Animal bones emerging from the Lake Mungo lunette

Humans arrived at Lake Mungo about 40,000 years ago, probably by following a river from the coast. They would have found an area full of life. People could have waded and hunted for fish, or dived for yabbies and shellfish. The margins of the lake were well vegetated with reed beds and eucalyptus trees and would have attracted a variety of waterbirds, frogs, mammals and reptiles.

Over time the region changed as the climate became warmer and drier.Today Lake Mungo is dry.

In 1968, the oldest human remains to be discovered in Australia were found at Lake Mungo.