Lake Mungo and Australian First Man "Mungo Lady" and "Mungo Man"

 

Lake Mungo

Lake Mungo is an old dried-up lake as well as an archeological site in west central New South Wales in Australia. The lake is located in and around Mungo National Park. Lake Mungo is among the 17 dried Pleistocene Epoch lake beds In the Willandra Lake Region. The Willandra Lake regions as designated as a World Heritage site in 1981. The region is an ancient landscape that formed as a result of a series of lakes and sand formations. UNESCO has acknowledged Willandra region as unique landmark in the study of evolution of human in Australia as a continent. There are archeological evidences of human occupation in the region dating back over 40,000 years back (Gillespie & Roberts, 2000). There are several well-preserved fossils of giant marsupials that have also been discovered in the Willandra regions. A small section of Willandra region, around Lake Mungo is currently the Mungo National Park. The section is where Mungo Lady and Mungo Man remains were uncovered.

Exclusive landscape of Mungo National Park also known as “The Walls of China,” a combination of sand dunes and lunettes caused by the trapping of moving sand by vegetation

Australian First Man: Mungo Lady and Mungo Man

Lake Mungo is estimated to have dried up approximately 14,00 years ago. The region has become one of the most significant archeological sites in the World since Jim Bowler discovered the remains of an aboriginal woman in 1968 (Brown, 2000). The bones of the lady, who was given the name “Mungo Lady” were found to have been burnt, indicating that the lady had been cremated or burnt before her burial. The evidence has been considered one of the oldest cremations and ceremonial burial. About five years later, another complete skeleton was found 500 meters East of the site where Mungo Lady was found (Brown, 2000). Bowler made second discovery in 1974 hen he found complete skeleton of a man. The man as later given the name “Mungo Man.” According to carbon dating, the remains of Mango Lady and Mango Man ere estimated to be 40,000 years old, making Mungo Lady and Mungo Man the oldest human remains to have ever been found in Australia.

The almost complete remains of Mungo Man were found to have been laid to rest in a prostrate position and his hands placed together on the lap. The corpse of the Mungo Man had been sprinkled with red ochre powder which also indicated and confirmed the speculations of ceremonial burial (Brown, 2000). It is amusing that the deposits of the red ochre were not found in the local area, and with the closes source of red ochre being many hundreds of kilometers away. In other words, this means that the early man must have perhaps used a significant amount of energy and transport to get the material. The remains have been determined to be of a man of approximately 50 years, light built and about 1.7 meters tall (Groves, 2001). Mungo Man’s lower canines seemed to have been removed, possibly from in a ritual ceremony years before his death (Groves, 2001). The outer surfaces of his molars appeared worn out in a pattern that is consistent with husking of plant fiber of maybe weaving of baskets or fishing nets (Groves, 2001). The wearing of his teeth did not indicate the signs of a person reliant on ground-seed food or that shows a diverse diet.

Mungo Man – the oldest Indigenous human remains on the Australian continent – the male remains were found in 1974 at Lake Mungo.

Bowler’s discovery of Mungo Lady and Mungo man ignited a period of intensive studies. The research that as initially focused on Lake Mungo lunette, later expanded to the lunettes as well as the shores of other ancient lakes within Willandra region. As a result of this research, many more buried remains of ancient humans were discovered (Groves, 2001). The 135 skeletons found, the dates attributed to them, as well as other remains obtained from fireplaces and hearths indicate that Willandra region has been occupied continuously since the late Pleistocene era (Brown, 2000). It is for this reason that Lake Mungo as acknowledged and gazetted by the government as National Park.

In overall, Mungo Man offered an extra glimpse into a period that all over sudden seemed far more sophisticated than archeologists across the world previously thought possible. The picture that emerged here was that when Europe was largely populated by Neanderthals, here was an ancient culture of far more complexity, full of symbolism and wot a thriving and sophisticated belief system. Jim Bowlers discovery rewrote scientists’ understanding of the human history and particularly the history of the Aboriginal people.

What this discovery means for the Aboriginal Australians

"Having suffered for very long period advocating for the land rights and right of recognition in their land, Aboriginals claims were boosted by Bowler’s discovery of the remains of Australia’s First habitats."

It took several years for the interest of the Aboriginal traditional proprietors of Lake Mango and the entire Willandra region to recognized alongside those of the science community. According to the Aboriginal Australians, the research and discoveries found in Lake Mungo confirmed that their fore fathers had occupied the land since ancient times and lent influential legitimacy to their land rights claims. Evidence indicates that there have been vigorous campaigns by members of the Mutthi Mutthi, Paakantji, and Ngyiampaa throughout the 1910s and 1990s against the uncovering of the ancestral remains (Gillespie & Roberts, 2000). For some period, this resulted in divisions between government and the members of Mutthi Mutthi, Paakantji, and Ngyiampaa who are the traditional owners of the Willandra region (Gillespie & Roberts, 2000). Whereas the government cited universal value of Lake Mungo for the benefit of science and national identity, the Aboriginals were keen to protect their cultural and traditional heritage. Eventually, the two parties decided to sit down and agree on a suitable arrangement to proceed with respect to every party’s interest.

