Lake Mungo
| Lake Mungo | |
|---|---|
The shore of Lake Mungo | |
Lake Mungo Lake Mungo | |
Landsat 7 imagery of Lake Mungo. The white line defining the eastern shore of the lake is the sand dune, or lunette, where most archaeological material has been found | |
| Location | Hatfield, New South Wales |
| Group | Willandra Lakes Region |
| Coordinates | 33°45′S 143°05′E / 33.750°S 143.083°E |
| Type | Former lake |
| Basin countries | Australia |
| Managing agency | Mungo National Park |
| Designation | World Heritage Site |
| First flooded | ±140,000 years ago |
| Max. length | 25 km (16 mi) |
| Surface area | 200 km2 (77 sq mi) |
| Max. depth | approx. 15 m (49 ft) |
| Residence time | ±60,000 years ago |
| Surface elevation | 66 m (217 ft) |
| References | Mungo National Park site |
| Location | |
Interactive map of Lake Mungo | |
Lake Mungo is a dry lake located in New South Wales, Australia. It is about 760 km (470 mi) due west of Sydney and 90 km (56 mi) north-east of Mildura. The lake is the central feature of Mungo National Park, and is one of seventeen lakes in the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region. Many important archaeological findings have been made at the lake, most significantly the discovery of the remains of Mungo Man (the oldest human remains found in Australia), Mungo Woman (the oldest human remains in the world to be ritually cremated), and the location of the Lake Mungo geomagnetic excursion, the first convincing evidence that geomagnetic excursions are a geomagnetic phenomenon rather than sedimentological.