46 results in Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
Preface
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
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Summary
Since the 1960s, ‘landscape’ has been a key topic of archaeological research all over the world. Initially drawing on environmental archaeology, and using models from the earth sciences as well as cultural ecology, landscapes have been conceptualised predominantly as the natural environments determining human behaviour or as a backdrop to human action. In the New Archaeology of the 1960s, ecology and settlement patterns were studied together with anthropology, with the aim of piecing together information on past economic and social systems (Trigger 1989, 295). Lewis Binford argued that the goal of archaeology should be to understand the range of human behaviours and the differences in culture, based on a belief that cultures were adaptive responses to our environment (Binford 1962), and archaeologists at the time were optimistic that culture and culture change were rational and could be predicted based on archaeological assemblages and settlement patterns.
In the 1980s, a new theoretical perspective, post-processualism, rejected most of the tenets of processualism. Ian Hodder, a key proponent of the new thinking, argued that cultures are not predictable and that artefacts and symbols have different meanings depending on context and culture (Hodder 1986). Within this new school of research, it is not so much the mechanisms of human adaptation to changing natural circumstances that deserve attention, as the different ways in which people in the past perceived and ordered their environments according to space, time and culture. New diachronic approaches were developed that highlight the continuous reuse of monuments and the constant reordering of landscapes within subsequent societies with different social, ritual and mnemonic systems. A similar development took place in the field of Historical Geography from the 1980s, mainly based on the ideas of the New Cultural Geography, with Denis Cosgrove and Stephen Daniels as its main exponents (Cosgrove & Daniels, 1984). Landscape Archaeology in the 21st century is divided between, on the one hand, various interdisciplinary approaches based on intensive fieldwork, aimed at mapping and documenting landscapes and using quantitative methods for predictive modelling (Verhagen, this volume), and on the other hand, post-processualist approaches which aim to understand landscapes as reflections of past societies (e.g. David & Thomas, 2008).
5.4 - Mapping the Probability of settlement location for the Malia-Lasithi Region (Crete, Greece) During the Minoan Protopalatial period
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
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- 05 July 2012, pp 353-368
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ABSTRACT
The current study considers a mixed environmental/historical statistical model to establish a probability map for settlement locations in Crete's Malia-Lasithi region during the Minoan Protopalatial period. The work represents the continuation of previous research that focused on site location choices during the Protopalatial and whereby a comparison was made between the performances of a purely environmental over a mixed environmental/historical model. Statistical modelling consisted of fitting a logistic regression model using a Deletion/Substitution/Addition (DSA) algorithm for model selection. Model uncertainty was assessed through calculation of confidence intervals at the 95% confidence level and the results are presented as probability maps that show upper and lower interval endpoints for the study area. Assessment of the model's predictive performance, on both the study area and on an independent validation area, indicates that the model is able to capture some underlying structure that determines preferences for site locations. Moreover there is a general agreement between the generated settlement probability map and many of the existing published survey results. The results obtained demonstrate the usefulness of the modeling approach and we expect that the existing model can be further improved in the future by incorporating more survey data.
KEYWORDS
Minoan, Protopalatial, Predictive Modelling, Logistic Regression, DSA algorithm
INTRODUCTION
Archaeological predictive modelling (APM) is often used with the underlying meaning of predictive modelling applied to heritage management. For this reason predictive modelling is the focus of much controversy and debate. The main issue of this debate is whether predictive modelling should be used as a tool in establishing a heritage managing policy. The purpose of this paper is not to enter such a debate but rather to emphasise that the role of predictive modelling is not limited to heritage management.
Foremost predictive modelling provides a systematic approach to understand settlement location choices of past populations. With the use of a good theoretical framework based upon the existing archaeological data it then becomes possible to pursue appropriate statistical modelling. A major benefit of a statistical model is that it can be used to both systematically establish the major factors determining site location and to define probability maps that can subsequently be used to guide survey strategies which may further validate the statistical model.
6.3 - The past Informs the Future; Landscape Archaeology and Historic Landscape Characterisation in the UK
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
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- 05 July 2012, pp 485-502
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In helping society both understand its past and design a sustainable future, the landscape archaeologist's role is widely inclusive. If all society matters, then all landscape matters and all stories have relevance. All disciplines and all actors are drawn in.
Focusing on how landscape archaeology is practised in the UK, this paper explores how we currently tease out and present those myriad stories and how we might adjust our methods to extend our range. Inquisitive, theoretical, empirical and phenomenological approaches all contribute much while their methods are rigorous and transparent and their outputs are clear.
In addition, characterisation generalises from and so extends the benefit of more particular landscape archaeology while creating a scheme of provisional interpretation that serves as a framework for further research. Historic landscape characterisation developed alongside the drafting of the European Landscape Convention and shares many of its principles and aims. It encourages inquisitiveness, debate and argument over stories and their interpretations, and over strategies and plans.
