The Lake Mungo remains are three important sets of human remains that belong to Aboriginal Australians: 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 located in New South Wales, Australia, within the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region.
Mungo Woman (LM1) was found in 1968 and is one of the world's oldest known cremations.
The remains called Lake Mungo 2 (LM2) were discovered at the same time as LM1 and are made up of about thirty small pieces, mostly from the skull and spine.
The remains named Mungo Man (LM3) were found in 1974 and are dated to about 40,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch. These remains are the oldest Homo sapiens (human) remains discovered on the Australian continent.
Geology
Lake Mungo is a dry lake located in south-eastern Australia, in the south-western part of New South Wales. It is about 760 kilometers (470 miles) west of Sydney and 90 kilometers (56 miles) north-east of Mildura, and 110 kilometers north-west of Balranald. The lake is the central feature of Mungo National Park and is one of seventeen lakes in the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region. Sediments at Lake Mungo have been deposited over more than 100,000 years. There are three distinct layers of sand and soil forming the Walls around the edge of the lake. The oldest layer is the reddish Gol Gol layer, formed between 100,000 and 120,000 years ago. The middle greyish layer is the Mungo layer, deposited between 50,000 and 25,000 years ago. The most recent layer is the pale brown Zanci layer, which was laid down mostly between 25,000 and 15,000 years ago.
The Mungo layer, which was deposited during the last ice age, has the most archaeological finds. Although this layer corresponds with a time of low rainfall and cooler weather, more rainwater ran off the western side of the Great Dividing Range during that period, keeping the lake full and filled with fish and waterbirds. It supported a large human population and had many resources, as well as several types of Australian megafauna.
During the last ice age, the water level in the lake fell, and it became a salt lake. This made the soil alkaline, which helped preserve the remains left behind.
Lake Mungo 1 (LM1)
LM1 was discovered on July 15, 1968, in the Willandra Lakes Region by Jim Bowler with the University of Melbourne.
LM1 was carbon-dated to be between 24,700 and 19,030 years old. A date of 26,250 ±1120 years ago was found using charcoal from a fire pit 15 cm above the burial. The remains are not well preserved. Before the bones were returned to the Indigenous people of Australia in 1992, very little detailed information about them was published. Without clear descriptions and limited access to the original bones, it is hard to study the published material.
The reconstruction and description of LM1 were mostly done by Alan Thorne at the Australian National University. LM1 was an early human who lived in Australia. Her remains are among the oldest sets of modern human remains found in Australia.
LM1’s remains show one of the world’s oldest known cremations. This suggests that early human societies had complex burial practices.
The bones suggest that after LM1 died, her body was burned, broken, burned again, and then covered with ochre, a red or brown powder from a place far from the site.
The bones were returned to the traditional owners in 1992. These groups are called the Three Traditional Tribal Groups (3TTG), which include the Paakantji, the Muthi Muthi, and the Ngiyampaa. LM1 became a symbol of the long history of Aboriginal people in Australia and was important to both archaeologists and Indigenous Australians. The remains were kept in a locked vault at the Mungo National Park exhibition center. The vault had two locks, and both keys were needed to open it—one held by archaeologists and the other by Indigenous people.
In late 2013, the New South Wales government removed all management plans for the remains, leaving no one to care for them. A new management plan was created in early 2014, but no one was in place to carry it out.
On May 24, 2022, Mungo Lady and Mungo Man were reburied. Heritage NSW, which had custody of the remains, stated that the state government did not authorize, conduct, or endorse the removal and burial of the remains on that date.
Lake Mungo 3 (LM3)
Lake Mungo 3 (LM3) was discovered by a scientist named Jim Bowler on February 26, 1974. He found the remains when shifting sand dunes uncovered them near Lake Mungo, one of several dry lakes in the southeast of the continent. The remains were located 500 meters east of another site called LM1. The body was placed in a special position on its back, with knees bent and hands near the groin, with fingers locked together. Nearby were remains of fire. The body was covered with red ochre, a practice that shows an early example of a complex and artistic burial tradition. This discovery was important to Aboriginal Australians because it suggests that some cultural traditions existed in Australia much earlier than previously believed. At the time of the discovery, it was thought that Aboriginal people arrived in Australia from Asia about 20,000 years ago. Later finds at Lake Mungo suggest human occupation of the area may date back as far as 46,000–50,000 years ago.
