Recreation of Mungo Man’s burial, 42,000 years ago
Jim Bowler's discovery of where Mungo Man lay buried in 1974 single-handedly doubled the known human occupation of Australia to 42,000 years.
What was remarkable about Mungo Man was that his remains were covered in ocher, a red iron ore that was powdered and then sprinkled either over his skin, or perhaps across his clothes.
Mungo Man's remains are the very oldest known use of ocher in a funeral anywhere in the world. But what could covering him in ocher possibly mean?
This same use of ocher is seen 30,000 years ago in Europe, alongside other funeral practices such as specially making and leaving grave goods, and placing children in group graves, that suggest people were investing time and effort that went beyond simply disposing of the dead.
Tellingly, at Mungo Lake the closest source of red ocher was over 100 km away from where Mungo Man lived, meaning it would have had to be specially transported, and then specially ground as part of his funeral.
The time and effort given to his funeral suggests that Mungo Man was highly thought of in life, and mourned and remembered after death.