Why Was Mungo Lady Buried In This Way?
How did Mungo Man and Mungo Lady die?
The death of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady was a huge mystery. No one knew how they have died but not until some scientist had some diggings on the skeletons of the Mungo Man and Mungo Lady.Archaeologists found out that Mungo Man had an advanced osteoarthritis which was part of his old age.Likewise, he was a hunter-gatherer.This could have caused him lots of risks, as he must have dealt with wild forest animals and plants during his hunt for food.
Mungo Man had been buried fairly neat and tidy.They sprinkled red ochre and laid his body on its backside, with the hands on his lap.This type of burial for Mungo man was part of cultural traditions. One theory why he was buried this way was to show their respect to him for providing food to the people and protecting them too.Mungo man was very important and they worshipped him. Unlike Mungo Lady, she has had the oldest way of cremation. She was crushed, burned and crushed again. She may have died as part of ritual of the tribe.They believe that she is powerful and may have different beliefs or religion.She was cremated since this how the tribe believes on sending someone in the afterlife or taking away the spirit.
Did other cultures have a similar way to bury human remains like Mungo Man and Mungo?
It was found that no other cultures had a similar way of burial with the Mungo Man and Mungo Lady. The way the skeleton and human remains were found, is that Mungo Lady’s was cremated, (crushed, burnt, crushed) and Mungo Man’s was found to be on his backside, with his hands on his lap. Each of the human remains were sprinkled with red ochre and placed near Lake Mungo. Lake Mungo was used as a sacred way to connect with spirits afterlife and was their resting place. The usual way for burying the dead is to place the body on a raised platform, covered with leaves and branches and leave the body until it decomposes. Then, they will rub the liquid on the young men, giving the men the good qualities that the dead man had. After the bones had been retrieved, they would be painted with red ochre, then the skeleton would be cautiously placed in a log or cave or on a place something hollow. Some tribes refused to utter the name of the deceased and completely disregard any property the person left behind. The entire ritual was way to ensure that the ego component of the spirit of the dead man didn't get too comfortable hanging out with the living.