ABSTRACT
In the 1960s, as a young environmental scientist, Jim Bowler inspected dry Lake Mungo in southeastern Australia (Figure 6.1). He obtained a radiocarbon ageestimate of 37,400 (36,200-38,700) years bp for shells eroded from lakeside sediments. Then, in July 1968, he found a small pile of burnt, carbonate-encrusted bones. Thinking this could be evidence of early human occupation Bowler invited archaeologists to excavate them. In those pioneering days the bones were packed in a suitcase for transport to the laboratory, where they were identified as the remains of a human labelled WLH1. Interpretations of this skeleton, and archaeological materials found nearby, initiated the search for a distinctive image of human life in the Pleistocene.
