“Mungo Man” and Others to Be Reburied in Australia

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—BBC News reports that officials in Australia’s federal government have decided to rebury the 42,000-year-old remains of “Mungo Man” and more than 100 other people unearthed between 1960 and 1980 in eastern Australia’s Willandra World Heritage Area. At the time of the discovery of the so-called Mungo Man remains in 1974, they were the oldest evidence of the human occupation of Australia and of a ceremonial burial in Australia. “Forty-two thousand years ago Aboriginal people were living—and thriving—on the edge of what was then a rich lakeside,” commented Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley. “In the last four decades their remains have been removed, analyzed, stored, and extensively investigated in the interests of western science.” Some current members of the Aboriginal community commented that they continued to be left out of the decision-making process regarding the remains, which will be reinterred in anonymous locations in Australia’s national parks. To read about newly discovered rock art panels painted by ancient Aboriginal ancestors 10,000 years ago, go to "Letter from Australia: Where the World Was Born."