The skeleton belonged to a person who, based on signs of joint disease, bone wear, and tooth damage, was about 50 years old when they died. The skull had a delicate shape, which is different from the skulls of modern Indigenous Australians. Parts of the skeleton had broken down over time, including missing parts of the skull and damaged limb bones.
Determining the sex of LM3 was difficult because the skull and pelvis bones, which usually help identify sex, were damaged. However, other evidence suggests the remains were those of an adult male. Studies of the limb bones estimate LM3’s height to be about 170 centimeters (5 feet 7 inches), which is taller than the average height of modern Aboriginal males but shorter than some ancient Australian males.
The first age estimate for LM3 was made in 1976 by scientists from the Australian National University (ANU). They compared LM3 to LM1, another set of remains found nearby, and estimated LM3 to be between 28,000 and 32,000 years old. In 1987, a test called electron spin resonance on bone fragments suggested LM3 was about 31,000 years old, with a possible range of 7,000 years. In 1999, another test called thermoluminescence on sediment near the burial site suggested the remains were older than 24,600 years and younger than 43,300 years. Later, in 1999, a study using multiple dating methods estimated LM3 to be about 62,000 years old. However, this estimate was controversial because some scientists questioned the accuracy of the methods used.
In 2003, a team of scientists, including experts from universities, government agencies, and descendants of the Mungo people, worked together to determine LM3’s age. They concluded that LM3 is about 40,000 years old. This estimate matches evidence from four different dating methods. Today, this is the most widely accepted age for LM3, making it the second-oldest human fossil found east of India. The study also found that LM1, another set of remains, is about the same age as LM3, not 30,000 years old as previously thought. LM1 is considered the earliest known example of human cremation.
Modern scientific theories suggest that all humans outside Africa today descended from a small group that left Africa about 60,000 years ago. This idea is based on genetic research. Humans then spread quickly across the globe from this starting point. This explains why some older dates for LM3, like 62,000 years, were controversial, as they suggested humans could have settled in other continents shortly after leaving Africa.
In 2001, scientists studied the mitochondrial DNA from LM3 and compared it to DNA from other humans. They found differences that suggested LM3’s DNA was not closely related to modern Aboriginal people, which supported a theory that humans evolved in multiple regions. However, this result was debated, and later analysis suggested the DNA might have been contaminated. A 2016 study confirmed that some DNA from LM3 might not be ancient. Instead, scientists found ancient DNA from another skeleton, WLH4, which belonged to a group of Aboriginal people.
When LM3 was discovered in 1974, it was moved to the Australian National University for research and protection. In 2014, the traditional owners of the Willandra Lakes requested the remains be returned to their original home. In 2015, the university formally handed the remains back to Aboriginal elders, expressing regret for their removal. The remains were temporarily stored at the National Museum of Australia. Plans to build a "keeping-place" at Lake Mungo for the remains were discussed, but no funding or agreement was reached. In 2017, the remains were returned to Lake Mungo and placed in a casket made of ancient red gum wood. They are now stored at an undisclosed location until a final resting place is decided.
Further discoveries
In 1989, the skeleton of a child from the same time as Mungo man was discovered. Research on the remains was stopped by the 3TTG, and the remains were protected but left in place. In 2005, an adult skeleton was uncovered by erosion, but by late 2006, it was completely destroyed by wind and rain. This loss led the Indigenous custodians to receive a government grant of $735,000 to survey and improve the protection of skeletons, hearths, and middens that were eroding from the dunes. Conservation efforts are done in place, and no research is allowed.
Tourism
Mungo National Park is open to visitors and can be reached by a road that is not paved. Boardwalks were built across the sand dunes, and visitors are not allowed to leave the boardwalks unless an Aboriginal guide is present. In 2014, fake bones were placed in the area as part of a study by La Trobe University. Within two weeks, almost all of the fake bones were taken from the park.