The earliest humans to settle Australia arrived at least 50,000 years ago. At the time of
British colonization in 1788 there were two hundred or more Aboriginal language
communities within the continent. In areas of intense colonization, the Aboriginal
economy was rapidly destroyed and it is only through the reports of explorers that we
have records of semi-permanent settlements, the cultivation of edible roots (Dioscorea
sp.) and the construction of eel dykes. While such practices have recently been confirmed
by archaeological research in the southeast and southwest of the continent, much of
Australian anthropology has been conducted in areas remote from European settlement
and it is from these areas that the image of the ‘typical’ indigenous cultures of Australia
has been derived.
