Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Talgai Skull

In 1884 this was the first human skull found. It was exposed in the bank of a billabong by an unusually big flood on the Darling Downs, in southern Queensland. It was kept in a homestead at East Talgai for the 30 years. It was purchased by Sydney University in 1914. It was covered with a thick crust of calcium carbonate, but after cleaning, it proved to be of a robust, archaic type. All remains so far found in Australia have been of the most recent version of human, Homo sapiens sapiens, but this skull was different. It looked remarkably archaic and rugged.

Analysis of the skull shoed it was that of a boy about 15-years-old. He had received a massive blow to the side of the head, which undoubtedly killed him. It is now believed that the boy lived about 9,000 to 11,000 years ago. It fits into the normal range of variation for Australian Aboriginal skulls, but its canines and palate are unusually large. 

1. Timeline of Burials
2. Cohuna Skull

Sources & Further reading

1. Josephine Flood, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, JB Publications, 2004
2. Phillip J. Habgood & Natilie R. Franklin, The revolution that didn't arrive: A review of Pleistocene Sahul, Journal of Human Evolution, 55, 2008