The Environment Context of Megafaunal in Australia

The relative roles of climate change and humans in the late Quaternary extinction of the Australian large-animal fauna (megafauna) has long been a continuous debate. Recently, a better chronology for key events, namely magafauna demise at 50 + 5 ka soon after human arrival at 55060ka suggests, but does not prove, a human-cause for megafaunal extinction. This project will investigate the human-megafauna link and examine the role of climate change in the extinction by improving the chronology for the events and by a detailed investigation of environmental conditions, before during and after the extinction event at four key sites.