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Ancient Australia Timeline Mapping

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Ancient Australia Timeline Mapping

Use the evidence cards and timeline to investigate deep time in Australia. Dates are approximate; archaeological evidence can change as new discoveries are made. BP means years before 1950. First Nations peoples have lived on and cared for Country for tens of thousands of years, and their cultures remain living and diverse today.

Read the evidence cards

A. Madjedbebe, in northern Australia, has archaeological evidence of human occupation dated to about 65,000 years ago. B. At Lake Mungo in the Willandra Lakes region, remains and objects show ancient lives and burial practices; some evidence dates to around 40,000 years ago. C. The Gunditjmara people developed the Budj Bim eel-trapping and aquaculture system over many generations; archaeological evidence indicates it is at least 6,600 years old. D. First Nations communities across Australia developed and continue to maintain knowledge, trade, languages, cultural practices and connections to Country. These histories are diverse, not a single shared timeline.

1.Put the dates 65,000 BP, 40,000 BP and 6,600 BP in order from earliest to most recent. Explain how you know which date is earliest.

2.Match each term to its meaning: chronology; archaeological evidence; BP.

Chronology
Archaeological evidence
BP

Objects, structures or remains studied to learn about the past
Before Present; in archaeology, the reference year is 1950
The arrangement of events in time order

3.Which evidence card gives the earliest dated evidence of people living in Australia? Choose the best answer and name the place.

A — Madjedbebe
B — Lake Mungo
C — Budj Bim
D — no card gives a date

4.A classmate says, “6,600 BP must be older than 40,000 BP because 6,600 is a smaller number.” Is this correct? Explain using the meaning of BP.

5.What can the Budj Bim evidence help historians learn about? Choose one answer.

Gunditjmara engineering, food practices and long-term connection to place
The exact words spoken by every person who lived there
That all First Nations communities used identical systems
The date of every event in Australian history

6.True or false: Evidence from one archaeological site can tell us that every First Nations community lived in the same way.

TrueFalse

7.Give one reason historians and archaeologists use more than one kind of evidence when investigating the past.

8.The evidence card says Budj Bim’s system is at least 6,600 years old. Why is “at least” a careful phrase rather than claiming an exact starting date?

9.Describe one way the Budj Bim aquaculture system could support people, using evidence from the card and your own reasoning.

10.Write a two-sentence museum caption for the timeline. Include one dated example and explain why First Nations history should not be described as belonging only to the distant past.