WLH 50: How Australia Informs the Worldwide Pattern of Pleistocene Human Evolution

Abstract

WLH 50 is the ~26,000 kyr (16.5–37.4 kyr) year-old calotte of a large (1540cc) young-to-middle-aged male found in dune deposits near Lake Garnpung, one of the Willandra lakes in New South Wales, Australia Its importance stems from the significant similarities it appears to have with the nearby and most probably earlier human sample from Ngandong, Indonesia. Two implications of these similarities are important―the implications for Australian ancestry and the implications for the place of Ngandong in human evolution. We discuss the historic context for is-sues of indigenous Australian ancestry and show how WLH 50 informs these issues We provide both a systematic and comprehensive description of the WLH 50 fossil in a comparative context, and an interpretation of its place in human evolution A comparative analysis of the WLH 50 cranium is important for understanding its morphologi-cal pattern and addressing its ancestry; in particular, whether there are multiple ancestors for WLH 50 and other Australians that include Late Pleistocene Indonesians from Ngandong Besides these anatomical considerations, the issues of indigenous Australian ancestry also are framed by genetic analysis including both paleogenetics and observations of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from modern populations, and we discuss their implications as well We conclude that WLH 50 is a normal specimen without evidence of pathology or deformation, and that elements of its anatomy are found throughout the Australian fossil record, as it is known today Our compari-sons reveal WLH 50 has substantial similarities to the Ngandong hominids (but not identity with them) and a demonstrable pattern of multiple ancestors that includes Ngandong, as part of the network of human evolution in Australasia.