Lake Mungo remains

The Lake Mungo remains are three prominent sets of human remains that are possibly Aboriginal Australian: 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 in New South Wales, Australia, specifically the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region.[1][2]

Mungo woman (LM1) was discovered in 1968 and is one of the world's oldest known cremations.[1][3]

The remains known as Lake Mungo 2 (LM2) were recovered at the same time as LM1, and consist "...of approximately thirty small fragments, mostly of the cranium and vertebrae".[1]

The remains designated Mungo man (LM3) were discovered in 1974, and are dated to around 40,000 years old, the Pleistocene epoch, and are the oldest Homo sapiens (human) remains found on the Australian continent.

  1. ^ a b c Bowler JM, Jones R, Allen H, Thorne AG (1970). "Pleistocene human remains from Australia: a living site and human cremation from Lake Mungo, Western New South Wales". World Archaeol. 2 (1): 39–60. doi:10.1080/00438243.1970.9979463. PMID 16468208.
  2. ^ Barbetti M, Allen H (1972). "Prehistoric man at Lake Mungo, Australia, by 32,000 years BP". Nature. 240 (5375): 46–8. Bibcode:1972Natur.240...46B. doi:10.1038/240046a0. PMID 4570638. S2CID 4298103.
  3. ^ Bowler, J.M. 1971. Pleistocene salinities and climatic change: Evidence from lakes and lunettes in southeastern Australia. In: Mulvaney, D.J. and Golson, J. (eds), Aboriginal Man and Environment in Australia. Canberra: Australian National University Press, pp. 47-65.