A New Test of the Sex of the Lake Mungo 3 Skeleton (Report‪)‬

The Lake Mungo 3 (LM 3) skeleton currently represents the oldest known human remains from the continent of Australia (Thorne et al. 1999; Bowler et al. 2003). The skeleton, which is also sometimes referred to as Willandra Lakes Hominid 3 or WLH 3, was discovered by Jim Bowler on February 26, 1974 eroding out of a lunette at the south end of Lake Mungo (Bowler and Thorne 1976). Details of the stratigraphy of the site and the excavation of the remains, including a few brief notes on the morphology of the skeleton, were published by Bowler and Thorne (1976). LM 3 is a key specimen in a number of debates surrounding the origins of modern humans in Australasia. One of the longest running of these debates surrounds the existence of separate 'robust' and 'gracile' founding populations for modern Australians (e.g. Thorne 1971, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1989; Larnach 1974; Thorne and Wilson 1977; Thorne and Wolpoff 1981, 1992; Brown 1981, 1987a, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2000; Habgood 1986; Pardoe 1991). LM 3 was one of the key specimens Thorne (e.g. 1971, 1976, 1977, 1980) used to formulate his theories of multiple founding populations in the prehistory of Australia. Thorne (1971, 1976, 1977; Thorne et al. 1999) considered LM 3 to be a male from the 'gracile' population, and its morphology was said to contrast markedly with 'robust' skeletons from sites such as Kow Swamp, Cohuna, and Coobool Creek.