Alan Thorne

Alan Gordon Thorne (1 March 1939 – 21 May 2012) was an Australian born academic who was extensively involved with various anthropological events and is considered an authority on interpretations of Aboriginal Australian origins and the human genome. Thorne first became interested in matters pertaining to archaeology and human evolution as a lecturer in human anatomy at the University of Sydney and eventually joined the Australian National University (ANU) as a professor, where he taught biology and human anatomy. Over time, through many excavations such as Lake Mungo and Kow Swamp, Thorne posited significant arguments that have contradicted traditionally accepted theories explaining the early dispersion of human beings.

Thorne worked as a journalist before he emerged on the university campus as a lecturer and then later as a prominent academic figure. Anthropologist Neil Macintosh was a mentor for Thorne, and Thorne eventually earned his PhD under Macintosh at the University of Sydney. Thorne subsequently embraced the work and ideas of Macintosh, who died in 1977, throughout his own career. Thorne held positions with many organisations, such as the Myanmar-Australian Archaeology Project and the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and served as an executive committee member for the International Association for the Study of Human Paleontology. Thorne was also known for making a large number of documentary films that have touched on various anthropological topics, such as the film series, Man on the Rim.

In 1969, whilst teaching at the University of Sydney, Alan Thorne reconstructed the remains of LM1 (also known as "Mungo Lady") and LM3 (also known as "Mungo Man") in 1974. He is also accredited for reconstructing fossil WLH-50 in 1982. Though Jim Bowler has been credited with the discovery of both LM1 and LM3, Thorne performed the reconstruction and analysis of the individual fossil sets. Through the initial reconstruction of "Mungo Lady", Thorne found the bones to be thin and frail, very similar to the bones found in human beings today. The skull thickness of the "Mungo Lady" set, in particular, proved to be the most significant contradiction, as other uncovered Australian hominid specimens dated to approximately the same time period (about 25,000 years ago) have been tall and thick-skulled. Upon realising this contradiction, Thorne began to examine the possibility of new theories to address the fundamental question of "where did Homo sapiens come from?".

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