ANCIENT AUSTRALIA

ANCIENT AUSTRALIA

What do we know about the ancient past or Deep Time? And how?

start

INDEX

introduction

mission 1

mission 2

MISSION 4

REWARD

MISSION 3

INTRODUCTION

This activity focuses on the 40,000 year old Mungo Lady, the remains of a young woman buried at Lake Mungo and discovered there in 1968. You'll explore the evidence about the death of Mungo Lady, as well as other material that will help you find out about the people who lived there at that time. In doing so, you'll be introduced to concepts of environmental change over time, causation, the Dreaming and Aboriginal culture, and the ways in which we know about the ancient past.

What do we know about the ancient past or Deep Time? And how?

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MISSION 1: Finding out about Mungo Lady

Watch the Secrets of Lake Mungo video about the discovery and significance of the Lake Mungo remains. Then look at the Defining Moment in Australian history: 1968 Uncovering ancient Australia — Mungo Lady found. Read the explanations, and answer the questions that follow.

MISSION 1: Defining Moment: The discovery of Mungo Lady

QUIZ

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QUESTION 1

When were the first set of bones discovered at Lake Mungo?

1968

1948

1958

QUESTION 2

Who discovered Mungo Lady?

John Jones

John Mungo

Jim Bowler

QUESTION 3

Radiocarbon dating of the bones of Mungo Lady tell us that they are the oldest human remains in Australia. How old are they?

40,000 years old

60,000 years old

25,000 years old

QUESTION 4

Archaeologists use ‘stratigraphy’ to help them understand the age of buried objects. Stratigraphy is the recording of the layers of dirt in a site. Stratigraphy is important in helping to work out the age of recovered objects because:

if you can work out the age of the level at which the objects are found you know when they were left there

people can radiocarbon date them.

you might find something that has a date on it.

QUESTION 5 : select the correct time period and description of what happened:

40,000 years ago

32 million years ago

the world plunged into a cold, glacial phase.

150,000 years ago

The climate became consistently drier

sea levels dropped and the coast of southern Australia began a slow retreat towards its current location.

QUESTION 6 : select the correct time period and description of what happened:

the sea flooded the Murray Basin where the Willandra Lakes are located.

the Willandra Lakes formed as low-lying basins filled with water from the mountains to the east.

22,000 years ago

the world plunged into a cold, glacial phase

40,000 years ago

10,000 years ago

QUESTION 7

When did people arrive at the lake?

25,000 years ago

40,000 years ago

65,000 years ago

QUESTION 8

What food was available in the area?

fish, shellfish, birds, seeds, mammals, reptiles, plants

fish, shellfish, kangaroos, seeds, reptiles, plants

fish, shellfish, dingos, seeds, mammals, reptiles, plants

QUESTION 9

How old was Mungo Man when he was buried?

65 years old

50 years old

40 years old

QUESTION 10

How was he buried?

his bones were crushed

in a curled position

laid out straight

COMPLETED

MISSION

CONGRATULATIONS!

WRONG!

TRY AGAIN

MISSION 2: the arrival of the first australians

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If you have completed the section, ‘Discovery of Mungo Lady’, you now have answers, or part answers, to most of your questions about Mungo Lady and her people. But there are some other things we can find out about ancient or Deep Time Australia and its inhabitants. Here are two Big Ideas that an investigation of Mungo Lady and ancient or Deep Time Australia can help us think about: Big Idea 1: Scientists believe that the first Australians came from somewhere else. Big Idea 2: We can learn about Aboriginal culture in ancient Australia from archaeology. In the sections that follow we have provided more information to help you investigate these Big Ideas.

mission 2: the arrival of the first australians

01

Click on each map

Read the informations provided, then go to next page.

mission 2

Report back (to your teacher), explaining how this helps you understand ancient or Deep Time Australia through the Big Idea: Scientists believe that the first Australians came from somewhere else. In your report make sure you explain: - where Australians came from - how they knew that there was land to go to - where they landed first - when this movement happened - what the evidence is that tells us this, and what evidence is not available - what this can tell us about ancient or Deep Time Australia. Your teacher will then give you the second number to break the code!

