A study published in Science Advances reveals how some of the first humans arrived in Tasmania over 41,000 years ago, about 2,000 years earlier than previously thought. The study suggests that these humans used fire to shape and manage the landscape.
A team of UK researchers analysed charcoal and pollen found in ancient mud to determine how Aboriginal Tasmanians shaped their surroundings. This is now the earliest record of humans using fire to shape the Tasmanian environment.
Early human migrations from Africa to Australia were already underway by the early part of the last ice age. These results now show that humans travelled to northern Australia around 65,000 years ago.
When the first Tasmanian Indigenous communities (called Palawa/Pakana) reached Tasmania (known to the Palawa people as Lutruwita), it was the furthest south humans had ever reached. These early Aboriginal communities used fire to travel through dense and wet forests, which is evidenced by a sudden increase in charcoal accumulated in ancient mud 41,600 years ago.
The authors claim that these results help us understand how humans have been shaping the Earth’s environment for tens of thousands of years and recognise the long-term connection between Aboriginal people and their landscape, which is vital for landscape management in Australia today.
Today, Tasmania is located about 240 kilometres off the southeast Australian coast, separated from the Australian mainland by the Bass Strait. However, during the last ice age, Australia and Tasmania remained connected by a land bridge, allowing people to reach Tasmania on foot. This connection was viable until about 8,000 years ago. Eventually, rising sea levels cut Tasmania off from the Australian mainland at the end of the last ice age.
“Australia is home to the world’s oldest Indigenous culture, which has endured for over 50,000 years,” said the study’s lead author, Dr Matthew Adeleye from Cambridge’s Department of Geography. “Earlier studies have shown that Aboriginal communities on the Australian mainland used fire to shape their habitats, but we haven’t had similarly detailed environmental records for Tasmania.”
The team studied ancient mud collected from islands in the Bass Strait, which is part of Tasmania today but would have been part of the land bridge connecting Australia and Tasmania during the last ice age. Analysis of this mud showed a sudden increase in charcoal around 41,600 years ago, followed by a major change in vegetation about 40,000 years ago, as indicated by different types of pollen in the mud.
“This suggests these early inhabitants were clearing forests by burning them in order to create open spaces for subsistence and perhaps cultural activities,” said Dr Adeleye. “Fire is an important tool, and it would have been used to promote the type of vegetation or landscape that was important to them.”
The authors speculate that humans learned to use fire to clear and manage forests during their migration across the glacial landscape of Sahul – a palaeocontinent that encompassed modern-day Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and eastern Indonesia – as part of the extensive migration out of Africa.
“As natural habitats adapted to these controlled burnings, we see the expansion of fire-adapted species such as Eucalyptus, primarily on the wetter, eastern side of the Bass Strait islands,” said Dr Adeleye.
Aboriginal communities in Australia still carry out these burning practices today, including for landscape management and cultural activities. However, this technique, known as cultural burning, remains controversial in managing severe wildfires in Australia. The researchers say understanding this ancient land management practice could help define and restore pre-colonial landscapes.
“These early Tasmanian communities were the island’s first land managers,” said Dr Adeleye. “If we’re going to protect Tasmanian and Australian landscapes for future generations, it’s important that we listen to and learn from Indigenous communities who are calling for a greater role in helping to manage Australian landscapes into the future.”
Matthew A. Adeleye et al., Landscape burning facilitated Aboriginal migration into Lutruwita/Tasmania 41,600 years ago. Sci. Adv.10,eadp6579(2024).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adp6579