The Murray-Darling Basin –
home to the earliest human cremation
In 1969, Professor Jim Bowler from the Australian National
University found a partially cremated body in the area known
as Lake Mungo.

Lake Mungo is part of the 17 - lake system of the Willandra
Lakes Region, in the Murray-Darling Basin.  This 240,000 hectares of World Heritage Listed land was once awash with flowing water and abundant
fish, plant and animal life.  However, the dramatic climatic changes of the
Ice Age brought intense cold that made the landscape uninhabitable. 
Now, this semi-arid landscape is a mosaic of dried saline lake bed plains
with saltbush vegetation, fringing sand dunes and sparse native trees and grasses. 

The remains found by Dr Bowler were of an ancient female, the earliest known human ever to be cremated.  She has been called “Lady Mungo”.  In 1974, 300 meters from her burial site, Dr Bowler discovered the skeleton of a male, “Mungo Man”.  He had been ritually covered in red ochre and buried - about 40,000 years ago.

Learn more about Lake Mungo.