Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1999 Jun;36(6):591-612.
doi: 10.1006/jhev.1999.0305.

Australia's oldest human remains: age of the Lake Mungo 3 skeleton

A Thorne  1 , R Grün, G Mortimer, N A Spooner, J J Simpson, M McCulloch, L Taylor, D Curnoe
Affiliations

Australia's oldest human remains: age of the Lake Mungo 3 skeleton

A Thorne et al. J Hum Evol. 1999 Jun.

Abstract

We have carried out a comprehensive ESR and U-series dating study on the Lake Mungo 3 (LM3) human skeleton. The isotopic Th/U and Pa/U ratios indicate that some minor uranium mobilization may have occurred in the past. Taking such effects into account, the best age estimate for the human skeleton is obtained through the combination of U-series and ESR analyses yielding 62,000+/-6000 years. This age is in close agreement with OSL age estimates on the sediment into which the skeleton was buried of 61,000+/-2000 years. Furthermore, we obtained a U-series age of 81,000+/-21,000 years for the calcitic matrix that was precipitated on the bones after burial. All age results are considerably older than the previously assumed age of LM3 and demonstrate the necessity for directly dating hominid remains. We conclude that the Lake Mungo 3 burial documents the earliest known human presence on the Australian continent. The age implies that people who were skeletally within the range of the present Australian indigenous population colonized the continent during or before oxygen isotope stage 4 (57,000-71,000 years).

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources