Recycling Lesson:
Rubbish isn’t ancient history
Year 7
Australian Curriculum content description:Year 7 History: The importance of conserving the remains of the ancient past, including the
heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. (ACDSEH148)
This is Lake Mungo today. It is a dried up lake.
30,000 years ago, Lake Mungo looked like this lake in Victoria
Aboriginals lived by lake Mungo at least 40,000 years ago.
Mega fauna also lived by Lake Mungo.
We have discovered some of the Lake Mungo Aboriginal history from the evidence they left behind.
Along the eroding dunes of Lake Mungo many stone tools are found.
The eroding dunes expose ancient cooking fires like this one.
These shells are from freshwater mussels eaten by Aboriginals 40,000 or more years ago.
There are hundred of ear bones from fish. These bones are the only part remaining from many Aboriginal meals.
We can even see where they walked over 20,000 years ago. These are reconstructed foot prints.
These are broken emu egg shells. Aboriginal women still celebrate the birth of a child by eating emu eggs.
There are many bones of wombats that no longer live in this area.
This is one of the most precious sites in Australia. Visitors are stopped going past this point.
Visitors can go on escorted tours. This ensures this remarkable site is protected.
The Traditional owners are still looking after their country.
• Why is this site at Lake Mungo so valuable?
• What has been found out about Lake MungoAboriginals?
• How has Lake Mongo changed?
• What is being done to protect the area?
• Discuss what we might still learn about the area?
• Discuss if their rubbish had an impact on the environment?
What have we learnt?
In Europe it is a lot easier to find Roman remains compared to Aboriginal remains
Rome starts to be settled about 2,700 years ago which is much later than the Aboriginal evidence at Lake Mongo.
By the time of Christ, Rome is a city with many large buildings.
A lot of what we know about the Roman period has been carefully dug from the ground.
The Roman rubbish that has been dug up tells us how they lived.
Every Roman item that is found is studied. The best items are restored and displayed in museums.
This is part of a restored tiled floor. It shows gladiators fighting a captured lion. These lions are now extinct in the Middle East.
There are still many Roman buildings, monuments and other structures. Many need protecting and restoration.
Many Roman sites will take a long time to restore.
Millions of people visit the ancient sites around Rome.
To keep these valuable places it is essential that any digging and removal of items is carefully controlled.
• How much older are the Aboriginal finds?
• How do the finds of Aboriginals compare to those of the Romans?
• Looking at the finds, how does life compare at Lake Mongo with Rome?
• What were Aboriginals interested in doing?
• What were Romans interested in doing?
• How much impact did the Romans have on their environment?
What have we learnt?
What will we leave behind? What will people in the future think of us?
We produce so much rubbish it must be collected and carried away
But in this poor country a rubbish collection isn’t provided.
Our rubbish fills huge holes or is built up into large hills.
Future archeologists may not be allowed to dig in our rubbish tips if toxic waste has been illegally dumped.
How does this photo compare with Lake Mungo?
• What do you think future archeologists will mostly find from our time?
• How much impact on the environment will they see?
• Make up a name they might use for our period?
What will people in the future think?
These Planet Ark resources were developed by Cool Australia with funding from the Alcoa Foundation.
