Lake Mungo: Evidence of an early practice of religion and a problem for evolutionary biology(?)

The Barbarian said:

Regarding Kow Swamp hominids, it's noteworthy that this isn't the only example of early hominids persisting well into the time of anatomically modern humans in this part of the world.

H. floresiensis, apparently a race of H. erectus, existed in what is now Indonesia 50,000 years ago, and they were more archaic than the Kow Swamp people.

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Tuur said:

Ochre jogged the memory of something else: It may have been an attempt at a sun screen. Seriously. This was about the time the earth's magnetic field did a partial flip and did a major wandering around before calming down. The result was parts of the world ended up exposed to more UV. The interesting thing here is that the south pole was in the close vicinity of Australia during the partial flip, meaning a weakening of an already weak magnetic field.

Here's the cite:

Ancient Body Paint May Have Been Prehistoric Sunscreen, Study Says

That doesn't mean they didn't practice some sort of religion. only that the ochre may have had a practical application.

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Validation of Aboriginal Flood Stories: Presence and Absence of Narratives​

Region	Flood Occurred?	Oral Tradition Exists?	Geological Evidence	Time Since Event	Implication
Kimberley Coast (WA)	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Sea-level rise flooded river valleys (~7,000–10,000 BP)	7,000+ years	Stories describe "drowning" of coastal plains; match sediment cores.
Spencer Gulf (SA)	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Marine incursion turned lakes saline (~10,000 BP)	10,000+ years	Traditions recall freshwater → saltwater transition; aligned with core samples.
Port Phillip Bay (VIC)	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Bay flooded (~7,800–10,000 BP)	8,000+ years	Stories describe ancestral lands now underwater; confirmed by submerged sites.
Murray River (NSW/VIC)	✅ Yes (riverine)	✅ Yes	Megafauna-era floods (>10,000 BP)	10,000+ years	Narratives of "giant serpents" causing floods; align with paleoflood deposits.
Tasmania	❌ No¹	❌ No	Isolated before sea-level rise (~12,000 BP)	12,000+ years	No flood stories exist—consistent with no witnessed flooding post-isolation.
Western Desert (NT/WA)	❌ No	❌ No	No post-glacial flooding; hyper-arid	N/A	No flood stories; traditions focus on droughts/desert creation instead.
Arnhem Land (NT)	✅ Yes (coastal)	✅ Yes	Coastal inundation (~8,000 BP); mangrove pollen in sediment cores	8,000+ years	"Saltwater coming in" stories; aligned with ecological and geological data.

Key Footnotes & Explanations​

1. Tasmania’s Critical “Null” Case:
   • Bass Strait flooded around 12,000 BP, after Aboriginal Tasmanians were isolated by rising seas.
   • No flood stories exist in Tasmania, showing that traditions reflect directly witnessed events only.
2. Western Desert as Inland Control:
   • This hyper-arid inland region experienced no significant flooding during the postglacial period.
   • Oral traditions instead focus on droughts, desert formation, and mythic beings—matching environmental history.
3. Methodological Significance:
   • Presence-absence correlation: Flood stories appear only in areas with geological evidence of inundation.
   • No false positives: Areas with no flooding show no flood myths, refuting the idea of a universal myth template.
   • Cultural precision: Stories distinguish between coastal inundation and inland river flooding.
4. Limitations:
   • Colonial disruption may have erased or altered traditions in some regions (e.g., southeastern Australia).
   • Other major events (e.g., volcanic eruptions at Budj Bim) have distinct oral records, not conflated with flood myths.
     

Conclusion​

This data demonstrates that Aboriginal oral traditions reliably record ancient sea-level and flood events, confirmed by geological and paleoenvironmental evidence. The absence of such stories in unflooded or isolated regions (e.g., Tasmania, inland deserts) acts as a powerful scientific control, validating the accuracy and specificity of these oral histories.

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Sources:

• Nunn & Reid (2016), Australian Geographer
• Russell & McNiven (2018), Journal of Social Archaeology
• Reid et al. (2021), PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

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Ophiolite said:

Fascinating. I was vaguely aware of the supposed duration of the aborginal oral history, but this matching is remarkable and the sense of continuity it invokes is delightful. If only the Scots has similar oral traditions of wading away from Doggerland towards the Highlands.

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