Events in Ancient Times

earliest evidence of aboriginal people in Australia

50,000 BCE

Australia’s earliest known human occupation of the Australian coast has been discovered in a remote cave in Western Australia, pushing back the start date of Indigenous occupation to more than 50,000 years ago. Archaeologists found evidence of in habitation on Barrow Island in the country’s north west, discovering charcoal, animal remains and ancient artefacts that confirmed hunter-gatherer occupation.

mungo lady and mungo man

40,000 BCE

Geologist Jim Bowler discovered human bones around Lake Mungo in New South Wales. Him and he colleagues named her Mungo Lady and discovered that she had been ritually buried. Mungo lady is the earliest human remains in Australia. Five years later Jim Bowler found more bones, these turned out to be the skeleton of a male. Like Mungo Lady, he had been ritually buried by being placed on his back with his hands crossed in his lap and his body sprinkled with red ochre.

otzi the iceman

3300 BCE

Ötzi the Iceman, is an ancient mummified human body that was found by a German tourist, on the Italian-Austrian border, September 19, 1991. X-ray examination in 2001 showed that an arrow was lodged into the Iceman’s left shoulder, meaning that he had then bled to death after being shot. The small hollow where he laid down was covered by glacial ice. His nickname, Ötzi, is from the Ötztal Alps, where he was found.

mesopotamian cuneiform

3000 BCE

Cuneiform is a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia. The name comes from the Latin word cuneus meaning 'wedge' owing to the wedge shaped style of writing. In cuneiform, a stylus is pressed into soft clay to produce wedge like strokes that represent pictographs and, later phonographs. All of the great Mesopotamian citizens used cuneiform until it was abandoned in favour of the alphabetic script at some point.

great pyramid in egypt

2500 BCE

The great pyramid in Egypt is in Egypt. The Giza Pyramids, where built to endure an eternity. Egypt's pharaohs expected to become gods in the afterlife. To prepare for the next world they erected temples to the gods and massive pyramid tombs for themselves filled them with all the things each ruler would need to guide and sustain himself in the next world.

narrabeen man found

2000 BCE

In 2005, a human skeleton was found at a bus shelter in Narrabeen, near the corner of Octavia and Ocean Streets. The skeleton was identified as an Aboriginal man between 30 to 40 years of age. He is known as the 'Narrabeen Man'. The Narrabeen Man was found lying on his side with one arm across his head. Spear ends were found embedded into his vertebrae and there had been a blow to his head., which meant the man died by spearing and his posture indicated a ritual or punishment killing.