Palaeontological Data of The Prehistoric Human Populations of The Land of The Dream Time

The present article reviews the fossil data of the prehistoric human skeletal remains of Australia. The human racial term Australoid refers to the native people of Australia observed by European settlers as of the eighteenth century. Occupation of this island continent of the southern hemisphere by Australian Aborigines from before the Last Glacial Maximum is considered to be one of the most ancient and successful human settlements in the world. In this view, native Australians are the oldest surviving population in the world and have the longest, continuous systematic geohistorical record. The present goal is to highlight the important skeletal remains which have been unearthed from different localities of the Land of the Dream Time and their links with other populations from nearby zones. Reprinted by permission from the Editor, Oriental Anthropologist