A new, in-depth DNA analysis revealed how the Aboriginal people are living in Australia for more than 50,000 years, longer than any other group of humans on the planet. This new data was obtained from genetic analysis from pre-historic hair samples.
The ancestors of modern Aboriginal people in Australia arrived from a single wave of migration at least 50,000 years ago. This group arrived from Africa and separated into two main groups, where one settled in the western coast and one in the eastern coast of the continent.
After this massive migration that was considered to be a fast transition by scientists, the two Aboriginal populations remained where they are ever since for thousands of years. Scientists were then able to analyze 111 historic hair samples.
Researchers obtained these hair samples from the South Australian Museum that have been housed there for decades. These hair samples were collected from anthropological expeditions from 1928 to the 1970s from Aboriginal Australian communities with valid permission from them. Aboriginal elders and professional ethicists were able to guide researchers for this new study, were the historic hair specimens were handled with extreme care.
According to one of the original hair donors, Kaurna Elder Lewis O'Brien, the Aboriginal people have always known that we have been on this land since the beginning of our time. It is also important that we show this with science, to present this evidence to the rest of the world. This is an exciting project that can help our people from the Stolen Generation and to reunite with their families.
This new study spans 10 years of research on the ancestry of Australia's Aboriginal people. Apart from this, this new data will also be used to repatriate original Aboriginal artifacts that have been displaced by the European colonizers of Australia.
According to author of the study, Alan Cooper from the University of Adelaide, basic population patterns of the Aboriginals from 50,000 years ago to this year still persist. This strongly suggests that these communities have remained in discrete geographical regions.
Cooper who is also the director of the Australian Center for Ancient DNA explains, this is unlike any people anywhere else in the world, and this provides compelling evidence about the remarkable Aboriginal cultural connection to Australia. Researchers now hope that this project's new data can change Australian history text books that will include the importance of Aboriginal history. This also shows that Aboriginal culture has been existing for 50,000 years in Australia, around 10 times longer than the entire European history of the continent.
This new study is published in the journal Nature.