2J4 " ^' lOirNSTON .MKMOKI.M, LKCTIUK. 



PART II. 



GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ANTIQUITY OF 



MAN IN THE COMMONWEALTH, WITH SPECIAL 



REFERENCE TO THE TASMANIAN ABORIGINES. 



One now passes to notes on the special research "Evi- 

 "dence of the Antiquity of Man in the Commonwealth, with 

 "special reference to the Tasmanian aborigines." 



This subject would not seem inappropriate to this 

 memorial lecture, a& Johnston was no mean authority on 

 the Tasmanian aborigines and their implements, and, more- 

 over, their ancient history, as will presently appear, was 

 intimately linked up with phases of the great ice age through 

 which Tasmania has passed many thousands of years ago, 

 and evidence of the former presence of glaciers and ice 

 sheets in Tasmania was a favourite subject of research 

 for R. M. Johnston. One of his chief scientific papers 

 is wholly devoted to this subject. 



Before proceeding to consider the age of the first 

 coming of man into Tasmania and Australia, we must 

 briefly review some time scale, to which wfe can refer the 

 evidence, a scale which has been made after much toil of 

 many workers in the Northern Hemisphere. 



This scale depends on phases of what is known as the 

 Pleistocene Ice age. It is now generally recognised that 

 there were four glaciations, separated from one another by 

 three mild inter-glacial phases. 



1. Time Scale Supplied by Pleistocene Glacial Epochs. 

 a. In the Northern Hemisphere. (24) 

 These four "flacial phases, with their inter-glacial phases, 

 were approximately as follows: — 



Post-glacial Time, about 7.0(10 years, that is, ab:)ut .^..00l\ 



B.C., to present 

 Wurm or Wisconsin Ice Age, 5,000 B.C. to 15,000 U.V. 



(possibly 50,000 B.C.). 

 Diirntenian or Sangamon, mild epoch, 15,000 B.C. t(» 



G0,000 B.C. 

 Kiss or Illinoian Glaciation, 60,000 B.C. to 80,000 B.C. 



(possibly 150,000 to 1K0,000 B.C.). 

 Helvetian, or Yarmouth, or Tyrolian. mild epoch, K0,000 



B.C. to 250,000 B.C. (possibly 180,000 to 350,000 



B.C.). 



