Lake Mungo, HISE Assessment

Description of the site

Lake Mungo is a
dried up lake
located in New
South Wales,
Australia. It is
located
approximately
760km west of
Sydney. It is
located in Mungo
national park and
is surrounded by
other lakes, like
Lake Leaghur and Garnpung Lake. The lake dried up
approximately 14,000 years ago, and became one of the most
important archaeologist sites when in 1968 the geologist Jim
Bowler dug up the remains of what was soon discovered to be
the oldest skeleton in the country. It just happens to be that the
skeleton was of a cremation woman and that the skeleton was
the earliest sign of cremation, and proof that aboriginals had
been on this place longer that they had, at that time thought.
1974 was another one of Lake Mungo’s greatest discoveries
would be the something now better known as the Mungo man.
Mungo is now one of the World Heritage sites and attracts
around 40,000 tourists a year.

Explanation
Lake Mungo is a really controversial site because there have been many debates between scientist on how old the
man was. The earlier guesses are around 28,000 – 32,000 years old whereas newer methods though that the man
was alive around 62,000 years ago. In 2003 Harvey Johnston
set out with Jim Bowler to gather a panel of scientist to
settle the debate once and for all. Using multiple pieces of
evidence from many different sources, they came to a
conclusion that the Mungo Man lived approximately 40,000
– 42,000 years ago.

‘This research extends far beyond mere academic interest.

Non-indigenous Australians too often have a desperately
limited frame of historical reference. The Lake Mungo
region provides a record of land and people that we latter
day arrivals have failed to incorporate into our own
Australian psyche. We have yet to penetrate the depths of
time and cultural treasures revealed by those ancestors of
indigenous Australians.’ –Jim Bowler
Source Analysis
For my primary source decided to choose the bones of the Mungo man, himself.
This discovery led scientist to discover just how long aboriginal people had really
been in Australia, and how long aboriginal people have really been around. It
also helps scientists know more about just how much; humans (specifically
aboriginal people) have changed over time and how humans have progressed
within the last few thousand decades. This skeleton in particular helps confirm
many scientist theories and also raises many new questions. This is definitely
the most reliable source in this whole situation. It shows extremely clear proof
of aboriginal live in the past. Despite the debate about the date of this skeleton,
we can still confirm many other things just by examining the skeleton, like the
fact that aboriginal
life started a long
time before we
originally thought.
Unlike my
secondary source
a painting by Giovanni Caselli, my primary source is a
confirmed source. The painting, Life at Lake Mungo, is
purely an inference of how life was 40,000 years ago,
it is a estimate based of many different primary
sources. For example, the tools in the painting are
based of remains of tools we have found, including –
but not limited to- the fishing net, the spear and the
rocks they are using. The food is also based off the
vegetation that was most likely to be available in the area during that time period. The fact that we know that there
were actually people there is proven by the skeleton we found. If you analyse the painting properly, we can find
that practically everything in this painting is based off a primary source that has been found by archaeologists.

Proposal
I honestly believe that the authority figures, such as the government who are in charge of this place, are already
taking pretty good care of the lake. I believe it is important that people should get to visit the lake, as it is an
important part of our history, but at the same time I would never want to damage the historical site, and I respect
the aboriginal owners of the land and believe that even though it is part of our history, it is also part of theirs and
we should respect that. I just think that anyone who respects the indigenous owners, which should be everyone, of
the land should be allowed to visit and explore the site and I don’t really see any reason why they shouldn’t be
allowed to. Although, due to its indigenous heritage, I believe that the site should be protected from things like
building in that area and so on.

Bibliography
 National Museum Australia
 The editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica:
 Invalidated site: National Museum of Australia - Lake Mungo. Gloria Lotha Aug 14, 2019
 National Centre for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - The Mungo Mega-Lake Event, Semi-Arid
Australia: Non-Linear Descent into the Last Ice Age, Implications for Human Behaviour. Gloria Lotha Jan 09,
2019
 National Museum of Australia - Lake Mungo.Gloria Lotha Jan 09, 2019
 Media added. Jeff Wallenfeldt Oct 25, 2017
 New article added. Jeff Wallenfeldt Sep 06, 2017
 Barbetti M., McElhinny M., 1976.
 Barbetti M., Polach H., 1973.
 Gillespie, R., 2002
 Healy Library University of Massachusetts Boston