Western perspective: people Humans arrived at the lake about 40, years ago, probably by following a river from the coast. Secrets of Lake Mungo National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media. Oldest humans in Australia In geologist Jim Bowler discovered bones emerging from the Lake Mungo lunette eroded dunes that display major sedimentary layers. Mungo Man Five years later Jim Bowler found more bones, these turned out to be the skeleton of a male. Mungo Lady and Mungo Man return home For the Paakantji, Mutthi Mutthi and Ngyimpaa people, the human remains and other evidence of their ancestors are an important part of their communal history and for them it is crucial that these remains be returned to their country.
Curriculum subjects. Year levels. In our collection. Small brown vinyl suticase used to transport the late-Pleistocene Mungo cremation to Canberra by archaeologist Professor D J Small brown vinyl suticase with a handle and two metal clips at the front. The suitcase is reinforced at eight corners and lined with yellow wallpaper. The lid has two broken leather straps to hold it. Explore Defining Moments.
Evidence of first peoples. Earliest evidence of the boomerang in Australia. Arrival of the dingo. Mabo decision. You may also like. Lake Mungo. I was mapping ancient shorelines and finding strange objects, freshwater shells high above water levels, stone tools lying on erosion surfaces, fallen from above but with no certainty of their original undisturbed sites.
People had been there long before me. I reported my suspicions of ancient shoreline occupation of this now dry basin to archaeological colleagues at the Australian National University. I later named the basin, Lake Mungo, after the pastoral property lease that covered the major part of the basin, Mungo Station. From geological analysis I was confident the lakeshore dune suggested origins at least 20, years ago.
Leave the archaeology to us. Concerned to resolve the puzzle, I was studying freshwater shells deep in the dune core of this ancient lake margin. According to my field notes that was on July 15, , although it was incorrectly reported for a time as July 5.
Diagrammatic cross-section through the site of suspected hearth, later identified as cremation site of Mungo I, arrowed. A upper : Sketch from field notes of July 15, Image Credit: Jim Bowler. If those shells represented a human midden a refuse heap , it involved occupation much older than accepted at the time.
But was it human agency? Birds can carry shells. Returning to camp in the late afternoon, an interesting block of soil carbonate lay exposed on an erosion surface. Nothing special in itself but this contained a substantial concentration of burnt bones. View east across southern end of Lake Mungo.
The red dot shows the location of Mungo I Mungo Lady remains. Firmly cemented in soil carbonate, this reflected a fire of great antiquity. The organised burning of large mammalian bones, recorded in field notes as a probable hearth, clearly involved human agency. Ironically, this was the first item of archaeological evidence clearly in an undisturbed position.
Duly marked for future location, I reported these findings in an October archaeological seminar at the ANU. The photographs shown then of burnt bones of such obvious antiquity spoke for themselves. An enlargement showing fragments of burnt bones arrowed believed then to be part of a human hearth. The scepticism of my archaeological colleagues diminished. Despite an immediate invitation, it took another six months, until March to lead a team of soil scientists and archaeologists to the site.
Finding the bones exactly as I had left them eight months earlier, that clear sunny day generated immense excitement. Dr Rhys Jones, breaking away fragments of cemented bones, recognised remnants of a human cranium. The March photograph of the site on the day of archaeological recovery of bones.
This is a shared entry with Mungo Man. Scholars have deduced from their skeletal remains all that is known to science about their biographies. She was found in July by Jim Bowler, a postgraduate student in geology at the Australian National University ANU , Canberra, who was engaged on a geomorphological study of the series of thirteen interconnected former lakes comprising the Willandra, on the traditional lands of the Paakantji, Ngyiampaa, and Mutthi Mutthi peoples.
Laid to rest in a supine position with hands together in the lap, the corpse had been sprinkled with red ochre powder suggesting a ceremonial burial. Deposits of the mineral are not found locally, the nearest source being hundreds of kilometres away, and significant energy must have been expended to acquire and transport the material.
Although the evidence of gender is inconclusive, the remains have been widely accepted as being those of a man of about fifty, of light build and centimetres tall. Two lower canine teeth appear to have been removed some years before death, possibly in a ritual ceremony, while the outer buccal surfaces of his molars were worn in a pattern consistent with the stripping of plant fibre, perhaps in the preparation of fishing nets, baskets, or bags. His teeth did not show the kind of wear expected of a person dependent on ground-seed meal, indicating a diverse diet.
The condition of his thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, and his right elbow, show that he suffered from osteoarthritis, in the latter an extreme affliction that he bore for some years before his death.
This would have caused chronic pain and restricted the movement of his right arm; certainly, it would have prevented the use of weapons associated with hunting and defence. The injury may have been related to repetitive stress, perhaps from throwing a spear, using a spear-thrower, or other activity such as canoeing, knapping, fighting, or arm wrestling. Alternatively, a chronic inflammatory condition may have been the cause. The geomorphological history and the numerous archaeological sites of the Willandra Lakes provide context to the limited knowledge of the lives of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man.
The ancient lakes and their associated lunettes preserve a detailed archive of the human, hydrological, and terrestrial history of the region.
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