Lake Mungo archaeological site, in western New South Wales, is a dry lake bed where the oldest dated human remains in Australia have been found. Lake Mungo was one of a series of ancient lakes, called the Willandra system, that dried up and disappeared about 20,000 years ago. Stone tools, the remains of hearths, and bones of extinct animals exposed by the shifting winds provide evidence that human beings have occupied the site for thousands of years.
The remains of three human beings, designated as Mungo I, II, and III, were found by archaeologists at the site beginning in 1968. Mungo I consists of a poorly preserved partial skeleton of a young female. The condition of the bones shows that the body had been cremated after death. The bones were then broken into small pieces and placed in a shallow grave. Mungo II consists of a few fragmentary bones. The age, sex, or manner of burial of this individual cannot be determined. Mungo III, found in 1974, consists of the nearly complete skeleton of an adult male. The Mungo III skeleton was covered with pigment called red ocher, and the hands were interlocked over the body, indicating some kind of burial ritual.
Using advanced dating techniques, the Mungo I and Mungo III skeletons were estimated to be about 42,000 years old. Stone tools are the oldest evidence of human occupation in the area, with some dating to about 50,000 years ago. The location of the Lake Mungo burials, far in the interior of Australia, suggests that human beings had colonized the continent by that time. Scientists think that human beings probably arrived in northern Australia from Asia even earlier but took time to migrate farther into the arid interior regions. Mungo I is also the oldest known evidence of cremation as a funeral custom.
The Lake Mungo archaeological site lies within Mungo National Park. In 1981, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) added the archaeological site to its World Heritage List as part of the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area. The World Heritage List recognizes places of unique cultural and natural importance.
In November 2017, the skeleton of Mungo III was returned to representatives of Indigenous clans in Australia. Since the Mungo III skeleton was discovered in 1974, it had been kept by the Australian National University and later the National Museum of Australia. The skeleton was returned through the Return of Indigenous Cultural Property Program of the Australia Department of Families, Housing, Community Services, and Indigenous Affairs. This program works to help repatriate (return) the remains of Aboriginal people as well as cultural items held by museums that receive government funding. A group of Indigenous local elders took the Mungo III remains to an undisclosed location in the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area for a private burial. The remains of Mungo I were repatriated in 1991. The Mungo II remains are kept in a secure vault administered by local Aboriginal representatives at Mungo National Park.
