40,000-year-old remains returned to Aboriginal elders

An undated handout photo received yesterday shows a traditional smoking ceremony for remains of Mungo Man, whose 40,000-year-old bones have been crucial to understanding how long humans have lived in Australia, as they handed back to Aboriginal elders ahead of his anticipated return home.

DPA/AFPSydneyThe 40,000-year-old remains of an Aboriginal man discovered 40 years ago in the remote desert of southwestern Australia were returned to tribal elders yesterday in a ceremony in Canberra.The remains became known as Mungo Man after the area they were found by geologists in the 1970s.The remains were highly significant as they proved for the first time that humans had lived on the continent for at least 40,000 years, twice as long as earlier thought.The remains were taken to the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra where they were studied and helped rewrite the anthropological history of Australia.In 2014, the Mutthi Mutthi, Ngiyampaa and Barkandji tribal elders from the Mungo area in western New South Wales requested the remains be returned.University vice-chancellor Professor Ian Young said they were proud to return the remains to their traditional custodians.“The ANU has been custodian of the remains for four decades, and has treated them with great care and respect. It is now time for them to be returned to the care of their Indigenous descendants,” Young said in a university statement.After a traditional smoking ceremony, the remains were handed to the elders.Mutthi Mutthi elder Mary Pappin said she hoped Mungo Man would soon return home, and that Aborigines from all over Australia would celebrate the return.“It’s been a long time coming for our people,” she said. “We are so grateful he is going to be coming home. He’s done his job. It is time for him to go home and rest now.”The university formally apologised for removing the remains and acknowledged it had caused grief to the Aboriginal communities.It is expected the elders will take the remains back to the area they were found and reburied in a traditional tribal ceremony.Vice-chancellor Young said in the statement that the ANU hoped that by returning the historic remains, it could “in some way redress our past mistakes, and the mistreatment and distress that we have caused you”.The remains found on the shores of Lake Mungo have been the subject of extensive scientific research, with their fine preservation and evidence of ritual burial also providing a window into an ancient culture.The ANU became the official custodian of the remains in 2002 through a formal agreement with the Willandra Elders Council, ensuring that all further research and decisions were subject to their approval.Traditional custodians officially requested their return in 2014.“They’ve treated him very well, but I think they’ve learned enough now,” said Ngiyampaa elder Aunty Joan Slade. “Now it’s time to take him home to rest. All of Aboriginal Australia will be very proud to know this has happened.”The ANU said the elders had requested the National Museum hold the remains and, while they will eventually return to Lake Mungo, when and how this occurs is as yet undecided.Geologist Jim Bowler, who found the remains, said Mungo Man needed to be returned to his country not only for legal reasons but to allow a full celebration of the enlightenment he had brought Australians about the cultural sophistication of his era.