Monday, July 8th to Saturday, July 13th, 2024 - Lake Mungo, OLD Bones and a UNESCO World Heritage Site

 

Dawn at Mungo Lodge

This is a story with very ancient roots. It tells of a place that many of you might have heard of, but others of you might be going......where on earth?! Like the sign on the oil drum above, it is of 'skeletal' significance! 

Red Gol Gol, Brownish-Grey Mungo and Lighter Grey Zanci Layers of 'Walls of China'

The fundamental reason for us knowing this story in our European culture is due to a combination of shifting sands, rainfall, and a chance discovery of cremated human remains in this very strange moonlike landscape of sand and clay, in 1968. The remains were that of an 18 year old woman, who became known a 'Mungo Lady'. She was found in the middle, brownish gray Mungo layer shown in the photo above, which is dated between 25,000 to 50,000 years old. 

Walls of China - Residuals

Anthropologists puzzled about the cremation of Mungo Lady as there is no instance of it ever being found anywhere else in First Nations practices. At the time her age was thought to be 20,000 years. As if that was not impressive enough, the discovery of a second skeleton in 1974, by the same geologist (Jim Bowler) provided a more accurate means of dating. It was a full skeleton of a mature man in his early 50's. No surprise that he is referred to as Mungo Man! His hands were arranged over his groin, and he had been painted with red ochre - a substance that is not found within 150 miles and would have been a very precious commodity. He also had an arthritic right elbow, so they speculate that he may have been a fisherman who speared the fish that were plentiful at that time on the shores of Lake Mungo. This ceremonial burial suggests he was an important person. The skeleton was dated to 40,000 years ago making this discovery the oldest human remains ever found outside of Africa.

Wombat Bones - 40,000 Years Old

This is the point in my story where you might expect me to show you photos of these skeletons in a museum. This is where Mungo is different from conventional museums - it is more of an outdoor museum, which is undergoing continual change due to erosion from wind and water. If Jim Bowler had come by at another time - even weeks or months later - both skeletons may have already been covered up, crushed by animal feet or blown away on the rapidly changing dunes. 

Erosional Features of the Walls of China

The Walls of China is a 130 foot high structure called a lunette, a half moon shape of clay, silt and sand, which shows where the former shore of Lake Mungo existed. The lake was 10 miles across and the lunette stretches 20 miles long. It dried up 20,000 years ago and since then the shore has been blown steadily by winds from the west. Before European settlement the lunette was moving steadily, but the European farming practices of the past 250 years has loosened the soils and led to the process speeding up. Today it moves eastward at about three feet per year and is expected to no longer exist in 10,000 years. 

Mobile White Sands at the top of the Mungo Lunette (Walls of China)

The area is now Mungo National Park, which is managed by an agreement with three local tribes of indigenous peoples along with Governmental representatives and local landholders. The ethos of the park is to allow nature to take care of the process of  revealing and then covering the artifacts that are found. At the time of their discovery Mungo Lady and Mungo Man were removed. (Poor Mungo Lady was carried away in one of the archeologist's suitcase - with his clothing used as packing material for her!). This was very disturbing to indigenous peoples and years of negotiation finally led to the return of their remains. Mungo Lady was brought back in 1992 from where she had been stored in Canberra. Mungo Man was finally returned to the National Park in 2017. Both were re-buried in 2022 to a location known to only a few. This decision took a years of negotiation among all the stakeholders. Their existence has been documented and the possibility that they might never be retrieved again in the future is considered to be OK - it is nature's way.

While much publicity has circulated about the two prominent skeletons, there are still 106 other sets of partial human remains that are stored in the National Park. Their fate has not yet been determined due to opposing points of view that have stalled the decision-making on their behalf.

In 2015, Jim Bowler, the scientist who discovered both sets of bones said "I stumbled across these bones and blundered into an archeological and cultural minefield!"

Evidence of 40,000 Year-Old Cooking Fires

It is much simpler to walk this area which was once a site of a fertile shore with plenty of water and teeming with food. We saw the remains of cooking fires, which were stains in the surface, from the drippings of fats and oils from the game and fish that were cooked here.

Emu Egg Shells 

We were also shown emu egg shells that were 40,000 years old...... We learned that one emu egg is about the same volume as ten hen's eggs and have a very high fat content. Our guide, Lance, told us his mother used to make a wonderful cake from emu eggs without needing butter. He warned that eating too much of the egg or the meat will give you diarrhea if you're not used to it.

Modern Emu

We were approached by a couple of modern emus who seemed curious, but fortunately they decided to leave us alone. They can be quite menacing as they stand eye to eye with you, especially if you have food in your hand!

Freshwater Cod Bones - Jaw Vertebrae and Ear Bone

I know it doesn't look like much, but I had to keep reminding myself, 'these small fish bones and eggshells are 40,000 years old and might be the remains of someone's delicious meal'.

In 1981 UNESCO recognized the historical and geomorphological value of Lake Mungo and the surrounding area called the Willandra Lakes Region, by listing it as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under both cultural and natural criteria. It was one of the first Australian sites to be recognized in this way.

Rolling Down The Sand Dune

In order to access this area, one must have aboriginal permission. We accomplished this by taking a National Park tour. After we reached the top of the dunes, our guide gave us free reign to wander and encouraged the kids in the group to roll down the quite steep sand dunes. It was great fun watching them and I sort of wished I trusted my bones enough to give it a go!

An Ageless Pastime?

As I watched the kids making sand angels I wondered how ageless this pastime might be.

Because we spent two days at Mungo and six days on the road, there is more to our story - both within the park and of our 1,000 mile journey travelling to and from Canberra. I fear I may lose you if I continue now, as this entry has been top heavy with some of the science and history behind this very special place.  I hope you will stay with me next time for more about our other experiences. I promise you it will contain a good tale about mud!