The discovery of Mungo Man

Summary

Witness History – "The Discovery of Mungo Man" (June 18, 2026)
BBC World Service with Host Rachel Naylor
Episode Length: ~9 minutes

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Episode Overview

This episode of Witness History revisits the remarkable 1974 discovery of "Mungo Man," a 42,000-year-old skeleton unearthed in the arid Willandra Lakes of Australia by geologist Dr. Jim Bowler. Through Bowler's own recollections and historical archives, the episode explores how this find revolutionized our understanding of Indigenous Australian history, sparked global attention, and triggered profound debates about scientific discovery, Aboriginal heritage, and ancestral repatriation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Setting: Willandra Lakes and Early Hints

• The episode opens with Dr. Jim Bowler reflecting on the mysterious landscape of the Willandra Lakes—once filled with water, now barren expanses.

• Bowler, then a geologist at the Australian National University, was investigating the ancient history of the terrain when, in 1968, he uncovered "Mungo Lady," the earliest cremated human remains found in Australia.

  "I was puzzled by the extent of dunes all up and down across the country, but no desert, and the existence of dry basins that we called lakes, but no water." — Dr. Jim Bowler [01:04]

The Fateful Discovery (February 26, 1974)

• A rare storm left Bowler housebound in a remote sheep station, but as the sky cleared, he set out to explore, expecting fresh discoveries revealed by washed sands.

• Within hours, Bowler spotted what he first thought were animal bones, but closer examination revealed human remains—a jawbone embedded in the sand. He immediately alerted colleagues in Canberra.

  "I noticed a white bone appearing on the windblown, sandy surface... below this round patch on the surface, there was clearly a human jawbone." — Dr. Jim Bowler [02:43]

• Bowler recorded his excitement:

  "At 4:18 pm, he writes in his trusty notebook: 'eureka. The next Mungo addition.'" — Rachel Naylor [03:28]

The Excavation and Evidence of Ritual

• Within 48 hours, archaeologist Dr. Alan Thorne and a university team arrived. They discovered that, unlike "Mungo Lady," "Mungo Man" was a complete skeleton.

• A key finding: traces of red ochre (iron oxide) anointing the body, suggesting an early religious burial ritual, predating similar practices in Europe.

  "Red ochre in the grave can only signify that the ancient people of this lake believed in an afterlife and had created religious rituals at least as early as modern man in Europe." — BBC Archival Documentary [04:28]

• Mungo Man, estimated to have been around 50 years old and arthritic, was buried on his back with hands crossed—a sign of deliberate, sophisticated burial rites.

Dating and Worldwide Impact

• Initial dating attempts suggested an age "well beyond 20,000" years, but some colleagues claimed up to 63,000 years, leading to sensational media coverage.

  "If you believe them, you believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden... Next day, The Melbourne Age came out: 'Bowler says the age of the Mungo Man is ridiculous.'" — Dr. Jim Bowler [05:23]

• Later carbon dating settled the age at approximately 42,000 years—still the continent’s oldest remains at the time, and nearly ten times older than the pyramids.

Controversy: Indigenous Rights and Repatriation

• The remains were taken to the university for study, but this provoked pain and protest among local Indigenous groups, who saw the excavation as a violation.

  "The bones were taken without permission. That's true. At that time, the Indigenous people from that area had been removed probably 50, 60 years earlier." — Dr. Jim Bowler [06:41]

• Aboriginal Australians campaigned for decades for the return of Mungo Man. The university apologized in 2015. Mungo Man was finally reinterred at a secret site in 2022, as per traditional wishes—a bittersweet resolution for Bowler.

  "A pilgrimage place where people could come and honour not just the bones, but the ancestral people. That never happened... not the full story, not the spiritual dimension of the Mungo people. That's the story Australia still waits to digest." — Dr. Jim Bowler [07:40]

The Enduring Legacy

• Subsequent evidence in 2017 pushed the earliest occupation of Australia back to 65,000 years, but Mungo Man reshaped both the archaeological record and Australian self-understanding.

