A lunette at Lake Mungo showing ancient soil layers, 2020

Lake Mungo is located in the Willandra Lakes area, in New South Wales. 150,000 years ago, the Willandra Lakes formed as low-lying basins filled with water from the mountains to the east. The levels of the lakes fluctuated over the next 100,000 years depending on the warming or cooling of the climate. Today the lake is dry. Lunettes are eroded dunes (often in the shape of a crescent) that show layers of silt and sand deposited over tens of thousands of years. There are three major layers of soil in the lunettes at Lake Mungo. The oldest layer is the red Gol Gol soil at the bottom. Next is the grey Mungo layer, which was formed 25–45,000 years ago. The pale brown Zanci layer is on top and was formed 15–20,000 years ago.