Mungo Lake remains

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Mungo Man

The Mungo lake remains consist of two prominent fossils:Lake Mungo 1 (also known as Mungo Lady, LM1, or ANU-618) and Lake Mungo 3 (or Mungo Man, Lake Mungo III, or LM3). Lake Mungo, is located New South Wales, Australia, a World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region.[1][2]

LM1 was discovered in 1969 and is one of the world's oldest known cremations.[1][3] LM3, discovered in 1974, was an early human inhabitant of the continent of Australia, who is believed to have lived between 68,000-40,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch. The remains are the oldest anatomically modern human remains found in Australia to date, although his exact age is a matter of ongoing dispute.

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[edit] LM1

LM1 was discovered in 1969 in the Willandra Lakes Region by Jim Bowler with the University of Melbourne.[4] LM1 has been 14C dated as 26,000 to 20,000 years ago. Preservation of the remain is poor. The bones were unconditionally "repatriated" to the Aborigines during 1992.

[edit] Cremation burial

The reconstruction and description were mainly done by Alan Thorne at the Australian National University. The LM1 was an early human inhabitant of the continent of Australia. Her remains are one of the oldest anatomically modern human remains found in Australia. The pattern of burn marks on the bones of LM1 implies an unusual ritual that after she died, the corpse was burned, smashed, then burned a second time. It was suspected that her descendants had tried to ensure that she did not return to haunt them. It represents one of the world's oldest known cremations. The finding implies complicated burial ritual in the early human societies.

[edit] Current status

The bones were unconditionally repatriated to the indigenous tribes of Southeastern Australia (the Paakantji, the Mathi Mathi, and the Ngiyampaa) in 1992. LM1 had become a symbol of the long Aboriginal occupation in Australia, and an important icon for both archaeologists and indigenous Australians. LM1 is now in a locked vault at the Mungo National Park exhibition center. The vault has a double lock and can only be opened if two keys are used. One key is controlled by archaeologists, the other by the local indigenous peoples.

[edit] LM3

[edit] Discovery

LM3 was discovered by ANU archaeologist Dr. Jim Bowler on February 26, 1974 when shifting sand dunes exposed his remains.[5] He was found near Lake Mungo, one of several dry lakes in the southeast part of the continent. The body was sprinkled with red ochre, in the earliest known example of such a sophisticated and artistic burial practice. This aspect of the discovery has been particularly significant to indigenous Australians, since it indicates that certain cultural traditions have existed on the Australian continent for much longer than previously thought.

The skeleton was of a gracile individual, which contrast with the morphology of modern indigenous Australians.[6] The skeleton had been somewhat poorly preserved, with substantial portions of the skull missing, and most of the bones in the limbs suffering surface damage. Some anthropologists have noted that it may not be possible to conclusively determine the gender of the remains, although they are most commonly referred to as being male.[7][8] LM3 was buried lying on its back, with his hands interlocked covering the groin. Based on evidence of osteoarthritis in the lumbar vertebrae, and severe wear on the teeth, it seems likely that LM3 was quite old when he died.[citation needed] New studies show that, using the length of his limb bones, it is possible to estimate LM3's height at an abnormally tall 196 centimetres (77 inches or 6 ft 5 in).[citation needed]

[edit] Age

The first estimate of LM3's age was made in 1976, when the team of paleoanthropologists from the Australian National University (ANU) who excavated LM3 published their findings. They estimated that LM3 was between 28,000 and 32,000 years old.[5] They did not test LM3's remains directly, but rather established an estimate by stratigraphic comparison with LM1, an earlier set of partially-cremated remains also found at Lake Mungo.

In 1987, an electron spin resonance test was conducted on bone fragments from LM3's skeleton, which established an estimate of his age at 31,000 years, plus or minus 7,000 years. In 1999 Thermoluminescence dating work was carried out on quartz from unburnt sediment associated with the LM3 burial site with the selective bleach results indicating a burial older than 24,600 ± 2,400 and younger than 43,300 ± 3,800 ka.[9] Later Thorne et al (1999), arrived at a new estimate of 62,000 ± 6,000 years. This estimate was determined by combining data from uranium-thorium dating, electron spin resonance dating and optically stimulated luminescence dating of the remains and the immediately surrounding soil.[10] However, this estimate was very controversial.[11][12][13] The lowest level of the LM3 which are as old as 43,000 years demonstrated that LM3 should not be older than the lowest layer. However, the ANU team had dated the strata itself to be between 59,000 and 63,000 years old. The problems with using uranium-thorium dating on tooth enamel was criticized.

