View source for Sahul

{{Short description|Prehistoric continent comprising Australia and New Guinea}}
{{About|the prehistoric continent|the continental shelf of Western Australia|Sahul Shelf|the actual continent|Australia (Continent)}}
{{Distinguish|Sahel}}
[[File:Map of Sunda and Sahul.svg|thumb|Map of Sahul with [[Sundaland|Sunda]]]]
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'''Sahul''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ə|ˈ|h|uː|l}}), also called '''Sahul-land''', '''Meganesia''', '''Papualand''' and '''Greater Australia''',<ref name="Dating the First Australians">{{cite journal |last1=Gillespie |first1=Richard |title=Dating the First Australians |journal=Radiocarbon |date=January 2002 |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=455–472 |doi=10.1017/S0033822200031830|doi-access=free |bibcode=2002Radcb..44..455G }}</ref> was a [[paleocontinent]] that encompassed the modern-day [[landmass]]es of [[mainland Australia]], [[Tasmania]], [[New Guinea]], and the [[Aru Islands Regency|Aru Islands]].{{sfnp|White|O'Connell|1982|p=6}}{{sfnp|O'Connor|Hiscock|2018|p=26}}{{sfnp|Groves|1996|p=83}}{{sfnp|Oliver|1961|p=5}}{{sfnp|Ballard|1993|p=20}}
Sahul was in the south-western [[Pacific Ocean]], located approximately north to south between the [[Equator]] and the [[44th parallel south]] and west to east between the [[112th meridian east|112th]] and the [[152nd meridian east|152nd]] meridians east.{{sfnp|White|O'Connell|1982|p=6}} Sahul was separated from [[Sundaland|Sunda]] to its west by the [[Wallacea|Wallacean Archipelago]].{{sfnp|White|O'Connell|1982|p=6}}{{sfnp|O’Connell|Allen|Hawkes|2010|p=57}} At its largest, when ocean levels were at their lowest, it was approximately {{convert|10600000|km2|sqmi}} in size.{{refn|group=note|The present day area of Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania is approximately {{convert|8500000|km2|sqmi}}.{{sfnp|White|O'Connell|1982|p=6}}}}{{sfnp|White|O'Connell|1982|p=6}}
After the [[Last Glacial Period|last Ice Age]] global temperatures increased and sea levels gradually rose, flooding the land bridge and separating mainland Australia from New Guinea and Tasmania.{{sfnp|Kennett|Chopping|Blewett|2018|p=4}} New Guinea was separated from the Australian mainland approximately 8,000 years ago, and Tasmania approximately 6,000 years ago.{{sfnp|Kennett|Chopping|Blewett|2018|p=4}}
Sahul hosted a large variety of unique fauna that changed independently from the rest of the world.{{sfnp|White|O'Connell|1982|p=12}} Most notably nearly all [[mammal]]s on Sahul were [[marsupial]]s including a range of [[Browsing (herbivory)|browsers]], [[Burrowing animals|burrowers]], [[scavenger]]s and [[predator]]s; [[bat]]s and rodents represented the only [[placental mammal]]s.{{sfnp|White|O'Connell|1982|p=12}}
It is estimated humans first colonized Sahul around 45,000 years ago, making the ocean crossing from Sunda through Wallacea.{{sfnp|O’Connell|Allen|Hawkes|2010|pp=57–58}} From Sahul humans spread throughout [[Oceania]].{{sfnp|O'Connor|Hiscock|2018|p=26}}
The name Sahul is used by archeologists, while the name Meganesia tends to be used by [[Zoogeography|zoogeographers]].{{sfnp|Groves|1996|p=83}} The name Greater Australia has been used, but it has been criticised as "cartographic imperialism" because it places greater emphasis upon what is now Australia at the expense of New Guinea.{{sfnp|Ballard|1993|p=20}}
==See also==
* {{annotated link|Arafura Sea}}
* [[List of paleocontinents]]
* [[Wallace Line]]
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}
==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}
=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite book |last=Ballard |first=Chris |date=1993 |chapter=Stimulating minds to fantasy? A critical etymology for Sahul |editor-last1=Smith |editor-first1=M. A. |editor-last2=Spriggs |editor-first2=M. |editor-last3=Fankhouser |editor-first3=B.  |title=Sahul in review: Pleistocene archaeology in Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/251698/1/b18640102.pdf |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=17–23 |isbn=0-7315-1540-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Groves |first=Colin P. |date=1996 |chapter=Hovering on the brink: nearly but not quite getting to Australia |editor1-last=Rousham |editor1-first=Emily |editor2-last=Freedman |editor2-first=Leonard  |title=Perspectives in human biology: volume 2 humans in the Australasian region |location=Singapore |publisher=World Scientific Publishing Co, Pte Ltd |pages=83–87 |isbn=981-02-3023-0 |issn=1038-5762 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Kennett |first1=B. L. N. |last2=Chopping |first2=R. |last3=Blewett |first3=R.  |date=2018 |title=The Australian continent: a geophysical synthesis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxFxDwAAQBAJ |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University Press |isbn=9781760462475}}
* {{cite book |last1=O’Connell |first1=James F. |last2=Allen |first2=Jim |last3=Hawkes |first3= Kristen |date=2010 |chapter=Pleistocene Sahul and the origins of seafaring |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281283058 |editor-last1=Anderson |editor-first1=Athol |editor-last2=Barrett |editor-first2=James H. |editor-last3=Boyle |editor-first3=Katherine V. |title=The global origins and development of seafaring |location=Cambridge |publisher=MacDonald Institute for Archeological Research |pages=57–68 |isbn=978-1-902937-52-6}}
* {{cite book |last1=O'Connor |first1=Sue |last2=Hiscock |first2=Peter |chapter=The people of Sahul and near Oceania |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZRODwAAQBAJ&q=prehistoric+continent+sahul |editor-last1=Cochrane |editor-first1=Ethan E. |editor-last2=Hunt |editor-first2=Terry L. |date=2018 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=26–45 |isbn=978-0-19-992507-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Oliver |first=Douglas L. |date=1961 |title=The Pacific Islands |location=New York |publisher=The American Museum of Natural History }}
* {{cite magazine |last=Thomas |first=Nicholas |author-link1=Nicholas Thomas (anthropologist) |date=June 2021 |title=From Sunda to Sahul: the first crossings and early settlement of the Pacific |url=https://www.naturalhistorymag.com/features/113822/from-sunda-to-sahul |magazine=[[Natural History (magazine)|Natural History]] |location=Research Triangle Park |publisher=Natural History Magazine, Inc. |issn=0028-0712 |access-date=7 January 2022}}
* {{cite book |last1=White |first1=J. Peter |last2=O'Connell |first2=James F. |date=1982 |title=A prehistory of Australia, New Guinea and Sahul |url= |location=Sydney |publisher=Academic Press Australia |isbn=0-12-746750-5}}
{{Continents of the world}}
[[Category:Australia (continent)]]
[[Category:Historical continents]]
[[Category:History of Oceania]]
[[Category:Asia-Pacific]]
[[Category:Pacific Ocean]]
[[Category:Southern Ocean]]
[[Category:Indian Ocean]]
{{palaeogeography-stub}}