  "I have spent 50 odd years in the company with Mungo Man. He's here on my wall today, behind me. I talk to him and he talks to me... 'Bowler, what have you done to my land? What have you done to my people?' They become real questions to which we have to find answers." — Dr. Jim Bowler [08:31]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On First Spotting the Bones:
  "I thought, first case, it was a wombat... below this round patch on the surface, there was clearly a human jawbone." — Dr. Jim Bowler [02:43]

• On the Importance of Ochre:
  "A faint trace around the margins of the body that there was a faint reddening... This body had been anointed." — Dr. Jim Bowler [03:52]

• On Media Sensation:
  "If you believe them, you believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden... No, no, no, you can't [quote me]. I'll say I never said it... The Melbourne Age came out: 'Bowler says the age of the Mungo Man is ridiculous.'" — Dr. Jim Bowler [05:23]

• On Indigenous Reactions:
  "Hey, wait a minute. This is our history, not yours." — Quoting Indigenous Australians [06:41]

• On Returning Mungo Man:
  "For me, it was a sad and unfortunate moment. A pilgrimage place where people could come and honour... that never happened." — Dr. Jim Bowler [07:40]

• On Ongoing Reflection:
  "I have spent 50 odd years in the company with Mungo Man... I listen to him and he's asked me questions. Bowler, what have you done to my land? What have you done to my people? That is a dialogue that goes on between me and Mungo Man and will continue whether he's buried or not." — Dr. Jim Bowler [08:31]

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Timeline & Timestamps

• [01:04] — Bowler describes the Willandra landscape
• [02:02–02:43] — The storm, the decision to explore, and initial discovery
• [03:28] — Bowler's "eureka moment" and the start of excavation
• [03:52–04:28] — The discovery of ochre and ritual burial
• [05:04–05:23] — Initial dating disputes and media reaction
• [06:41] — Reflections on the ethical cost and Indigenous perspectives
• [07:40] — Bowler's mixed feelings about Mungo Man’s reburial
• [08:31] — The personal and national significance of the discovery

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Conclusion

Dr. Jim Bowler’s discovery of Mungo Man not only stretched Australia's timeline of human history, but also sparked critical discussions about the intersection of science, media, and Indigenous rights. The story, as recounted in this episode, remains both a milestone of global archaeology and a poignant reminder of the responsibilities owed to those whose histories we uncover.

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[For listeners seeking more on prehistoric finds, the episode recommends stories on the Homo floresiensis "hobbit" and the Patagotitan dinosaur discovery.]

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

This is Witness History from the BBC World Service with me, Rachel Naylor. If you're a regular listener, you know why we're great. You can skip the next few seconds, but if you're new here, welcome. We're the podcast that brings history to life by hearing from those who are there. Episodes are just nine minutes long and they come out every weekday. If that appeals to you, why not hit subscribe and turn your push notifications on

[A]

today?

[B]

We're going back more than 50 years to the discovery of a skeleton that helped rewrite Australia's history. This is the controversial story of Mungoman. I've been speaking to the scientist who found him. It's the 1970s and we're in the barren, remote Willandra Lakes region in New South Wales. But unlike the name suggests, there are no longer any lakes. They dried up 15,000 years ago. Geologist Dr. Jim Bowler from the Australian National University in Canberra is here to study ancient climate change.

[A]

I was puzzled by the extent of dunes all up and down across the country, but no desert, and the existence of dry basins that we called lakes, but no water. So I decided that my geology was going to try to unwrap the story of those ancient landscapes.

[B]

But that's not his only aim. Six years earlier, in 1968, Jim had accidentally found some ancient human bones. They became known as Mungo lady, as she was found next to Lake Mungo and she was estimated to be around 40,000 years old, far older than any other human remains found in Australia. Jim is sure there must be more out there. On 26 February 1974, due to a rare storm, he takes shelter in a solitary sheep station more than 100 km from the nearest town.

[A]

I was locked up in what was the shearer's quarters, where the sheep. I was sitting there, but I had my notebooks. You couldn't work in the wet, so I waited. Then the sky cleared, the sun came out and I thought, I'm going to get out here. The rains, they sweep the surface, so they bring a new series of discoveries.

[B]

For that reason, Jim is feeling confident about the day ahead. So confident, he writes in his notebook,

[A]

I'm going out to data Science. I might find something really interesting.

[B]

Wearing a safari hat, sunglasses and a leather jacket, Jim heads out on his motorbike to explore the dunes in the sun.

[A]

Probably about by the middle of the day, I noticed a white bone appearing on the windblown, sandy surface. I thought, first case, it was a wombat. So I swept away, just with my hands, the tip of These bones. And below this round patch on the surface, there was clearly a human jawbone. And that immediately implied the probable presence of a body on the ground on which I was then standing. I got back quickly as possible to the nearest telephone rang my colleagues in Canberra, and at this stage they already knew that Wilbola had found a few things of interest before. So they came immediately, this time with a team of people.

