal Australian
What are they? I genuinely do not understand.
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>>18517190
The Aboriginal lineage split off early from other homo sapiens and colonized a continent that was heavily isolated from various agricultural or technological innovations in the Old World and so rewarded robust trait retention. Seems pretty simple to me.
>>18517193
Any articles on this?
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> Supported by the ghost dna they carry that diverged before neanderthals and denisovans
It's basically confirmed to be Erectus. Everyone with Denisovan DNA also has a teeny tiny amount of Erectus admixture.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10478-8
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>>18517350
The gracile group did this.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1577/
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>>18517226
>no new testing will be allowed
thats depressing... I would postulate that they are what indigenous Indians and south east asians also look like without any north east asian or european admixture