In 2003, collaboration of several Australian groups reached a consensus that LM3 is about 40,000 years old.[14] This age largely corresponds with stratigraphic evidence using 4 different dating methods. The age of 40,000 years is currently the most widely accepted age for the LM3, making LM3 the second oldest modern human fossil east of India. The study also found that LM1 was a similar age to LM3, and not 30,000 years old, as previously thought.[15] This made LM1 the oldest cremated human remains yet discovered.

[edit] Mitochondrial DNA

In 2001, a section of the hypervariable region (HVR1) was published and compared with several other sequences. It was found to have more than the expected number of sequence differences when compared to human CRS. While higher than expected it did not significantly exceed the number expected.[16] The sequence however was subsequently criticized as some of these differences may be due to posthumous modification of the DNA.[17]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b 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. PMID 16468208. 
  2. ^ Barbetti M, Allen H. (1972). "Prehistoric man at Lake Mungo, Australia, by 32,000 years BP.". Nature 240 (5375): 46-8. PMID 4570638. 
  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.
  4. ^ Bowler, J.M. 1970. Late Quaternary environments: a study of lakes and associated sediments in south-eastern Australia. Doctoral thesis, Australian National University, Canberra
  5. ^ a b Bowler, J. M. & Thorne, A. G. (1976). Human remains from Lake Mungo: discovery and excavation of Lake Mungo III. In (R. L. Kirk & A. G. Thorne, Eds) The Origin of the Australians, pp. 127–138. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
  6. ^ Thorne, A. G. (1980). The longest link: human evolution in Southeast Asia and the settlement of Australia. In (J. J. Fox, A. G. Garnaut, P. T. McCawley & J. A. C. Maukie, Eds) Indonesia: Australian Perspectives, pp. 35–43. Canberra:Australian National University
  7. ^ Thorne A, Curnoe D. (2000). "Sex and significance of Lake Mungo 3: reply to Brown "Australian pleistocene variation and the sex of Lake Mungo 3".". J Hum Evol. 39 (6): 587-600. doi:10.1006/jhev.2000.0442. PMID 11102270. 
  8. ^ Brown P. (2000). "Australian Pleistocene variation and the sex of Lake Mungo 3.". J Hum Evol. 38 (5): 743-9. doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0400. PMID 10799264. 
  9. ^ Oyston, B. (1996). "Thermoluminescence age determinations for the Mungo III human burial, Lake Mungo, southeastern Australia.". Quat. Sci. Rev. 15: 739–749. doi:10.1016/0277-3791(96)00025-X. 
  10. ^ Thorne A, Grün R, Mortimer G, Spooner NA, Simpson JJ, McCulloch M, Taylor L, Curnoe D. (1999). "Australia's oldest human remains: age of the Lake Mungo 3 skeleton.". J Hum Evol. 36 (6): 591-612. doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0305. PMID 10330330. 
  11. ^ Gillespie R, Roberts RG (2000). "On the reliability of age estimates for human remains at Lake Mungo". J. of Human Evol. 38 (5): 727-732. doi:doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0398. PMID 10799262. 
  12. ^ "Redating Australia's oldest human remains: a sceptic's view". Journal of Human Evolution 38 (5): 719-726. 2000. doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0397. PMID 10799261. 
  13. ^ GrüN R, Spooner NA, Thorne A, Mortimer G, Simpson JJ, Mcculloch MT, Taylor L, Curnoe D (2000). "Age of the Lake Mungo 3 skeleton, reply to Bowler & Magee and to Gillespie & Roberts". Journal of Human Evolution 38 (5): 733-741. doi:10.1006/jhev.2000.0399. PMID 10799263. 
  14. ^ Bowler JM, Johnston H, Olley JM, Prescott JR, Roberts RG, Shawcross W, Spooner NA. (2003). "New ages for human occupation and climatic change at Lake Mungo, Australia.". Nature 421 (6925): 837-40. doi:10.1038/nature01383. PMID 1259451. 
  15. ^ Olleya JM, Roberts RG, Yoshida H and Bowler JM (2006). "Single-grain optical dating of grave-infill associated with human burials at Lake Mungo, Australia". Quaternary Science Reviews 25 (19-20): 2469-2474. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2005.07.022. 
  16. ^ Adcock GJ, Dennis ES, Easteal S, Huttley GA, Jarmiin LS, Peacock WJ, Thorne A (2001). "Mitochondrial DNA sequence in ancient Australians:implications for modern human origins". PNAS 98 (2): 537-542. 
  17. ^ Chamberlain, C (2003). "The thermal history of human fossils and the likelihood of successful DNA amplification" (PDF). Journal of Human Evolution 45: 203. doi:10.1016/S0047-2484(03)00106-4. http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/staff/c_smithpdf/Smith_et_al_Therma_ageJHE03.pdf. 

[edit] Further reading

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