Willandra Lakes Region

The fossil remains of a series of lakes and sand formations that date from the Pleistocene can be found in this region, together with archaeological evidence of human occupation dating from 45–60,000 years ago. Ceasing to function as a lake ecosystem some 18,500 years ago, Willandra Lakes provides excellent conditions to document life in the Pleistocene epoch, the period when humans evolved into their present form.

• The Willandra Lakes Region is a unique landmark in the study of human evolution on the Australian continent. 

• Several well-preserved fossils of giant marsupials have also been found here.

• Lake Mungo is one of the lakes in this area.

Changing environment

Lake Mungo is a dry lake in the far west of New South Wales, about 760 kilometres west of Sydney. Lake Mungo in the Willandra Lakes system was once a fertile area supporting abundant life. Approximately 20,000 years ago the great lakes began to dry up as the temperature cooled and rainfall became scarce. About 50,000 years ago, Lake Mungo held a huge volume of water. The water disappeared with the end of the ice age and the lake has been dry for more than 10,000 years. Today, the eroding sand dunes expose evidence of a region once home to ancient people and giant prehistoric animals.

In 1969 evidence was found of Aboriginal occupation at Lake Mungo thousands of years before the climate changed.

Human Remains

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Mungo Man and Mungo Lady

The oldest human remains in Australia were found at Lake Mungo in south-west New South Wales, part of the Willandra Lakes system.

Key remains:

• Mungo Woman, also referred to as ‘Lake Mungo 1’ (WLH 1), was discovered in 1968. At 42,000 years old, this is the most securely dated human burial in Australia and the earliest ritually cremated remains found anywhere in the world. The cremation process shrinks bone and has made the skeleton of this originally small-bodied woman even smaller. Dr Alan Thorne reconstructed the skull from over 300 fragments.

• Mungo Man, also known as 'Lake Mungo 3’ or (WLH 3) was discovered in 1974. Unlike Mungo Woman’s cremation, Mungo Man was laid out on his back for burial and covered in red ochre before being buried in the beach sands that bordered the lake. There has been some debate over the age of this burial and while dates ranging from 26,000 to 60,000 years old have been obtained, an age closer to 42,000 years old is widely accepted.

The unearthing of the Mungo Lady and Mungo Man at the Willandra Lakes in southwest New South Wales during the 1970s showed that people had been here for close to 40 thousand years. The ritual burial of Mungo Man, which included the application of red ochre on his remains -  is the first time we see such an elaborate burial anywhere in the world.

Mungo Man and Mungo Lady evidence the fact that the earliest Australians had a rich spiritual and symbol filled culture, with a strong sense of the afterlife.

Dating Lake Mungo

This site has been occupied by Aboriginal people from at least 47,000 years ago to the present.  This age range is supported by numerous geochronological ageing techniques including Radiocarbon (C14) determinations, Optically Stimulated Thermoluminesence (OSL) and Thermoluminesence (TL). 

What do you know about radiocarbon dating? 

For archaeologists it is extremely useful. Living things absorb or ingest radioactive carbon called carbon-14. Because scientists know the rate at which carbon-14 breaks down, they can work out roughly how long ago someone or something died by working out how much carbon-14 remains. 

Life at Lake Mungo

Indigenous Australians belong to the oldest continuous culture on earth. Ancient artefacts from Lake Mungo help show us what people ate and how they lived thousands of years ago.

At Lake Mungo in south-western NSW, communities of people lived and died alongside a large lake system. Lake Mungo has been devoid of water for the last 18,000 years and is now a dry lakebed. In the past, lower evaporation and higher runoff from the Great Dividing Range allowed the lakes to fill, supporting plentiful freshwater resources such as fish and shellfish, and making the lakes a valuable source of food for the people that occupied the area.

Archaeological remains such as hearths, stone tools and shell middens show a remarkable adaptation to local resources and a fascinating interaction between human culture and the changing natural environment.   

Scientific research suggests that humans arrived at Lake Mungo about 40,000 years ago, probably by following a river from the coast. They would have found the area full of life. Fish, yabbies and shellfish lived in the lake, and it was surrounded by vegetation, including reed beds and eucalyptus trees. The fresh water and vegetation would have attracted a variety of waterbirds, frogs, mammals and reptiles.

Middens in the area show that the people who lived at the lake ate freshwater mussels, fish, crayfish, birds’ eggs, mammals and small birds. They built fires to cook their meals, made tools from stone and used ochre to paint their bodies.

Nothing is known about the physical appearance of the first humans that entered the continent about 50,000 years ago. What is clear from archaeological evidence is that Aboriginal people living in Australia between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago had much larger bodies and more robust skeletons than they do today and showed a wide range of physical variation.

A very significant site

Returning Remains

The remains of Mungo Lady were returned to the traditional owners of Lake Mungo in 1992.

When were the footprints made?

The footprints were pressed into the soft floor of a damp claypan beside a small basin some 20,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene era. At that time the last glacial maximum was in full flight. The climate around Willandra Lakes was dry, cold and windy. Sand dunes were blowing in from the west, and the lakes were steadily drying out - first in the south then moving northwards. The wider landscape was becoming increasingly barren, so people were probably following the drying lakes north for the shellfish and other food they offered. Animals too would have been attracted to the lakes and nearby soaks.

Who made the footprints and what were they doing?

It was on one of those cool Pleistocene days that a group of several adults, adolescents and a few children, perhaps a family group, walked across the claypan heading east. The tracks include that of a young child, with a foot about 15 cm long, who meandered back in the opposite direction to the main group. Was the child called back, or just playing about as children do?

A day or two after the first group, another group, probably men, crossed the claypan. They were moving very fast. The Pintubi trackers not only reckon the men were running together after prey, but they also spotted where a thrown spear missed and skidded into the ground.

Most remarkable of all was a single line of right footprints, pushed heavily into the clay. There is no corresponding left footprints. The Pintubi were sure this was a one-legged man, hopping very fast along with the other hunters. Such prowess suggests that the man was well practised in hopping, rather than perhaps having a temporary injury. He may have been using a stick. Did this man lose his leg in a fight with man or beast? Did the ancient Willandra people carry out amputations? We may never know the answers to questions like these, or understand this man's story.

These are the oldest footprints found in Australia, and the world’s largest set of Ice Age footprints. The Barkandji/Paakantji, Ngiyampaa, and Mutthi Mutthi peoples have unbroken connection to these footprints and they still continue to walk on Country in the footsteps of their Ancestors. The world’s oldest living culture is deeply rich, and there is much to be celebrated about Aboriginal peoples’ continuous occupation in Australia.