Laura Mayer

Laura studied fine art, arts management, and art curatorship at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the University of Melbourne before completing a PhD in archaeology at the University of Western Australia. Her PhD thesis focused on the visitor experience provided by the replicated rock art sites Lascaux II and Chauvet Cave 2 in France.

After completing her PhD, Laura worked at the Australian National University as a research officer within Associate Professor Cressida Fforde’s Australian Research Council Discovery Project, “Heritage and Reconciliation”, where she was part of a team investigating whether heritage could be used as a tool for reconciliation in settler-colonial nation-states. She focused on the UNESCO World Heritage sites of the Willandra Lakes Region and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area in Australia.

Since 2024, Laura has been working as a Lecturer in Archaeology and supporting Associate Professor Martin Porr’s Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, “Deep Time Images in the Age of Globalisation. Contemporary Heritage, Future Opportunities”. She has expertise in qualitative data, leading to insights into how visitors experience heritage places and pilgrimage to cultural tourist destinations.

2025:

• ARCY1001 - Think Like an Archaeologist
• ARCY2100 - Heritage Futures
• ARCY3011 - Australia in the Indo-Pacific: The last 65,000 years

2024:

• ARCY2100 – Heritage Futures

English

• Replicas as a heritage management strategy
• Authenticity of visitor experiences
• Heritage as a performance