Aboriginal Australians, the indigenous people of Australia, are the oldest existing human civilization on Earth, according to a new DNA study.
The most comprehensive genomic study of aborigines found a direct line going back more than 75,000 years. A team of international researchers collected genomic data on 83 Aboriginal Australians and 25 Highland Papuans from Papua New Guinea.
The findings revealed the ancestors of Aboriginal Australians diverged from Eurasians 57,000 years ago after a single exodus from Africa some 75,000 years ago. It suggests Aboriginal Australians came to Australia as early as 31,000 years ago.
The study affirms Aboriginal Australians are the most ancient civilization on Earth.
"This story has been missing for a long time in science," said Eske Willerslev at the University of Copenhagen, who led the study.
"Now we know their relatives are the guys who were the first real human explorers. Our ancestors were sitting being kind of scared of the world while they set out on this exceptional journey across Asia and across the sea."
DNA allowed researchers to follow ancient human lines and conclude the ancestors of aborigines were likely the first to cross an ocean and perhaps even interbreed with other hominin tribes. The study published in the latest edition of Nature (the world's most cited scientific journal published in the UK) sheds new light on the human species.
"The importance of this study for me is to have some proof of how long we (Aboriginals) have been in Australia," said Colleen Wall, an Aboriginal elder and Senior Woman of the Dauwa Kau'bvai Nation.
"To have that credibility is really important to us as we know from our point of view that we've been here for thousands of years, but people look at our stories (of being here)as myth."
Only three Aboriginal Australian whole genome sequences have been described, making this study the most expansive investigation into indigenous Australian origins yet.
The findings also further explain the origin of Aboriginal Australians. What the study reveals is that one founding population expanded slowly across the Australian continent.