Ancient History - Lake Mungo
ANCIENT HISTORY
ASSESSMENT TASK 3
HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION – THE MUNGO MAN AND MUNGO WOMAN
YEAR 11, 2012
www.youtube.com/watch?v=73LfW84dkJg
http://cap.nsw.edu.au/rm/specialPlaces/special_places_st3/LakeMungo/lake_mungo.htm
http://www.crystalinks.com/mungoman.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/02/030220082107.htm
AGE OF ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION IN AUSTRALIA – MUNGO MAN AND MUNGO WOMAN
Who was Mungo man and Mungo woman?
New South Wales West locates one of the greatest archaeological sites in Australia’s history, that is, Lake Mungo.
The lake, which existed about 25,000 – 45,000 years ago, had once taken up 135 squared kilometers of land and was 10 meters in depth. However 14,000 years ago it dried up and many extinct animals where found, such as, the zygomaturus1, Tasmanian tigers, huge kangaroos and hairy-nose wombats.
Along with that, Lake Mungo was radiocarbon dated by scientists. They found that aborigines occupied the lake, 40,000 years ago, they also discovered their hunting remains of wallabies, kangaroos, and emu eggs. However, scientists still question the various theories of estimated dates of the time these specific Aborigines lived.
Forty-three years ago in 1969, a new chapter to Australia’s history was formed. That was the founding of the remains of a young female adult, known as the Mungo Woman. Archaeologists discovered, fragments of her bones, they then decided to put the bones together and they were left with Mungo Woman’s whole body frame. Through the use of radiocarbon dating, scientists announced that it had been 24,500 – 26,500 years from her death to the day her remains where discovered.
In 1974, the winds of the lake, added to the new chapter of history, this time the burial site of a human skeleton. It was a man who is now known as the Mungo Man. Many scientists say that the DNA of the Mungo man is unlike anything they have seen before. They also say that his genetic ancestry is now extinct.
ASSESSMENT TASK 3
HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION – THE MUNGO MAN AND MUNGO WOMAN
YEAR 11, 2012
www.youtube.com/watch?v=73LfW84dkJg
http://cap.nsw.edu.au/rm/specialPlaces/special_places_st3/LakeMungo/lake_mungo.htm
http://www.crystalinks.com/mungoman.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/02/030220082107.htm
AGE OF ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION IN AUSTRALIA – MUNGO MAN AND MUNGO WOMAN
Who was Mungo man and Mungo woman?
New South Wales West locates one of the greatest archaeological sites in Australia’s history, that is, Lake Mungo.
The lake, which existed about 25,000 – 45,000 years ago, had once taken up 135 squared kilometers of land and was 10 meters in depth. However 14,000 years ago it dried up and many extinct animals where found, such as, the zygomaturus1, Tasmanian tigers, huge kangaroos and hairy-nose wombats.
Along with that, Lake Mungo was radiocarbon dated by scientists. They found that aborigines occupied the lake, 40,000 years ago, they also discovered their hunting remains of wallabies, kangaroos, and emu eggs. However, scientists still question the various theories of estimated dates of the time these specific Aborigines lived.
Forty-three years ago in 1969, a new chapter to Australia’s history was formed. That was the founding of the remains of a young female adult, known as the Mungo Woman. Archaeologists discovered, fragments of her bones, they then decided to put the bones together and they were left with Mungo Woman’s whole body frame. Through the use of radiocarbon dating, scientists announced that it had been 24,500 – 26,500 years from her death to the day her remains where discovered.
In 1974, the winds of the lake, added to the new chapter of history, this time the burial site of a human skeleton. It was a man who is now known as the Mungo Man. Many scientists say that the DNA of the Mungo man is unlike anything they have seen before. They also say that his genetic ancestry is now extinct.
References: 1. The Zygomaturus is a large marsupial that is extinct and existed in Australia during the Pleistocene (before ice age period). 2.The scientific study of human fossils. 3.A spectroscopic method that locates electrons within the molecules of a paramagnetic substance. 4.Optical dating of ancient materials. 5.The branch of geology concerned with the order and relative position of strata and their relationship to the geological time scale. 6.Australian National University graduate 7.An organelle found in large amounts inside most cells. 8.Researcher at the Natural History Museum London UK.