Human remains from Lake Mungo: discovery and excavation of Lake Mungo III

ON FEBRUARY 26, 1974, in the course of a general review of the geomorphology and stratigraphy of the Willandra lakes, Bowler was examining the southern end of the Lake Mungo Junette (Figure I). At this locality two major stratigraphic units have been recognised--Zanci, a zone of upper grey aeolian calcareous silts and Mungo, an underlying basal sequence of beach-derived aeolian sands partly cemented by calcrete (Bowler, 1971). The lower or Mungo unit at this site was deposited during a period of high lake level between 40,000 and 25,000 BP, a period that coincided with the maximum extent of glacial conditions in the southeastern highlands. Bowler's examination was concentrated on this unit in the hope of finding new evidence bearing on the environment and occupation relating to this important period.