[B]

Here was the further proof of ancient human life that Jim had been hoping for. At 4:18pm, he writes in his trusty notebook, eureka. The next mungo addition. Within 48 hours, his colleagues from the university, including archaeologist Dr. Alan Thorne, arrived to excavate the bones. Unlike Mungo lady, here was a complete skeleton and there was more.

[A]

Thorne said to me, what's this? He gave me a little pellet and it was a pellet of iron oxide. And so immediately the penny dropped that this was not just iron oxide, it was ochre. And we could see a faint trace around the margins of the body that there was a faint reddening. This trace continued down from cranium down to the groin. This body had been anointed.

[B]

This was huge news. It showed that those who buried Mungo man were more sophisticated than previously thought. As this BBC documentary from 1975 explains.

[A]

Red ochre in the grave can only signify that the ancient people of this lake believed in an afterlife and had created religious rituals at least as early as modern man in Europe. They have the earliest cremation in the world, which also indicates religion. And their pellets of ochre may make them the first artists. So that all came together on that single day.

[B]

Not bad for a day that started with Jim stranded on a sheep farm in the rain. The skeleton, a hunter gatherer with arthritis who died around the age of 50, was nicknamed Mungo Man. He was buried on his back with his hands crossed in his lap.

[A]

It took time to understand and appreciate the full significance of what we were seeing. The dating at that time, all we could say was certainly well beyond 20,000.

[B]

Jim's colleagues went further and estimated that Mungo man was older than that, maybe even 63,000 years old.

[A]

They had received worldwide acknowledgement that this was a new history to Australia. And I was approached by the media in Melbourne, the Melbourne age, and I was very skeptical about those dates because they did not fit the geology. So I said to the reporter, look, I don't believe those dates. And if you believe them, you believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden. The media lady said, well, look, we'll quote you on that. No, no, no, you can't. I didn't say it. I'll say I never said it. So next day, the Melbourne age came out. Bowler says the age of the Mungo man is ridiculous.

[B]

Jim's instincts were right. Carbon dating later showed Mungo man was about 42,000 years old, which still made him Australia's oldest known human skeleton. That's nearly 10 times older than the pyramids of Egypt. His remains were taken to the Australian National University to be studied. And in 1979, the area he was found in became a national park and a World heritage site in 1981. But Indigenous Australians viewed the excavation as a violation of their sacred traditions. How did you feel about the bones being moved at the time?

[A]

Oh, that's come back to bite us. The reality was the bones were taken without permission. That's true. At that time, the indigenous people from that area had been removed probably 50, 60 years earlier. So I didn't meet any in my work there for many years until after the appearance of the Mungo people when Aboriginal people came and said, hey, look. Hey, wait a minute. This is our history, not yours.

[B]

Indigenous Australians from the region campaigned for Mungo man to be returned to his ancestral home. In 2015, the Australian National University apologised for their original excavation. Two years later, Mungo man was returned to Mungo national park. And in 2022, in accordance with the wishes of the indigenous community, he was reburied in a secret location to protect his remains from desecration. Jim believes the fact it was undisclosed is a missed opportunity.

[A]

For me, it was a sad and unfortunate moment. A pilgrimage place where people could come and honour not just the bones, but the ancestral people. That never happened. Lake Mungo itself is a pilgrimage place for many people. They go there and they see the land and the amazing record of ancient people, but not the full story, not the spiritual dimension of the Mungo people. That's the story Australia still waits to digest.

[B]

Mungo man is no longer regarded as Australia's oldest remains. In 2017, evidence was discovered to suggest that Aboriginal people have been in Australia for even longer. 65,000 years. But Jim's discoveries helped redefine our scientific understanding of early Australians.

[A]

It clearly was a moment of life changing significance, both not to me, but also to Australian history. I have spent 50 odd years in the company with Mungo Man. He's here on my wall today, behind me. I. I talk to him and he talks to me. I listen to him and he's asked me questions. Bola, what have you done to my land? What have you done to my people? They become real questions to which we have to find answers. That is a dialogue that goes on between me and Mungo man and will continue whether he's buried or not.

[B]

Dr. Jim Bowler, now 96, was speaking to me. Rachel Naylor for Witness History for the BBC World Service. If you find the discoveries of bones interesting, we've got plenty more episodes in our back catalogue that you might like. Why not listen to one I made about the discovery of the hobbit, the ancient human species Homo floresiensis, in Indonesia in 2003? Or one I made about the discovery of the biggest species of dinosaur, the Patagotitan, in Argentina in 2012. But before you go check those out, please leave us a review wherever you can and and make sure you hit subscribe. Thanks for listening to the end.

[A]

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[B]

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