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

Sahul was in the south-western Pacific Ocean, located approximately north to south between the Equator and the 44th parallel south and west to east between the 112th and the 152nd meridians east.^[2] Sahul was separated from Sunda to its west by the Wallacean Archipelago.^[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 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 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 on Sahul were marsupials including a range of browsers, burrowers, scavengers and predators; bats and rodents represented the only placental mammals.^[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.^[3]

The name Sahul is used by archeologists, and Meganesia tends to be used by zoogeographers.^[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]

• Arafura Sea – Marginal sea between Australia and Indonesian New Guinea
• List of paleocontinents
• Wallace Line

• Ballard, Chris (1993). "Stimulating minds to fantasy? A critical etymology for Sahul". In Smith, M. A.; Spriggs, M.; Fankhouser, B. (eds.). Sahul in review: Pleistocene archaeology in Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia (PDF). 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". In Rousham, Emily; Freedman, Leonard (eds.). 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.

• Kennett, B. L. N.; Chopping, R.; Blewett, R. (2018). The Australian continent: a geophysical synthesis. Canberra: Australian National University Press. ISBN 9781760462475.

• O’Connell, James F.; Allen, Jim; Hawkes, Kristen (2010). "Pleistocene Sahul and the origins of seafaring". In Anderson, Athol; Barrett, James H.; Boyle, Katherine V. (eds.). The global origins and development of seafaring. 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". In Cochrane, Ethan E.; Hunt, Terry L. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania. 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". Natural History. Research Triangle Park: Natural History Magazine, Inc. 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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