02

mission 2

Report back (to your teacher), explaining how this helps you understand ancient or Deep Time Australia through the Big Idea: Scientists believe that the first Australians came from somewhere else. In your report make sure you explain: - where Australians came from - how they knew that there was land to go to - where they landed first - when this movement happened - what evidence we have, and what evidence is not available - what this can tell us about ancient or Deep Time Australia. Your teacher will then give you the second number to break the code!

02

COMPLETED

MISSION

CONGRATULATIONS!

MISSION 3: Aboriginal rock art

You have seen that the people who buried Mungo Lady and Mungo Man were behaving in a way that expressed part of their culture — their beliefs, values, behaviours and ways of living. There is another way we can learn about ancient or Deep Time Australia — through rock art. Read these two Defining Moments in Australian history: 30,000 years ago Petroglyphs and pictographs — Earliest known Australian rock art and 65,000 years ago ‘We are from here’ — Evidence of first peoples, and answer the questions.

QUIZ

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QUESTION 1

What is rock art?

art painted or carved on rocks

Art made with rocks

art painted on rocks

QUESTION 2

Which of these would be rock art?

pictograms

photographs

Petroglyphs

QUESTION 3

Which of these are examples of rock art?

a silhouette of a hand created by spraying ochre from the artist's mouth

a geometric figure (such as a circle) carved into a rock face

a figure of an animal painted on to a rock face

all of them

QUESTION 4

Archaeologists and Aboriginal elders of the Dambimangari and Balanggarra people have been examining some ancient examples of rock art in the Kimberley area in northern Western Australia. The team is trying to find out how old the Kimberley art is and whether it is, in fact, the oldest rock art ever discovered. The scientists described their method for the ABC: ‘We can see where a crust has formed over the squiggles of pigment, so we can use a small chisel to chip off a little piece.’ ABC, Aboriginal artwork in the Kimberly could be among oldest in the world, scientists say, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-02/indigenous-rock-art-could-be-among-oldest-in-world/6906476, viewed on 29 September 2020 They can then find the age of the sample of the crust by scientific analysis. This will tell them the age of the painting because:

the crust will be younger than the painting

the crust will be the same age than the painting

the crust will be older than the painting

QUESTION 5

How can rock art help us understand about ancient or Deep Time Australia?

it tells us stories and experiences of the people of the past

it tells us about the attitudes and beliefs of the people of the past

it tells us about the values of the people of the past

All these answers

COMPLETED

MISSION

CONGRATULATIONS!

WRONG!

TRY AGAIN

MISSION 4: Another significant element of Aboriginal culture : the boomerang.

QUIZ

start

Read the Defining Moment in Australian history About 20,000 years ago Much more than a tool — Earliest evidence of the Boomerang and answer the questions that follow.

QUESTION 1

All boomerangs return when thrown.

FALSE

TRUE

QUESTION 2

All boomerangs are the same size and shape.

FALSE

TRUE

QUESTION 3

Boomerangs were traded by Aboriginal people.

FALSE

TRUE

QUESTION 4

The oldest boomerang found in Australia is:

30,000 years old

10,000 years old

20,000 years old

QUESTION 5

The oldest known painting of a boomerang is:

10,000 years old

20,000 years old

30,000 years old

QUESTION 6

The boomerang is unique to Australia.

FALSE

TRUE

QUESTION 7

The boomerang is a symbol for Aboriginal people of their culture.

FALSE

TRUE

COMPLETED

MISSION

CONGRATULATIONS!

WRONG!

TRY AGAIN

COMPLETED

MISSION

CONGRATULATIONS!

WRONG!

TRY AGAIN

MISSION

REWARD

start

Enter the secret code 🔐

Enter the number

sources

Activity inspired from the learning module "Ancient Australia defining moments" proposed by the National Museum of Australia. Music: Yanni – FROM THE VAULT - Australian Didgeridoo with a Twist - Live Ice Age 4: Continental Drift ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzzGPfVx32M Aboriginal rock art: https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/field/image/Wandjina-rock-art.jpg Bomerang: National Museum of Australia