53 Lake Mungo Facts: A Part Of Ancient Australian History!

Lake Mungo is a popular dry lake in the west-central of New South Wales, which had a vast amount of water around 50,000 years ago.

All the water of Lake Mungo disappeared with the end of the ice age, and the lake has been dried up for 14,000 years now, resulting in a large sand dune area. Lake Mungo is one of the most important archaeological and historical sites in the world.

The bones of a skeleton known as 'the Mungo Lady' were found near the site. It was found that the mungo lady was burnt before the burial, which makes it the world's oldest evidence of ceremonial burial.

In 1974, a complete skeleton of a man was found, which is known as the Mungo Man. After research, it was found that the remains of the Mungo Lady and Mungo Man were around 40,000 years old and are known to be the oldest human remains found in Australia to date.

Drought In Lake Mungo

Years ago, Lake Mungo used to be filled with water, but now it's all dried up. The reason behind an abrupt change like this is the change in the climate of this place.

The water level of Lake Mungo keeps fluctuating for almost 18,000. Due to this fluctuation in water levels and climate, the ground vegetation suffered too, and a shift in vegetation in that area has been noticed.

Around 22,000 years ago, the world dived into a glacial phase. The temperature was around six degrees lower than the current temperature of the place.

Animals and plants find it difficult to survive at such low temperatures. Frosty mass spread all over northern mainlands, and the ocean level dropped to around 393.7 ft (120 m) underneath the current ocean level. By 18,000 years ago, the condition improved, but the weather remained dry.

Australia experienced dry and cooler weather too. Due to the continuous drying of climate, the water level of Lake Mungo dropped, and the lake gradually dried out.

Significance Of Lake Mungo

Lake Mungo is a very important site for Australian history as many ancient findings like the skeleton of Mungo Woman, and Mungo Man were found. Not only this, but a 20,000-year-old footprint of the Willandra people was also found near Willandra Lakes Region.

Lake Mungo is not only an important archaeological site but also a sacred site. Many other archaeological remains were discovered in Lake Mungo due to its favorable conditions for preserving archaeological discoveries.

The Paakantji, Ngiyampaa, and Mutthi were the aboriginal people and traditional owners of this place. Mungo Lake has a significant place in ancient history because of its contribution towards it.

Cool Facts About Lake Mungo

Human remains, and animal remains were also found in and near the sites of Lake Mungo. Countless years ago, when the lake was full of water, it was the habitat of many aboriginal animals like giant marsupials, Tasmanian tigers, giant monotremes, ducks, swans, waders, lizards, bettongs, bandicoots, and other different types of birds and animals.

You will find three species of large Kangaroo, namely the Red Kangaroo, Western Grey Kangaroo, and Eastern Grey Kangaroo. You would also come across many different types of reptiles and invertebrates here. The largest reptile found in lake mango is Carpet Python, which can grow up to 13.12 ft (4 m).

You will also find three species of snakes there, namely Western Brown Snake, Eastern Brown Snake, and Mulga or King Brown Snake. People can visit mungo national park if they want more information on the animals of Lake Mungo. Mungo National Park is known for preserving and conserving the cultural heritage of Lake Mungo and its aboriginal people.

The environment of the lake we see today is different from the environment it was around 45,000 years ago. Years ago, Lake Mungo used to be filled with water, and many animals resided around it. Everything has changed over these years because of the external natural forces acting upon it.

Many plants and animals have evolved during this period of time, and many got extinct. People and their way of living have since evolved. The landscape changes are very convincing evidence of environmental changes in Lake Mungo.

The Walls Of China is situated on the eastern shore of Mungo Lake. There are a series of crescent-shaped sand dunes which are up to 131 ft (40 m) high. There are three distinct layers of soil-forming the Walls of China.

The oldest layer is Golgol. The Mungo layer is the middle greyish layer, and the recent layer is Zanci which is pale brown in color. The lake sediments have been deposited for more than 120,000 years now.

Historic Significance

Jim Bowler discovered lake Mungo in 1968 at the Willandra Lakes Region. Skeleton of aboriginal humans and animal remains were found from the sites, and very little was known about the place before the discovery of the skeleton. After extensive research, it was found that Mungo Man and Mungo Lady were the earliest known human.

After discovering the place, it was found that burial practices and cremation were performed by the people of that period.

It was found that Mungo Lady used to collect bush tucker like shellfish at that time.

Many other human remains and manufactured tools like a stone ax-head and stone artifacts have been found in Lake Mungo lunette (walls of China) and the Willandra Lakes Region.

The fossils of Mungo Man and others found in and near the place have helped us know about the lifestyle and living of the aboriginal people and how they adapted to the climatic and environmental changes around them.

It was found that the bones had been coated in red ochre during the time of burial of the dead bodies.

Many valuable sources are found from the site, like stone tools, food wastes, fireplaces, and other items that antedate the ice age, indicating that Lake Mungo belongs to the ice age period. Jim Bowler also discovered different animals, plants, vegetation cover, and the aboriginal history of the place.

It was a shocking discovery that such a burial practice was performed by people so many years ago as well. Lake Mungo has proved to be a major and significant discovery for the world.

Did You Know?

In 1972, archaeological studies of an Archaeomagnetic nature were conducted on aboriginal Australian fireplaces that existed along Lake Mungo's ancient shoreline.

Did you know that a movie was filmed on Lake Mungo in 2008?

Although this movie doesn't really talk about the actual Lake Mungo in Australia, it is an Australian psychological and horror movie written and directed by Joel Anderson and partly filmed in Lake Mungo with Martin Sharpe and Talia Zucker playing the main characters in the movie.