The Upper Palaeolithic period, the last phase of ‘The Old Stone Age’ is concurrent with human migration out of Africa and across the world. Modern Humans will have travelled across Asia and back into Europe but also into ‘Oceania’ – which today is South East Asia and Australasia. They would have encountered the challenge of travelling across much water but as the sea level would have been much lower due to the Ice Sheets in the Northern hemisphere locking up much of the worlds water, reaching Australia was ultimately possible. This would have required seafaring technology however, and it is now accepted that Australia itself was reached by approximately 60,000 YBP. The Palaeolithic is characterised by stone technology as it will endure for its contemporary study. However as boats were not made of stone it is harder for us to access evidence of this technology, instead genetic evidence gives us a picture of this migration.

Oceania in the Neolithic period.

Ancient Oeania.

Mediaeval Oceania.

Modern Oceania.