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New Age For Mungo Man, New Human History
Science Daily ^ | FR Post 2-18-03 | Editorial Staff

Posted on 02/20/2003 3:51:29 PM PST by vannrox

New Age For Mungo Man, New Human History

A University of Melbourne-led study has finally got scientists to agree on the age of Mungo Man, Australia's oldest human remains, and the consensus is he is 22,000 years younger.

A University of Melbourne-led team say Mungo Man's new age is 40,000 years, reigniting the debate for the 'Out of Africa' theory. The research also boosted the age of Mungo Lady, the world's first recorded cremation, by 10,000 years putting her at the same age as Mungo Man. It is the first time scientists have reached a broad agreement on the ages of the Lake Mungo remains.

"The ages paint a new picture of the human and climatic history of Australia," says the discoverer of the Lake Mungo remains, Professor Jim Bowler, a geologist and Professorial Fellow with the University of Melbourne.

The research will be published in the 20 February issue of Nature

In 1999, Australian National University scientists estimated the age of Mungo Man to be 62,000 years. This created a frenzy of excitement and vigorous debate among scientists as this rewrote the history of human occupation in Australia and had profound implications for the origins of modern man.

"Australia's colonisation is one of the keys to our understanding of how Homo sapiens evolved and spread around the world. It is critical we get the story correct," says Bowler.

To solve the long-standing debate, Professor Bowler amassed a multidisciplinary team of experts from the Universities of Melbourne, Adelaide, Wollongong, the Australian National University, CSIRO and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, and used multiple methods and four separate dating laboratories to achieve a final consensus.

"Dr Nigel Spooner (formerly ANU) and Dr Bert Roberts (University of Wollongong), both co-authors on the paper, have advanced current dating techniques and were integral in achieving confidence in the accuracy of our results. They were supported by co-authors Dr Jon Olley (CSIRO) and Professor John Prescott (University of Adelaide)," says Bowler.

"The new age corrects previous estimates and provides a new picture of Homo sapiens adapting to deteriorating climate in Australia," he says.

The data show that maximum human occupation of Lake Mungo occurred between 45,000 and 42,000 years ago, a time when the lake was a lavish water and food supply for humans, animals and plants. This phase of intense occupation occurred at a time of major climatic change that also coincided with the disappearance of Australia's megafauna.

Between 60,000 and 50,000 years ago, the last ice age saw the expansion of freshwater lakes across what are now dry inland plains. By 45,000 years the system was beginning to change. By 40,000 years, at the time of both burials, the onset of drought conditions was associated with the expansion of Australia's desert dunes building to its maximum impact about 20,000 years ago.

"By 20,000 years, the lakes were dry, plants and animals were decimated and sand dunes had spread across the plains," says Bowler.

"The new dates reveal a rich tapestry of archaeological change that is rarely equaled elsewhere in the world and provides an ancient example of humans being forced to adapt to severe drought conditions similar to those that affect much of semi-arid and arid Australia today," he says.

The oldest evidence for human occupation of the Lake Mungo region has been dated from stone tools at about 50,000 years. This is consistent with the oldest artifacts found in Western Australia and Northern Territory.

"Evidence for occupation at 60,000 years or greater remains to be established," says Bowler.

"Lake Mungo confirms that the first Australians had colonised the country by 50,000 years and by 40,000 years had brought with them art and ritual burial," he says.

The Lake Mungo remains are still Australia's oldest human remains. Mungo Man is still the first well-dated evidence found anywhere in the world of such cultural sophistication, in this case, the anointing of the body with ochre before or during burial.

"This research extends far beyond mere academic interest. The Mungo people's story is of major importance to both their present day indigenous descendants and to all non-indigenous Australians," says Bowler.

"Non-indigenous Australians too often have a desperately limited frame of historical reference. The Lake Mungo region provides a record of land and people that we latter day arrivals have failed to incorporate into our own Australian psyche. We have yet to penetrate the depths of time and cultural treasures revealed by those ancestors of indigenous Australians," he says.

"The messages from the ancient Mungo people challenge us to come to terms with the history and dynamics of this strange land, especially with the rights and richness of their descendants.

"Indeed it is those descendants, in the person of the three traditional tribal groups of the Willandra region (the Barkandji, the Mutthi Mutthi and the Nyampaa) who facilitated and cooperated closely with this project. This represents an important new phase in the collaboration between science and traditional owners. Science and the Australian community owe them a special debt of gratitude."

###

Dr Wilfred Shawcross (ANU) and Dr Harvey Johnson (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service) are responsible for the archaeological content of the paper.

Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here.


Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to quote any part of this story, please credit University Of Melbourne as the original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any citation:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/02/030220082107.htm


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: africa; ancientnavigation; archaeology; australia; bone; crevolist; darwin; evolution; fossil; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; haplotypes2; history; man; multiregionalism; mungoman; navigation; out; past; ruin; skull; wonchacomout2nite
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To: f.Christian
Blabber -- loggorhea // bloviation is certainly very much in evidence but *intelligent discourse* -- Crypto=Christian=Islamo //fiction () absent??!!
21 posted on 02/20/2003 10:03:10 PM PST by John Valentine (We live in portentious times.)
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To: John Locke
Perhaps asses then, eh?
22 posted on 02/20/2003 10:04:25 PM PST by John Valentine (We live in portentious times.)
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To: John Valentine

The darwinian dichotomy (( darloserian )) . . .

evolution is a dead branch (( hairy wart )) of science - - -

going to the fire (( laser surgery )) // ash heap of history ! !




Evolution is even worse than that . . .

some kind of alien POISON vine choking science // society .. .. ..

pulling it down === aids virus // typhoid // mad witch === SPELL disease !



23 posted on 02/20/2003 10:23:18 PM PST by f.Christian (( + God *IS* Truth - love * SCIENCE* // trust -- *logic* -- *SANITY* Awakening + ))
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To: seams2me
He's 22,000 years younger than previously thought? Hang on, lemme grab my lipstick. He's DATING material.

Since nobody seems to have said it yet..

Hon, he's CARBON DATING material.

24 posted on 02/21/2003 2:49:06 AM PST by Erasmus
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To: Aric2000
"Creationism is never having to say you're sorry." Placemarker.
25 posted on 02/21/2003 3:58:01 AM PST by PatrickHenry (Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas)
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To: vannrox
In the summertime,
when the weather is high,
you can stretch right up,
and touch the sky,
in the summertime,
you got women,
you got women on your mind...
...Mungo Jerry (as I recall it)
26 posted on 02/21/2003 4:02:22 AM PST by error99 ("I believe stupidity should hurt."...used by permission from null and void all copyrights apply...)
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To: John Valentine
Creationism is a morally an intellectually bankrupt dead end that has to rely on distortion and outright lies to make its feeble points.

You really ought to do a little homework before you make such statements. Feel free to take your foot out.

What is creationism? Where are it's researchers? Where are it's facts? Where are it's results?

Such questions indicate either a gross ignorance of the subject or a blinding bias against it.

27 posted on 02/21/2003 5:37:18 AM PST by Dataman
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To: John Valentine
The structure and function of the genetic "code", i.e. DNA and RNA.

Yes, that does tend to be problematic for naturalists because 1) there is no natural and intellectually respectable explanation for its existence, 2) there is no natural and intellctually respectable explanation for its origin, 3)it appears "full blown" in even one-celled organisms, and 4) it contains more information than is necessary for any one given living organism.

The evolutionist assumption that it came from a rock doesn't exactly account for existence.

28 posted on 02/21/2003 5:43:23 AM PST by Dataman
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To: PatrickHenry
Mungo Man (who?) ping.

I think he had a hit with "In the SUMmer TIME do-dah-dee-da-da-dee! You got women, you got women on your mind!"

29 posted on 02/21/2003 6:58:58 AM PST by VadeRetro
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To: John Valentine
Creationism is a morally an intellectually bankrupt dead end that has to rely on distortion and outright lies to make its feeble points.

As proven here on these threads everyday.

30 posted on 02/21/2003 7:20:48 AM PST by balrog666 (When in doubt, tell the truth. - Mark Twain)
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To: John Valentine
As a creation myth, you are welcome to it. But please don't insult us all by expecting us to take it seriously.

As a Jewish, theistic evolutionist, I take the Torah very seriously, in the way it was intended to be taken: as a guide to how to live our lives, and as a record of my ancestors' search for, and encounter with, God. It was never intended to be a science book,and I don't take it as such. But on the really serious issues, I take it very seriously indeed.

31 posted on 02/21/2003 8:52:04 AM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: John Valentine
Creation // reality is a myth to the mad === insane (( brainwashed // indoctrinated )) !
32 posted on 02/21/2003 12:32:38 PM PST by f.Christian (( + God *IS* Truth - love * SCIENCE* // trust -- *logic* *SANITY* Awakening + ))
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To: Erasmus
Well, I'm 41, so I'm "carbon dating material", too.
33 posted on 02/21/2003 1:22:17 PM PST by seams2me ("if they pass the reading test, it means they learned to read" GWB 1/8/03)
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To: Erasmus
LOL!
34 posted on 02/25/2003 8:38:57 AM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest
-- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

35 posted on 05/01/2005 9:17:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FR profiled updated Monday, April 11, 2005. Fewer graphics, faster loading.)
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