Hey everyone, and welcome to World Heritage Journey.
For today's video, we're at the Willandra Lakes Region of south-eastern Australia.
So I'm standing on the shore of Lake Mungo, one of the 13 lakes that make up the World
Heritage Area.
And as you've probably guessed, it's a dry lake.
All of them are, in fact.
It's hot, it's dusty, it's sandy, and it's really really dry here.
But 100,000 years ago, it was a totally different story.
This would have been an absolute oasis, full of water and brimming with fish, plants, birds,
and other animals.
So how did we get from then, to now?
Well it's a fascinating story, and exploring it will completely revolutionise our understanding
of humans in Australia as well.
Let's go.
The Willandra Lakes region is located in an isolated corner of south-eastern Australia.
It's one of the rare Mixed World Heritage Sites, important for both cultural and natural
reasons.
The region itself is about 2,400 square kilometres, and it's on the traditional lands of the
Muthi Muthi, Ngiyampaa, and Paakantyi Aboriginal tribes.
The lakes formed around 100,000 years ago, and as I mentioned earlier, were lush green
oases, rich with birds, fish, and plants.
This beautiful sand dune, known as the "lunette", was once Lake Mungo's eastern shore, and it
would have been teeming with life.
But the lakes dried up around 20,000 years ago, in the late Pleistocene epoch, as the
climate cooled and the water turned salty.
So why is it on the World Heritage List?
Well, this part of Australia is extremely inert, geographically speaking.
There's no volcanoes or earthquakes to move things around, and no rivers eroding the rock,
so it's really well preserved.
It's a fantastic place for geologists to study climate conditions from thousands of
years ago.
And even better, the sand and rock in the lunette is heavily stratified, with distinct
coloured layers showing different eras.
The orange-red layers are oldest, over 50,000 years, while the sandy central layer is 50-20,000
years old.
Finally, the clay on top is under 20,000 years old.
Exploring the dunes is a magnificent experience, and it gives you a real sense of wonder at
the stories which exist under your feet.
You have to tread carefully, as the area is dotted with fossil fragments of fish and birds,
blackened campfire remains from millennia ago, and even middens, or rubbish dumps left
behind by ancient occupants.
And it's in these mysterious and forbidding dunes, that Australian history changed forever.
In 1969, an ancient human skull was exposed by the shifting sand dunes, and in 1974, the
same archaeologist, Dr Jim Bowler, discovered an entire human skeleton nearby.
The skull, Mungo Lady, and the skeleton, dubbed Mungo Man, were eventually dated at around
40,000 years old!
They are among the oldest homo sapiens ever found, and pre-dated the oldest known occupants
of Australia by 20,000 years.
Mungo Man was extraordinarily well-preserved, with his bones in great condition.
He was tall for an ancient human (nearly six feet!), was probably around 50 years old when
he died, and he had painful arthritis in his right elbow from a lifetime of throwing hunting
spears.
He was buried carefully, laid on his back with bent knees, and his fingers interlocked
near his groin.
Traces of fire were found nearby, and his body had been sprinkled with ochre, indicating
some sort of burial ritual.
Although only Mungo Lady's skull was discovered, the find was no less valuable than Mungo Man.
Mungo Lady had been ritually cremated: her corpse burned, bones smashed up, burned a
second time, and then dusted with ochre that had been brought to Mungo from hundreds of
kilometres away.
It's the oldest known ritual cremation anywhere in the world, and demonstrates that homo sapiens
were performing religious and spiritual rituals far earlier than previously thought.
Approximately 17 other burials have been found in the lunette, though none as significant
as Mungo Man and Mungo Lady.
They've since been reburied in a secret location, in accordance with traditional practices.
But even as Mungo Man and Mungo Lady were revolutionising our knowledge of humans in
Australia, another incredible discovery was made, in Willandra Lakes.
One of the most fascinating discoveries here at the Willandra Lakes Area was the ancient
footprints that were found in 2003, and you can see replicas of those on the floor behind
me.
Discovered by local Aboriginal elders, the Mungo Footprints are the largest set of fossilised
ice age prints anywhere in the world.
Dating to around 20,000 years ago, they're a set of nearly 500 footprints, from over
25 different people.
And it's a really vivid scene - four tall men with huge 30cm feet, running extremely
fast, about 20 kilometres an hour, their toes squelching in the mud.
Another group walks quickly, an adolescent wanders away from the pack, young children
dawdle along, and another man walks on one leg - is he hopping or using a crutch? We don't know.
Dents and marks suggest that spears and sticks were being carried, while kangaroo and emu
prints wander across the scene.
Tantalisingly, the tracks lead underneath a nearby sand dune, meaning that many more
discoveries might still await!
Well this has been a really interesting World Heritage Site.
I've really loved learning about the Pleistocene Epoch, and of course the first humans here
in Australia as well.
It's been really interesting, and I think the landscape is fascinating - just the wide
brown expanse of the lake behind me, and the lunette glistening in the distance with all
of its secrets.
But, that's it from me, thanks so much for watching.
Don't forget to Like and Subscribe, I'm Joel on the Road, and I'll see you at the next
World Heritage Site!