Jan 28 2008
Mungo Man
Have you heard about Mungo Man? No, I didn’t think so. Palaeontologists get hot under the collar when something upsets their Out-of-Africa theory. But the discovery in the desert of ancient bones can still fit in with the theory of African Genesis.
At Lake Mungo in New South Wales, the shifting sands exposed the skeletal remains of a man, laid to rest in the oldest ceremonial burial in the world.
Mungo Man’s DNA is unlike anything ever seen before, he was undoubtedly fully modern anatomically, but came from a genetic lineage that is now extinct. And he was ritually buried in his last resting place more than 60,000 years ago.
He has red ochre spread over his body, the earliest known use of pigment for artistic, philosophical or religious purposes. Before the discoveries at Mungo, the oldest ochred rituals were those 40,000 years ago in France.
And what’s more, ochre had to be deliberately carried in from some distance away. Similar lumps of pigment have been found in Pleistocene levels in other widely separated sites, such as Kenniff Cave in Queensland, Cloggs Cave in Victoria, Miriwun in Western Australia, and several Arnhem Land rockshelters.
Today Mungo lies at the site of a desiccated lake, dried up and dead these past 15,000 years. But recent erosion has brought to light some startling finds, ancient fossils, skeletal remains of Tasmanian Tigers, giant kangaroos, small tools and even, captured in solidified clay and sand, the ancient footprints of children playing.
Mungo National Park
If you want to go have a look at the oldest human ever, the Mungo National Park is 980km west of Sydney, about 12 hours drive. From the Victorian side, the Park is a drive of about 1.5 hours northeast out of Mildura.
But don’t go unless it’s in the cooler months between April and October.
