The ice-age discovery and settlement of Australasia was one of the remark­able stories in the global dispersion of modern humans.

Genetic, archaeo­logical and environmental evidence combine to yield an image of the arrival more than 50,000 years ago of migrating groups who had moved out of Africa and through southern or central Asia. Subsequent physical, social and economic adjustments of human groups over time in the varied environ­ments of Australasia resulted in cultural diversification. Tracing the coloniza­tion and cultural radiation of humans in Australasia provides unique insights into the earliest human history in this region of the world.