Australia. In the first encounter between Aborigines and Europeans, the former were judged by the latter to be the simplest and most backward culture in the world. In reality, the Aborigines, divided into opposing tribes, were among the most advanced societies in the world by 38,000 BC. For several thousand years, they had already possessed vessels capable of navigating the high seas and reaching destinations beyond the horizon. They had various types of stone tools, composite weapons such as stone axes with wooden handles, and painted on rock faces. All this occurred 28,000 years before the end of the last glaciation (Wurz), when the rest of the planet would begin the same development. Several factors also played against the Aborigines, including the lack of large, domesticated animals (most likely exterminated by the Aborigines themselves), the lack of high-yielding crops for agriculture, and a limited territory with no easy East-West communication for exchange with other cultures.
