Mungo Man Comes Home

[icyfroth]

Mungo Man returned to ancestral home where he died 40,000 years ago

Traditional owners say the return of the remains of the historic Mungo Man, who was removed by scientists from his resting place more than 40 years ago, will provide closure and is a step toward reconciliation.

More than four decades ago anthropologists removed the ancient skeleton of an Aboriginal man, the discovery of which rewrote Australian history.

Now he has been returned home to his descendants, travelling for days in a hearse from Canberra.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-17/mungo-man-returned-to-ancestral-home/9159840

Can Australia's mordern Indiginous ppl really lay claim to him as an ancestor though?

An article from ABC science in 2001 says the following:

 "In a technical tour de force, a team led by Thorne has extracted and analysed parts of a single gene from Mungo Man. More stunning still, the researchers claim that what they discovered is that the man's DNA is unlike anything they have ever seen. While Mungo Man was undoubtedly fully modern anatomically, he came from a genetic lineage that is now extinct."

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2001/01/01/2813404.htm

So if his lineage is now extinct, how can today's aborigines be his descendants?

[davidc4430]

i'm so sorry but every time ive heard the word 'Mungo' i have thought of the guy in Blazing Saddles.

Blazing Saddles _ Candygram for Mongo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH6_kasOHac

[icyfroth]

No surprises there, lol

[lind9650]

In 40,000 years a lot has changed in the whole world.

Because nobody knows who was here before the indigenous Australians, they can claim ancestors through their Dreaming time stories.

The whole world was once just one continent, until natural disasters split it into pieces millions of years ago. Even today we know that the plates are shifting and Australia is moving north.

Who knows what scientists and archaeologists will discover and interpetrate in another 40.000 years?

Before Captain Cook, other nations used to visit Australia and trade with the native people, but nobody thought of invading the country and taking it forcefully.

But this is another story.

Let the native people have their Dreaming Time and a past to hang on to. Science has not always been right.

Erica

[johcaschro]

Maybe . . . just maybe . . . the Aussie Aboriginal boat people "invaded" via South East Asia and caused the extinction of the more ancient Mungo man people.

No one really knows, do they?

[icyfroth]

Well...that's the general line of thinking in scientific circles. That the current aboriginals of Australia were not the first inhabitants of Australia.

You're right though, we'll never know, so claims can be made that cannot be disproven.

What is proven through DNA testing is that the line of Mungo Man is extinct, so there cannot be living descendants of him.

[springyzone]

What an interesting find that was!

DNA testing has come a long way. I once read about ancient remains found in Cheddar caves in England. Cheddar man.

But the amazing thing was they were able to trace DNA relationship to someone who was living in a nearby village.

[davidc4430]

[icyfroth]

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@springyzone wrote:

What an interesting find that was!

DNA testing has come a long way. I once read about ancient remains found in Cheddar caves in England. Cheddar man.

But the amazing thing was they were able to trace DNA relationship to someone who was living in a nearby village.

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For a moment I thought you were joking, so I looked it up! Thanks for posting!

Cheddar Man is a human male fossil found in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. The skeletal remains date to the Mesolithic, and it appears that he died a violent death. A large crater-like lesion just above the skull's right orbit suggests that the man may have also been suffering from a bone infection at the time. It is Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton

http://www.ancient-origins.net/history/9000-year-old-cheddar-man-has-living-descendant-still-living-...

[bright.ton42]

This is fascinating.

Cheddar Man’s Family

The DNA of Adrian Targett, who was 42 years old when that discovery was made, was found to match that belonging to Cheddar Man. According to science, this genetic fingerprint is said to have been passed down from mother to child. In other words, Targett and Cheddar Man both share a common maternal ancestral. It may be added that Targett was not the only one from his family to have not moved away from his ancestral land. It was reported that there were 46 individuals in his extended family, and most of them had remained in the Somerset area.

So Adrian Targett was 42 years old in 1903 and this indicates that his forebears all lived in Somerset for around 9000 years?

Have I got this right?.