Lost Mines: The Troubled Legacies of Former Mining Landscapes. This project aims to investigate how historical mining activities in Victoria have left a toxic legacy of heavy metals in soil and water

Description

Lost Mines: The Troubled Legacies of Former Mining Landscapes. This project aims to investigate how historical mining activities in Victoria have left a toxic legacy of heavy metals in soil and water. By integrating approaches from historical archaeology, environmental humanities, and the physical sciences the project seeks to generate novel datasets that document the spatial distribution of contaminants and novel ways of understanding mining heritage. Anticipated outcomes include new knowledge about pre-industrial background levels of heavy metals in the environment, more efficient and targeted remediation of former mine sites, and improved dialogue between heritage and environmental managers. This promises significant benefits for future land and water management and approaches to mining heritage.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 2101 - Archaeology. Lead: Prof Susan Lawrence