Pictures of Time Beneath : Science, Heritage and the Uses of the Deep Past

Glaciers in Adelaide, cow-sized wombats, monster kangaroos, desert dunes littered with freshwater mussels, bones, oases, inland seas: this diverse group of deep-time imaginings is the subject of Pictures of Time Beneath, an analysis of the way landscapes and landforms are interpreted to realize certain visions of the land, the nation and the past in the context of contemporary notions of geological heritage, cultural property, cultural identity and antiquity. This book examines three celebrated scientific landscapes: Adelaide's Hallett Cove, Lake Callabonna in the far north of South Australia, and the World Heritage-listed Willandra Lakes Region of New South Wales. It offers philosophical insights into significant issues of heritage management, an original perspective on our relationship with Australian landscapes and our understanding of place, time, nation and science. Ideas about a deep past or pasts in Australia are central to broader issues of identity, belonging, uniqueness, legitimacy and intellectual community. A landscape is more than a set of physical, biotic and climatic attributes realized on bedrock. Beyond their material "reality", landscapes are always cultural. They are invented by those who see, use and invest them with meaning. All these disparate subjects meet in the contested arena of geological heritage, the central theme of this book. Key features '¢ Novel interpretation of cultural identity and deep time in settler societies including Australia '¢ Insights into heritage management in Australia and the USA '¢ Summary of the history of paleontology, glaciology and archaeology in Australia and an overview of western European history of paleontology and glaciology in the nineteenth century

Kirsty Douglas is a heritage specialist with a background in geology and history. She has been an ARC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian National University and completed her PhD in history at the same institution in 2004.