Genomic evidence supports the “long chronology” for the peopling of Sahul

Gandini, Francesca, Almeida, Mafalda, Foody, M. George B., Nagle, Nano, Bergström, Anders, Olivieri, Anna, Rodrigues, Simão, Fichera, Alessandro, Oteo-Garcia, Gonzalo, Torroni, Antonio, Achilli, Alessandro, Pomat, William, Zainuddin, Zafarina, Eng, Ken Khong, Shoeib, Tarek, Rito, Teresa, Bulbeck, David, O’Connor, Sue, Bryk, Jarosław, Pala, Maria, Grant, Michael j., Edwards, Ceiridwen J., Oppenheimer, Stephen J., Mitchell, Robert J., Soares, Pedro A., Farr, Helen and Richards, Martin B. (2025) Genomic evidence supports the “long chronology” for the peopling of Sahul. Science Advances, 11 (48). ISSN 2375-2548

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Abstract

The timing of the settlement of Sahul—the Pleistocene landmass formed by present-day New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania that existed until ~9000 years ago (~9 ka)—remains highly contentious. The so-called “long chronology” posits the first main arrivals at ~60 to 65 ka, whereas a “short chronology” proposes 47 to 51 ka. Here, we exhaustively analyze an unprecedentedly large mitogenome dataset (n = 2456) encompassing the full range of diversity from the indigenous populations of Australia, New Guinea, and Oceania, including a lineage related to those of New Guinea in an archaeological sample from Wallacea. We assess these lineages in the context of variation from Southeast Asia and a reevaluation of the mitogenome mutation rate, alongside genome-wide and Y-chromosome variation, and archaeological and climatological evidence. In contrast to recent recombinational dating approaches, we find support for the long chronology, suggesting settlement by ~60 ka via at least two distinct routes into Sahul.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data and materials availability: The GenBank accession numbers for the whole mitochondrial genome sequences reported in this paper are PX272287 to PX273259, and the Iron Age Sulawesi genome is available through the European Nucleotide Archive under project PRJEB96467. All other data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials.
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Related URLs:	https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scia...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	13 Jan 2026 16:30
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2026 16:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101600
DOI:	10.1126/sciadv.ady9493

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