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The Lake Mungo remains are three prominent sets of human remains that are possibly Aboriginal Australian: Lake Mungo 1 (also called Mungo Woman, LM1, and ANU-618), Lake Mungo 3 (also called Mungo Man, Lake Mungo III, and LM3), and Lake Mungo 2 (LM2). Lake Mungo is in New South Wales, Australia, specifically the World Heritage listed Willandra ...
Jim Maurice Bowler AM FAHA (born 1930) is an Australian geologist known for discovering the Lake Mungo remains, which are considered the oldest human remains in Australia. [1] He is a professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne, School of Earth Sciences.
Lake Mungo is a dry lake located in New South Wales, Australia. It is about 760 km (472 miles) due west of Sydney [ 1 ] and 90 km (56 miles) north-east of Mildura . The lake is the central feature of Mungo National Park , and is one of seventeen lakes in the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region .
The central feature of Mungo National Park is Lake Mungo, the second largest of the ancient dry lakes.The Mungo National Park is noted for the archaeological remains discovered in the park [5] the remains of Mungo Man, the oldest human remains discovered in Australia, and Mungo Lady, the oldest known human to have been ritually cremated. [6]
Cremation dates from at least 17,000 years ago [2] [3] in the archaeological record, with the Mungo Lady, the remains of a partly cremated body found at Lake Mungo, Australia. [4] Alternative death rituals which emphasize one method of disposal – burial, cremation, or exposure – have gone through periods of preference throughout history.
The discovery and use of carbon-14 dating extended the dating to 40,000 years at Lake Mungo, and this was the date most frequently given. However, more recently, the analysis of sea levels has shown that coastlines 40,000 years ago were not as exposed as they were 60,000 to 70,000 years ago.
The Mungo Lake remains indicate occupation of parts of the New South Wales area by Indigenous Australians for at least 40,000 years. The British navigator James Cook became the first European to map the coast in 1770 and a First Fleet of British convicts followed to establish a penal colony at Sydney in 1788.
Mungo National Park, western New South Wales, contains the oldest known remains of humans in Australia, dating back 40,000 years, plus artifacts, tools, fireplaces and hearths. [19] Muogamarra Nature Reserve, Hawkesbury River area, contains numerous sites including carvings and grinding grooves.