Ancient Supercontinent Discovered Beneath Australian Waters

Photo by@Geoscience Australlia/dailymail.co

• Scientists have discovered a lost continent off the coast of Australia, named the North West Shelf, which was home to up to 500,000 people around 70,000 years ago.
• This landmass was about 1.6 times larger than the UK, featuring archipelagos, lakes, rivers, and a large inland sea, and it submerged around 10,000 years ago due to rising sea levels.
• The North West Shelf played a significant role in human migration and cultural development, with its archipelagos possibly acting as migration pathways from Indonesia to Australia.

In a groundbreaking discovery, archaeologists led by Kasih Norman from Griffith University in Queensland have identified a vast, submerged landmass off Australia's northern coast.

Known as the North West Shelf, this continent once spanned an area 1.6 times larger than the UK, boasting a rich landscape of archipelagos, lakes, rivers, and a substantial inland sea. Around 70,000 years ago, it was densely populated, supporting as many as 500,000 humans. This landmass served not only as a habitat but also as a crucial migratory route, with its large archipelagos potentially facilitating human movement from Indonesia to Australia.

However, about 10,000 years ago, following the last ice age, global warming led to rising sea levels, which engulfed this once-thriving continent. Now lying approximately 300 feet underwater in the Timor Sea, the North West Shelf stretches between Australia's Kimberley and Arnhem regions. The inundation of this landmass had profound implications for the local human populations, who were forced to retreat inland. This migration is evident in the distinctive new rock art styles and cultural developments in these regions. The findings, which challenge previous notions about the use of Australia's continental shelves by Indigenous peoples, underscore the dynamic interplay between human civilizations and changing environmental conditions over millennia.

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