The Archaeology of Anthropocene Rivers: Historic Mining and Landscape Change in Australia

Summary

The impact of gold mining on rivers in the Australian colony of Victoria during the nineteenth century provides a case study of the acceleration of human intervention in world systems characteristic of the Anthropocene. As miners used water to extract gold from the soil they also re-shaped river systems, turning rivers into artefacts that were modified and manipulated as tools in order to achieve cultural goals. The cumulative and widespread effect of mining activity is made evident through the use of a landscape approach that integrates archaeological evidence of water supply systems, mining activity, and downstream impacts from waste water and sludge. Anthropogenic changes to Victoria’s rivers demonstrate the future visibility of the Anthropocene in the stratigraphic record of the Earth’s crust, the role of industrialisation in accelerating landscape change in the past 150 years, and the relationship of localised (archaeologically visible) activities to change at a global level.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15221