ArticleNature communications2020
The first Australian plant foods at Madjedbebe, 65,000-53,000 years ago.
Article in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Origins Under the Blowtorch: Frequent Fire Shifts the Balance Between Sunda-Origin and Sahul-Origin Plant Species in a Tropical Savanna.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Reframing food regulation within nutritional ecology: biocultural evidence and indigenous food systems in Australia and Aotearoa.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Indigenous peoples' rights should be recognized and strengthened to boost food innovation research.Nature food · 2024Article
- Physiography, foraging mobility, and the first peopling of Sahul.Nature communications · 2024Article
- A Review of Phytochemicals and Bioactive Properties in the Proteaceae Family: A Promising Source of Functional Food.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Article
- 65,000-years of continuous grinding stone use at Madjedbebe, Northern Australia.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- First Nations Peoples' Participation in the Development of Population-Wide Food and Nutrition Policy in Australia: A Political Economy and Cultural Safety Analysis.International journal of health policy and management · 2021Article
- Pandanus nutshell generates a palaeoprecipitation record for human occupation at Madjedbebe, northern Australia.Nature ecology & evolution · 2021Article
- The first Australian plant foods at Madjedbebe, 65,000-53,000 years ago.Nature communications · 2020Article
- Arts-Based Compassion Skills Training (ABCST): Channelling Compassion Focused Therapy Through Visual Arts for Australia's Indigenous Peoples.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is little evidence for the role of plant foods in the dispersal of early modern humans into new habitats globally. Researchers have hypothesised that early movements of human populations through Island Southeast Asia and into Sahul were driven by the lure of high-calorie, low-handling-cost foods, and that the use of plant foods requiring processing was not common in Sahul until the Holocene. Here we present the analysis of charred plant food remains from Madjedbebe rockshelter in northern Australia, dated to between 65 kya and 53 kya. We demonstrate that Australia's earliest known human population exploited a range of plant foods, including those requiring processing. Our finds predate existing evidence for such subsistence practices in Sahul by at least 23ky. These results suggest that dietary breadth underpinned the success of early modern human populations in this region, with the expenditure of labour on the processing of plants guaranteeing reliable access to nutrients in new environments.
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