# Sahul

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This article is about the prehistoric continent. For the continental shelf of Western Australia, see [Sahul Shelf](/source/Sahul_Shelf). For the actual continent, see [Australia (continent)](/source/Australia_(continent)).

Not to be confused with [Sahel](/source/Sahel).

**Sahul** (/səˈhuːl/), also called **Sahul-land**, **Meganesia**, **Papualand** and **Greater Australia**,[1] was a [paleocontinent](/source/Paleocontinent) that encompassed the modern-day [landmasses](/source/Landmass) of [mainland Australia](/source/Mainland_Australia), [Tasmania](/source/Tasmania), [New Guinea](/source/New_Guinea), and the [Aru Islands](/source/Aru_Islands_Regency).[2][3][4][5][6]

Sahul was in the south-western [Pacific Ocean](/source/Pacific_Ocean), located approximately north to south between the [Equator](/source/Equator) and the [44th parallel south](/source/44th_parallel_south) and west to east between the [112th](/source/112th_meridian_east) and the [152nd](/source/152nd_meridian_east) meridians east.[2] Sahul was separated from [Sunda](/source/Sundaland) to its west by the [Wallacean Archipelago](/source/Wallacea).[2][7] At its largest, when ocean levels were at their lowest, it was approximately 10,600,000 square kilometres (4,100,000 sq mi) in size.[note 1][2]

Parts of Sahul repeatedly emerged and submerged throughout the [Pleistocene](/source/Pleistocene) epoch, beginning around 2.6 million years ago.[8] Glacial cycles—initially paced at ~41,000 years and later at ~100,000 years—drove sea-level fluctuations of up to ~120 m.[9] Each [lowstand](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lowstand) exposed the Sahul continental shelf, with reconstructions showing land connections dating back at least ~250,000 years ago, and likely much earlier.[10] The most recent rise in sea level, at the close of the last Ice Age, produced the modern configuration: New Guinea separated from mainland Australia about 8,000 years ago, and Tasmania about 6,000 years ago.[11]

Sahul hosted a large variety of unique fauna that changed independently from the rest of the world.[12] Most notably nearly all [mammals](/source/Mammal) on Sahul were [marsupials](/source/Marsupial) including a range of [browsers](/source/Browsing_(herbivory)), [burrowers](/source/Burrowing_animals), [scavengers](/source/Scavenger) and [predators](/source/Predator); [bats](/source/Bat) and rodents represented the only [placental mammals](/source/Placental_mammal).[12]

It is estimated humans first migrated to Sahul at least 65,000 years ago, making the ocean crossing from Sunda through Wallacea.[13] From Sahul humans spread throughout [Oceania](/source/Oceania).[3]

## Usage

The name Sahul is used by archeologists, and Meganesia tends to be used by [zoogeographers](/source/Zoogeography).[4] The name Greater Australia has been used, and has been criticised as "cartographic imperialism" because it places greater emphasis upon what is now Australia at the expense of New Guinea.[6]

## See also

- [List of paleocontinents](/source/List_of_paleocontinents)
- [Wallace Line](/source/Wallace_Line)

## Notes

1. The present day area of Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania is approximately 8,500,000 square kilometres (3,300,000 sq mi).[2]

## References

### Citations

1. Gillespie, Richard (January 2002). "Dating the First Australians". *Radiocarbon*. **44** (2): 455–472. [Bibcode:2002Radcb..44..455G](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002Radcb..44..455G). [doi:10.1017/S0033822200031830](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200031830)

1. White & O'Connell (1982), p. 6.

1. O'Connor & Hiscock (2018), p. 26.

1. Groves (1996), p. 83.

1. Oliver (1961), p. 5.

1. Ballard (1993), p. 20.

1. O’Connell, Allen & Hawkes (2010), p. 57.

1. [*Sahul*](https://www.britannica.com/place/Australia). Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved August 23, 2025.

1. Huybers, P. (2007). "Glacial variability over the last two million years: An extended depth-derived age model, continuous obliquity pacing, and the 100,000-year problem". *Quaternary Science Reviews*. **11** (1): 16707. [doi:10.1038/s41598-021-96372-x](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96372-x). [PMC 8373940](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8373940). [PMID 34408237](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34408237)

1. Voris, H.K. (2001). ["Maps of Pleistocene sea levels in Southeast Asia: shorelines, river systems and time durations"](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00489.x). *Journal of Biogeography*. **27** (5): 1153–1167. [doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00489.x](https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00489.x). Retrieved August 23, 2025.

1. Kennett, Chopping & Blewett (2018), p. 4.

1. White & O'Connell (1982), p. 12.

1. [https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/evidence-of-first-peoples](https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/evidence-of-first-peoples)

### Bibliography

- Ballard, Chris (1993). ["Stimulating minds to fantasy? A critical etymology for Sahul"](https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/251698/1/b18640102.pdf). *Sahul in review: Pleistocene archaeology in Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia*. Smith, M. A.; Spriggs, M.; Fankhouser, B. (eds.). Canberra: Australian National University. pp. 17–23. ISBN 0-7315-1540-4.

- Groves, Colin P. (1996). "Hovering on the brink: nearly but not quite getting to Australia". *Perspectives in human biology: volume 2 humans in the Australasian region*. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co, Pte Ltd. pp. 83–87. ISBN 981-02-3023-0. [ISSN 1038-5762](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1038-5762)

- Kennett, B. L. N.; Chopping, R.; Blewett, R. (2018). [*The Australian continent: a geophysical synthesis*](https://books.google.com/books?id=YxFxDwAAQBAJ). Canberra: Australian National University Press. ISBN 9781760462475.

- O’Connell, James F.; Allen, Jim; Hawkes, Kristen (2010). ["Pleistocene Sahul and the origins of seafaring"](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281283058). *The global origins and development of seafaring*. Anderson, Athol; Barrett, James H.; Boyle, Katherine V. (eds.). Cambridge: MacDonald Institute for Archeological Research. pp. 57–68. ISBN 978-1-902937-52-6.

- O'Connor, Sue & Hiscock, Peter (2018). ["The people of Sahul and near Oceania"](https://books.google.com/books?id=JZRODwAAQBAJ&q=prehistoric+continent+sahul). *The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania*. Cochrane, Ethan E. & Hunt, Terry L. (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 26–45. ISBN 978-0-19-992507-0.

- Oliver, Douglas L. (1961). *The Pacific Islands*. New York: The American Museum of Natural History.

- Thomas, Nicholas (June 2021). ["From Sunda to Sahul: the first crossings and early settlement of the Pacific"](https://www.naturalhistorymag.com/features/113822/from-sunda-to-sahul). *[Natural History](/source/Natural_History_(magazine))*. Research Triangle Park: Natural History Magazine, Inc. [ISSN 0028-0712](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0028-0712). Retrieved 7 January 2022.

- White, J. Peter & O'Connell, James F. (1982). *A prehistory of Australia, New Guinea and Sahul*. Sydney: Academic Press Australia. ISBN 0-12-746750-5.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sahul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahul) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahul?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.