Archaeologists of Griffith University (Australia) announced on their portal pages Science Direct exciting expedition, discovering underwater the ruins of a huge city inhabited by hundreds of thousands of people off the coast of Australia.

Falling sea levels on Sahul, the Pleistocene landmass of Australia and New Guinea, throughout much of the period of human occupation left large areas of the northwestern Australian continent without water. Based on analysis of high-resolution bottom relief data, this area connecting the Kimberley and Arnhemland was a submerged region that existed as an archipelago during marine isotope phase 4. It later developed into a completely exposed shelf in marine isotope stage 2, which contained an inland sea adjacent to a large freshwater lake. These areas were surrounded by deep gorges and escarpments that likely served as important resource areas and shelters for ancient human populations.

Based on population modeling, it was determined that this shelf could accommodate from 50 to 500 thousand people in different time periods in marine isotopes 4-2 phases. However, two rapid global rises in sea level (14.5 to 14.1 ka and 12 to 9 ka) led to rapid inundation of approximately 50% of the Northwest Shelf territory. This apparently led to a decrease in population numbers, which affected the density of employment at archaeological sites.

Scientists suggest that the presence of a large archipelago on the northwestern shelf in marine isotope phase 4 contributed to the successful settlement of the first sailors from Wallacea. This created a favorable environment for their maritime economy and helped them adapt to the vast continental continent of Sahul. Source