Most scholars have suggested that the prosperity and development of Australia is largely as a result of dispossessing the Aboriginal people of their lands, compelling them into forced labor and denying them the basic huma rights (Gillespie & Roberts, 2000). For a long time, Australia has refused to fully provide aboriginals with genuine land rights. Land rights would include full value of minerals as well as other resources, motivating conflict with the influential resources industry. Sovereign land rights would also include genuine autonomy. Ownership and control of land by Aboriginals people will allow them to establish long-term plans and development that can eventually advance not only their economic status, but also social and health status (Gillespie & Roberts, 2000). As a result, they can also be independent and ill not have to rely on the government for regular support. Most aboriginals suggest that their main aim for vigorously advocating for land rights for Aboriginal people is to get the chance to become self-determining individuals once again.

Having suffered for very long period advocating for the land rights and right of recognition in their land, Aboriginals claims were boosted by Bowler’s discovery of the remains of Australia’s First habitats. Aboriginals have been subject to discrimination in their own land for many years and have often claimed that they were dispossessed of their land and should be recognized as the country’s First people and treated as such. With Bowler’s discovery, Aboriginals have over the past decades reiterated that the discovery supports their claims and that they need to be compensated and recognized, particularly their cultural heritage and identity as the nation’s first people. Their efforts saw Australia set a dream of ensuring that all Australians own their own home. The first decades of this dream saw many Australians housed but it later remained just a dream.

Aboriginals Australian’s Demands After Discovery of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man

After the removal of remains of the first man and woman and taken for scientific study at a University in Canberra, Aboriginals have campaigned against the move and insisted that the body and Mungo Lady and Mungo Man be returned to New South Wales, its traditional resting place. The Aboriginals regarded the uncovering of their elders a disrespect to their ancestors and an infringement on their tradition and culture (Perrottet & Tony, 2019). They wanted their fore father and mother to be left to rest in peace and not to be confined in labs and subjected to scientific tests. After a long campaign to get their elders back to their traditional home, the government finally gave in to the Aboriginals demands.

Aborginal people pay their last respects as a hearse carries the remains of Mungo Man and 104 other ancestors to their final resting place at Lake Mungo National Park

In November 2017, the government released the remains of Mungo Man, the first known Australian to return to Willandra region of the New South Wales here they were discovered in 1974 (Perrottet & Tony, 2019). Along with the Mungo Man were remains of other 104 Aboriginal people who also lived in the Willandra region around the same period (Perrottet & Tony, 2019). The ancestral remains were received by their modern descendants the and Ngyampaa Mutti Mutti, and Paakantyi people (Perrottet & Tony, 2019). The Convoy carrying the remains was met with large crowds along the streets of as many people were eager to catch a glimpse. The convoy also carried the elders from the elders from various representative groups of the traditional owners of the Willandra region. On reaching the Mungo National Park, the convoy as met with a huge ceremony to pay last respect to Mungo Man before he is laid to his traditional resting place. Aboriginal elders decided to burry Mungo Man in a secret place within Mungo National Park where Mungo Lady had been buried earlier. Groves (2001) points out that Mungo Lady had been returned to her original resting place earlier in 1992 in response to fierce campaigns from the modern Aboriginals.

Mungo Man’s casket was made from an 8,000-year-old red gum. Aboriginal people use the tree's sap for medicinal purposes

Even as the long-awaited, deeply symbolic event was unfolding, most scientists were still making appeals to the elders of the Aboriginal groups to consider not burying the remains of Mungo man, claiming that the materials are part of a universal humanity heritage and holds great importance that might need further intensive studies. As a matter of fact, from the moment Mungo man was discovered, he as entangled in heated political wrangles over the “return” of the remains of the Aboriginal ancestors.

Significance of Lake Mungo, Mungo Lady, and Mungo Man to Australian History

"Lake Mungo is a tremendously important site both for the input it has made in the study of Ancient Australians past as well as for its spiritual and cultural significance to the traditional owners of the land"

Lake Mungo is a critically important site for both ancient and modern Australian History. Lake Mungo is part of the Willandra Lakes World Heritage region and home to important archeological findings that have allowed scientists to uncover Aboriginal occupation in the region dating back to over 40,000 years ago (Westaway & Durband, 2017). The cultural importance of this site for the Aboriginal people cannot be overstated. Due to the region’s fortunate conditions for preservation of archeological records, many important archeological remains have been discovered in and around Willandra Lakes region. Therefore, Lake Mungo is a tremendously important site both for the input it has made in the study of Ancient Australians past as well as for its spiritual and cultural significance to the traditional owners of the land.

Mungo Lady and Mungo Man are equally significant in the same light; for the contribution they have made in understanding the Ancient Australian past and for the spiritual and cultural significance that is signifies for the traditional land owners. After the invasion by the European, the Aboriginals were subjected to slavery and dispossessed of their lands. Over the years, modern Aboriginals have been campaigning for land rights and asking for the government to allow them the right to access, own and control land to help them become more independent or less dependent on the government. The discovery of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man is significant to the Aboriginal people as it helps them reiterate their claims that they are the nation’s First People and should be acknowledged and identified by the government (Westaway & Durband, 2017). Acknowledgement, in this case means identifying and respecting their culture, and providing them equal opportunity as other Australians. On the other hand, the discovery of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man has also played a significant role in helping researchers understand Australia’s first people, their way of life, and things that could be leant from their existence such as land management.