Introducing Mungo Man, the oldest human in [Australia]

Lake Mungo is where the remains of the oldest human thought to be living in Australia, were found. His remains help us to understand how long the Aborigines, Australia’s indigenous people, have lived on the continent for.

At present, 3% of Australia’s population identify themselves as being Aboriginal.

The name “aborigine” derives from the Latin, meaning “original inhabitants.”

 

In February 1974, Geologist Jim Bowler found a set of bones at Lake Mungo that proved how the Aborigines have been living on the continent for an unbelievably long time. Although the Aborigines had claimed to know this for a long while, scientists had their own beliefs supported by research, rather than word of mouth, that Aboriginals had arrived in Australia from Asia around 20,000 years ago.

Much to the surprise of the scientists, Bowler’s discovery of Mungo Man pushed the date of the Aboriginals’ arrival to Australia to at least another 20,000 years back.

Mungo Man’s ritualistic burial also shed light on how a sophisticated culture had emerged on the far side of the Indian Ocean from Africa much earlier than anyone could ever have imagined.

Yes, all of us, except for the Aborigines of course.