Lake Mungo

When we were flying back from Australia we were blessed with an interesting route and (occasionally) not too much cloud cover. This meant I was able to take photos out of the plane window in the hope I could later identify something interesting. This photo is of a historically important place - not just for Australia, but of massive archeological interest world wide.

Lake Mungo is a dry lake located in New South Wales, Australia, and is part of the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area. The sand dunes at the edge of the lake hold evidence of human habitation dating back over 40,000 years, making it one of the oldest known sites of human activity in Australia.

Lake Mungo through the window of a 787 Dreamliner. The sand dune is where the majority of the archaeology is found.

The discovery of the remains of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady in 1968 provided insights into early human behavior, including ceremonial burial practices. These might challenge previous assumptions about the timeline of human migration and development because some of the testing results date them from the time that homo sapiens were first leaving Africa.

For Indigenous Australians, Lake Mungo is a sacred site, reflecting the connection between people, culture, and the land. The remains themselves have become a political football, and the scientific findings contentious.

Lake Mungo also offers valuable environmental and geological records. The ancient lakebed and sediments provide evidence of past climate changes, which has been used to understand environmental shifts over thousands of years.

I am always amazed by people who get bored on a plane, especially when it's flying over land during the day and they're sitting in a window seat. I find the view out of the window endlessly fascinating, even if I do usually end up with a crick in the neck.