One academic, Dr Tim Stone from the

One academic, Dr Tim Stone from the University of Melbourne, tried to argue the unusual skeletal shapes were the result of some kind of localised adaptation to the cold. (1) Stone basically argued that the Homo sapiens of the area evolved to look like Homo erectus because the body shape was better suited to the climate. In Stone's view, no other Australian population groups looked like them because the Kow Swamp people became geographically isolated for tens of thousands of years.

Stone's argument was an illogical considering that Kow Swamp was on a relatively flat area of land near the Murray River, which would likely attract high volumes of human traffic. As a point of comparison, a small population of humans in Tasmania were genetically isolated for at least 10,000 years in a very cold climate. Although paintings and photos show a slight divergence from some mainland Aborigines, their skeletons and features looked very similar to modern gracile humans.



Tasmanian Aborigines looked a lot like Africans but despite being isolated for perhaps 10,000 years in a cold climate, they still looked like modern humans.

Other academics have argued that the unusual head shapes of the Kow Swamp people were the result of cranial modification (3). In other parts of the world, this occurs due to mothers wrapping cloth around their infants' heads.

Like Stone's theory of climatic adaption, this was also an illogical explanation as body modification of infants tends to be a feature of agricultural societies that have developed hierarchical systems of status. Furthermore, it usually requires cloth to place sustained pressure on the child's skull and there is no evidence of weaving amongst Aborigines. Admittedly, it had been observed in Cape York where an adult pushed on the infants forehead using their hands to flatten the face, but it was extremely rare.

One academic defending the orthodox position, Dr Colin Groves, didn't even bother offering any explanations and simply said that those who did were racist because the explanations would interfere with contemporary activist campaigns. In his own words:

"But at the same time as one "pure-race" hypothesis was hitting the dust, another was rising. Ancient Australian skeletons were being discovered in Victoria and southern New South Wales, and they seemed to show great diversity. None of them were Negritos, Murrayians or Carpentarians, but those from Keilor and Lake Mungo were like modern Aboriginal people, whereas some (not all) of those from Kow Swamp had very flat, sloping foreheads, and some people even likened them to so-called "Java Man", Homo erectus, that had preceded modern humans (Homo sapiens) in the region to the Northwest of Australasia at least as late as 300,000 years ago. Unfortunately, although Alan Thorne, the describer of the Kow Swamp skeletons, never actually said that they were Homo erectus, the idea that an extremely primitive people preceded the present Aboriginal people in Australia, and was eliminated by them, seems to have seeped into some folks' consciousness just like the Negritos did. Negritos or Homo erectus - either way, the Aborigines were not the first possessors of Australia so the land doesn't really belong to them and the whites needn't feel too bad about dispossessing them. Really good fodder, this, for the One Nation Party, and the Prime Minister needn't feel he has to say "sorry".

If sarcasm and the need to conform to contemporary activist campaigns were highly valued qualities in academic inquiry, then it appeared as though Groves had made a powerful and compelling argument.

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

Satu akademik, Dr Tim batu dari University of Melbourne, mencoba untuk berdebat bentuk kerangka yang tidak biasa adalah hasil dari beberapa jenis lokal adaptasi terhadap dingin. Batu (1) pada dasarnya berpendapat bahwa Homo sapiens daerah berevolusi terlihat seperti Homo erectus karena bentuk tubuh lebih baik cocok untuk iklim. Dalam pandangan Stone, tidak ada kelompok penduduk Australia lain tampak seperti mereka karena orang rawa Kow menjadi geografis terisolasi untuk puluhan ribu tahun.

Stone argumen adalah tidak logis mengingat bahwa Kow rawa di daerah tanah dekat Sungai Murray yang relatif datar, yang kemungkinan akan menarik volume tinggi lalu lintas manusia. Sebagai titik perbandingan, sejumlah kecil populasi manusia di Tasmania diisolasi secara genetis selama sedikitnya 10.000 tahun dalam iklim yang sangat dingin. Meskipun lukisan dan foto menunjukkan perbedaan dari beberapa daratan Aborigin, kerangka dan fitur mereka tampak sangat mirip dengan modern manusia gracile.


Aborigin Tasmania tampak banyak seperti Afrika tetapi meskipun terisolasi selama mungkin 10,000 tahun di iklim dingin, mereka masih tampak seperti manusia modern.

akademisi lain berpendapat bahwa bentuk kepala yang tidak biasa orang Kow rawa adalah hasil dari modifikasi tengkorak (3). Di bagian lain dunia, hal ini terjadi karena ibu pembungkus kain sekitar bayi mereka kepala.

teori seperti batu iklim adaptasi, ini juga adalah penjelasan logis seperti modifikasi tubuh bayi cenderung menjadi fitur pertanian masyarakat yang telah mengembangkan sistem-sistem hierarki status. Selain itu, biasanya membutuhkan kain untuk menempatkan tekanan berkelanjutan pada anak tengkorak dan tidak ada bukti tenun antara Aborigin. Diakui, itu telah dipelihara di Cape York dimana seorang dewasa yang mendorong pada dahi bayi menggunakan tangan mereka untuk meratakan wajah, tapi itu sangat jarang.

satu akademik, mempertahankan posisi ortodoks, Dr Colin Groves, tidak repot menawarkan penjelasan apapun dan hanya berkata bahwa mereka yang melakukan itu rasis karena penjelasan akan mengganggu kampanye aktivis kontemporer. Dalam kata-katanya sendiri:

"Tapi pada saat yang sama sebagai"murni-ras"hipotesis memukul debu, lain adalah meningkat. Kuno tengkorak Australia yang ditemukan di Victoria dan Selatan New South Wales, dan mereka tampaknya menunjukkan keragaman. Tidak satupun dari mereka adalah Negrito, Murrayians atau Carpentarians, tetapi orang-orang dari Keilor dan Danau Mungo seperti orang Aborigin yang modern, sedangkan beberapa (tidak semua) dari orang-orang dari rawa-rawa Kow telah sangat datar, miring dahi, dan beberapa orang bahkan menyamakan mereka untuk apa yang disebut "manusia Jawa" Homo erectus, yang telah mendahului manusia modern (Homo sapiens) di wilayah barat laut Australasia setidaknya selewat 300.000 tahun yang lalu. Sayangnya, walaupun Alan Thorne, describer kerangka Kow rawa, tidak pernah benar-benar mengatakan bahwa mereka adalah Homo erectus, gagasan bahwa orang-orang yang sangat primitif mendahului sekarang orang-orang Aborigin di Australia, dan dihapuskan oleh mereka, tampaknya telah meresap ke dalam kesadaran beberapa orang seperti orang Negrito lakukan. Negrito atau Homo erectus - baik cara, suku Aborigin tidaklah pemilik pertama Australia sehingga tanah tidak benar-benar milik mereka dan putih tidak perlu merasa terlalu buruk tentang dispossessing mereka. Benar-benar baik pakan ternak, ini, untuk satu bangsa pesta, dan Perdana Menteri tidak perlu merasa dia harus berkata "Maaf".

Jika sarkasme dan kebutuhan untuk menyesuaikan diri dengan kampanye aktivis kontemporer kualitas sangat dihargai dalam penyelidikan akademik, kemudian muncul seolah-olah kebun telah membuat argumen yang kuat dan menarik.