There is little evidence for the role of plant foods in the dispersal of early modern humans into new habitats globally. Researchers have hypothesised that early movements of human populations through Island Southeast Asia and into Sahul were driven by the lure of high-calorie, low-handling-cost foods, and that the use of plant foods requiring processing was not common in Sahul until the Holocene. Here we present the analysis of charred plant food remains from Madjedbebe rockshelter in northern Australia, dated to between 65 kya and 53 kya. We demonstrate that Australia's earliest known human population exploited a range of plant foods, including those requiring processing. Our finds predate existing evidence for such subsistence practices in Sahul by at least 23ky. These results suggest that dietary breadth underpinned the success of early modern human populations in this region, with the expenditure of labour on the processing of plants guaranteeing reliable access to nutrients in new environments.

中文翻译：

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65,000-53,000 年前，Madjedbebe 首次出现澳大利亚植物性食品。

几乎没有证据表明植物性食物在早期现代人类向全球新栖息地的传播中发挥了作用。研究人员假设，人类早期通过东南亚岛屿进入萨胡尔的原因是高热量、低处理成本食品的诱惑，并且直到全新世，使用需要加工的植物性食品在萨胡尔并不常见。在此，我们对澳大利亚北部 Madjedbebe 岩石避难所烧焦的植物食物残骸进行了分析，其年代可追溯至 65 基亚至 53 基亚。我们证明澳大利亚已知最早的人类利用了一系列植物性食品，包括那些需要加工的植物性食品。我们的发现比萨胡尔这种谋生做法的现有证据早至少 23 年。这些结果表明，饮食的多样性支撑了该地区早期现代人类的成功，植物加工上的劳动力支出保证了在新环境中可靠地获取营养。