The study combined data from two previously published studies, one that modeled patterns of population movement and growth via a grid-based system and one that charted the probable ‘superhighways’ of exploration based on landscape features. The new model identified an undetected new corridor of movement southwards through the center of Sahul, which was likely used by the first humans to explore the continent.
The research emphasizes the critical role that the now-submerged continental margins played in early human expansions. The Northwest Shelf of Sahul, which was a vast area of land in the Late Pleistocene epoch, connected the Australian regions of the Kimberley and western Arnhem Land during times of lower sea level than today. This area was likely a key stepping stone for the first maritime explorers from Wallacea, the region of modern-day Indonesia, providing a familiar environment for their adaptation to the vast continent of Sahul.