The time has come to lay Mungo Man to rest

1/2. Dr Jim Bowler's original picture of Mungo Man's bones.

  
Today, February 26, 2016, marks the 42nd anniversary of the discovery of what is the oldest known ritual inhumation in Australia and one of the oldest ritual burials in the world.

Dr Jim Bowler, the then Australian National University academic who discovered the bones when they were exposed by erosion at Lake Mungo near Mildura in 1974, said time was running out for Mungo Man to be reburied​ in accordance with the wishes of the traditional owners of the area but in a way that also marked his resting place and spoke of his significance.

He said the initial "handover" of the red ochre coated skeleton, the oldest human remains ever discovered in Australia, was little more than an "outing" for them.

"The 40,000-year-old remains, along with more fragmentary remains of some 90 other individuals from the Willandra​ Lakes area, were transferred from the Australian National University to the interim storage of the National Museum of Australia," the 86-year-old scientist said.

"After years of frustration, the traditional owners – the Mutthi Mutthi​, Ngiyampaa​ and Paakantji​ tribal groups – [have] reluctantly decreed that unless appropriate keeping arrangements were made by the end of 2017, they will dispose of all Willandra​ remains, with the possibility of complete reburial​. [...] canberratimes.com.au


Actualización:  Mungo Man set to return home by November 2017 - ABC New

Photo: The top of the dunes at Lake Mungo where Mungo Man revealed himself in 1974. (photography by Tom Ulman)

A New South Wales government department says it is working with traditional owners to return Australia's oldest known human remains to the Willandra World Heritage Area by November 2017...