DNA evidence points to humans reaching Australia 60,000 years ago

The story of how people reached Australia and the Pacific has never sat still. Bits of evidence have shifted it back and forth over time. New genetic work, read alongside archaeology, nudges it further again. It suggests people were already moving into the landmass known as Sahul around 60,000 years ago. That would have meant crossing open water, even with lower sea levels. The traces left behind are uneven but persistent, scattered through DNA lineages that still surface today. Rather than one clean arrival, the picture looks slower and less tidy. Groups moved, stopped, returned, and adapted as coastlines changed. It adds weight to the idea that human presence here runs deeper than older timelines allowed.

Humans reached Australia around 60,000 years ago, DNA study suggests

Some of the strongest clues come from maternal DNA. Lineages found across Australia and New Guinea split in ways that are difficult to square with a late arrival. A settlement closer to 45,000 years ago leaves too little time for this diversity to form. An earlier entry fits more comfortably, even if many details remain unclear. Sea levels were lower, but not low enough to remove water crossings altogether. Boats were still needed. That alone hints at intent and experience rather than chance.According to the study “Genomic evidence supports the “long chronology” for the peopling of Sahul”, the genetic patterns do not point to a single path in. One stream seems to have moved north through Island Southeast Asia into New Guinea and nearby islands. Another appears to have taken a more southern route into Australia. These were not sealed-off journeys. For long stretches, people appear to have remained in contact, helped by narrow seas and shifting shorelines. Movement looks uneven, responding to place and opportunity rather than following a strict expansion plan.

Long-term connections across Australia and New Guinea

Early populations did not immediately drift apart. Signals in the DNA suggest repeated contact across regions that are now separated by water. This helps explain why some cultural and genetic features overlap so widely. Communities seem to have adjusted to new landscapes without cutting ties entirely. Only later, as seas rose and distances widened, did isolation begin to harden.

Pacific expansion built on deep regional history

When people eventually pushed further into the Pacific, they were not starting from nothing. Genetic markers linked to Polynesian ancestry appear to have taken shape around New Guinea several thousand years ago. From there, movement continued east, broadly matching what archaeologists see in Lapita sites. The roots of long-distance voyaging appear local, grown slowly rather than introduced suddenly.

Ocean voyaging emerged gradually, not suddenly

The evidence points to trial and adjustment over long periods. Boats improved. Knowledge accumulated. Social systems adapted to travel and exchange. Early crossings into Sahul mattered not just as arrivals, but as practice. By the time distant islands were settled, people were drawing on experience built up across many generations.

A longer and quieter human story in the region

There is no single turning point that explains everything. What emerges instead is persistence. People stayed, moved, returned, and reshaped their worlds as water and land shifted around them. The settlement of Australia and the Pacific feels less like a sharp moment in prehistory and more like a long presence, spreading slowly, leaving marks that were never meant to be neat or final.