Archaeologists working in a remote cave have confirmed evidence that humans were living in Australia around 50,000 years ago.

Conservative estimates previously placed humans in the antipodean nation around 47,000 years ago.

The new findings push this back by at least 3,000 years and represent the earliest evidence ever found of occupation of the country's coastal region.

And researchers, who found evidence of the dietary habits of the early settlers in the country's coastal region, believe they may have been there even earlier.

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Archaeologists working on Barrow Island (pictured), which was connected to the mainland by a land bridge until 6,800 years age, have dated artefacts found in a remote cave that show Aborigines were living in Australia at least 50,000 years ago, 3,000 years earlier than thought

BOODIE CAVE Scientists from the University of Western Australia working on Barrow Island in northwest Australia have dated artefacts found in a remote cave. They show that Aboriginal people were living in Australia at least 50,000 years ago, 3,000 years earlier than previously thought. The island was connected to the mainland by a land bridge until 6,800 years ago, but Aboriginal people abandoned it when sea levels rose. One of the largest excavation sites on the island was the 330 foot (100 metre) long Boodie Cave, where the team recovered over 10,000 artefacts. The limestone cave and arid climate provided ideal conditions for the preservation of the archaeological finds. The remnants of shellfish that were consumed at the site 42,500 years ago represent the oldest marine food source ever found in Australia. Advertisement

Scientists from the University of Western Australia focused their efforts on Barrow Island, located around 40 miles (60 km) off the Pilbara coast of northwest Australia.

The island was connected to the mainland by a land bridge until 6,800 years ago, but Aboriginal people abandoned it when sea levels rose.

One of the largest excavation sites on the island was the 330 foot (100 metre) long Boodie Cave, where the team recovered over 10,000 artefacts.

The earliest deposits from the lowest level of the cave included burnt bone, shell and stone items.

The investigators concluded that foragers carried molluscs from the coast up to 12 miles (20 kilometres) to the cave.

Marine sources of food were brought to the cave in varying quantities throughout the thousands of years it was inhabited, despite fluctuating sea levels and dramatic extensions of the coastal plain.

The limestone cave and arid climate provided ideal conditions for the preservation of the archaeological finds.

The remnants of shellfish that were consumed at the site 42,500 years ago represent the oldest marine food source ever found in Australia.

Professor Peter Veth, who led the expedition, said: 'The large cave on Barrow Island provided rich records of ancient artefacts, gathering and hunting of marine and arid animals, and environmental signatures which show the use of a now-drowned coastal desert landscape, if you like an Atlantis of the South.

'We know about old desert sites from the northern hemisphere but few have these extraordinary dietary records.

'The cave was used predominately as a hunting shelter between about 50,000 and 30,000 years ago before becoming a residential base for family groups after 10,000 years ago.

'Remarkably the early colonists of the now-submerged North West Shelf did not turn their back on the sea or remain coastally tethered but rapidly adapted to the new marsupial animals and arid zone plants of the extensive maritime deserts of northwest Australia.'

The Australian national nuclear research and development organisation's Centre for Accelerator Science was one of four independent facilities that dated a range of specimens retrieved from the site, including charcoal and shell.

One of the largest excavation sites on the island was the 330 foot (100 metre) long Boodie Cave (pictured), where the team recovered over 10,000 artefacts

The remnants of shellfish that were consumed at the site 42,500 years ago (pictured) represent the oldest marine food source ever found in Australia

The combined results of radiocarbon and optical luminescent dating provided a consistent timeline for the finds.

This indicated a period of occupation between 46,200 and 51,100 thousand years ago.

The estimates overlap with, and effectively push back, the earliest dates now widely accepted for the first occupation of Australia.

Dr Vladimir Levchenko, who supervised radiocarbon dating on the Antares accelerator, said: 'Proffesor Veth's group, who carried out a field survey over three years, has helped to clarify our understanding of the behaviour of modern peoples who dispersed from Africa and reached Australia.

This plan and cross section of Boodie Cave show its position in relation to the present shoreline, as well as the location of excavation trenches and other features

'This research strongly supports the theory that Aboriginal people, although living inland, were relying on the resources of the coast.

'Our quality control, which includes the use of a large pool of process blanks that are updated continuously, enhance the accuracy and reliability of our measurements.

'Although the coastal areas where the first inhabitants of our continent lived now lie under water, the team located a site on a continental island that has proved to be remarkably rich.

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.