Bones of Contention: Australia Returns Ancient Aboriginal Remains for Outback Burial

Local indigenous people and visitors raise their hands towards the sky to welcome Mungo Man back to country during a ceremony on Nov. 16, 2017 in Balranald, Australia. The ancestors of Australia's oldest human, the Mungo Man, and the traditional owners of the Willandra area in which his remains were found over 40 years ago, are on a journey to return the remains to country at Lake Mungo in southwestern New South Wales. The Mungo Man and 100 ancestors are being carried in an restored Aboriginal 'hearse' used in the 1970's and 80's and making long journey from the Australian National University in Canberra, to their final resting place with stops in Wagga Wagga, Hay and Balranald where traditional owners will hold ceremonies and pay respects. The decision to move the remains to the ANU in 1974 was unpopular with the Muthi Muthi, the Ngiyampaa and the Paakantyi people, the traditional owners and ancestors, who fought for 40 years until a decision was made in 2015 to repatriate the remains. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

SYDNEY—The 40,000-year-old remains of an Aboriginal man that prompted a drastic rewrite of Australian history were returned to his ancestral homeland on Friday after four decades of examination in the country’s capital.

The discovery of “Mungo Man” in 1974, named after the dry outback lakebed where the fully intact skeleton was found, doubled the known length of humans’ presence on the continent from 20,000 to 40,000 years.