KEYWORDS
characterisation, future, inquisitiveness, inclusivity, framework, action
Ceaselessly the river flows, and yet the water is never the same, while in the still pools the shifting foam gathers and is gone, never staying for a moment… (Chōmei 1212, 1)
THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGIST
If archaeology involves study of people (present and past) through their material and if landscape is perception of an area that has been affected by both natural and human actions (Council of Europe 2000), then landscape archaeology should necessarily be widely inclusive in terms of subject, method and discipline. Archaeologists help society, communities, and individuals appreciate that landscape is more than environment: that it is doubly cultural – a cultural product culturally perceived. They also continually confirm that landscape is fundamentally a product of change, and so help prepare society and its members to cope with and take control of further change.
Inheritance, continuity and legibility of earlier forms and features, as in the 13th century poet Chōmei's ceaselessly flowing but constant river, are widely valued landscape qualities.
3.1 - A Qualitative model for the Effect of Upstream land use on Downstream water Availability in a Western Andean valley, Southern Peru
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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The rise and decline of pre-Columbian cultures in coastal Peru has been the subject of numerous studies. Availability of and access to water have long been recognised as the key issues for the habitability of valley oases in the coastal desert where agriculture depends on seasonal river discharge from the Andes. In general, the reason for cultural changes has often been seen in ‘natural disasters’ or climatic changes. We propose an alternative qualitative model to explain changes of human-environment interactions in the region. This model focuses on patterns arising from the exploitation of and adaptation to the limited – but on the whole not necessarily declining – resources of water and arable land. Agriculture along the rivers of the Peruvian coastal desert was probably first practised in the wide, gently sloping lowland valley floor areas at the foot of the Andes, where large tracts of land can be irrigated with relatively low expenditure of labour. Subsequent expansion of agriculture necessitated the utilisation of progressively marginal areas along the upstream reaches of the rivers. While the spatially limited valley floor areas can to a certain extent be irrigated with short irrigation canals, irrigation of the steep valley slopes of upvalley areas requires the labour-intensive construction and maintenance of canals and terraced fields in difficult – and arguably less productive – terrain. Diversion of water onto up-valley terraced fields can be expected to have reduced water availability in the lowland valley floor fields. Thus, the adaptation to the constraints of one limited resource (irrigable land) may have led to a suboptimal exploitation of another limited resource (water), leading to an overall decline in agricultural productivity per unit of arable land. Such a feedback between land use and water availability is consistent with archaeological findings such as declining population density and increasing conflict during the Early Intermediate Period.
KEYWORDS
qualitative modelling, Palpa Valley (Peru), Nasca, irrigation, water management, early agricultural land use systems (2800-550 cal BP)
INTRODUCTION
The Palpa Valley, a river oasis at the foot of the Andes in the desert of coastal southern Peru (fig. 1), has been inhabited for at least 3500 years. Settlement was based on irrigation agriculture which by distributing sediment-laden river water to the fields has created thick accumulations of irragic anthrosol (Hesse & Baade 2009).
2.4 - Geo- and Landscape Archaeological Investigations in south-western Lazio (Italy): An Approach for the Identification of man-made Landscape Transformation Processes in the Hinterland of Rome
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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The landscape of south-western Lazio is studied in a combined geo- and settlement archaeological approach, focusing on the changes caused by humans in the Roman Republican and Imperial Age. First results of a brief, non invasive assessment of the nature and extent of man-made landscape alterations in a part of the suburban hinterland of Rome are presented and the methodological frame of the approach is outlined.
KEYWORDS
geoarchaeology, Settlement Archaeology, gis, Republican and Imperial Rome, Central Italy, Lazio
INTRODUCTION
The relation of man to his surrounding environment and the diachronic, dynamic changes of settlement patterns on a regional scale are key aspects for the understanding of past landscapes. These aspects are central issues on the research agenda of a project focusing on the Roman Republican and Imperial Era in central Italy, for which geoarchaeological field research is combined with GIS based analysis of settlement site preference factors.
The study area is situated in south-western Lazio, the immediate hinterland of Rome (fig.1). A geoarchaeological overview survey was conducted in 2009, mainly focusing on the area between the Alban hills and the Astura River, therefore the northern part of the overall study area, which reaches from Rome and Ostia to Terracina and from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Alban Hills and Lepini an Ausoni Mountains. This paper introduces this particular aspect of the project outlining the chosen approach and presenting first results.
SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES
The main objective of the geoarchaeological research was to gain an overview on quality and quantity of human-induced landscape transformation processes in the past within the study area. While all stages of human action may have affected the formation of erosional deposits in one way or the other, the particular focus was on the Period of Roman Antiquity, for which the settlement patterns and settlement dynamics are studied as part of the wider project.
The type and the quantity of erosion may be used as an indicator to questions as: Did deforestation take place? Was the land used for pasture or farming? Was the use of the landscape sustainable or did the land use deteriorate the former conditions significantly?
5.7 - Thinking Topographically about the Landscape Around Besançon (Doubs, France)
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- 05 July 2012, pp 395-412
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This paper focuses on the use of lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) data for the study of rural landscapes in the context of regional archaeological analyses. In particular, we concentrate on using lidar to highlight the importance of activities other than habitation, as well as the use of areas outside the modern ploughzone. It has frequently been said that one of the major challenges to archaeological landscape survey is the incorporation of uplands, marshes, forests and other areas we term ‘outside the ploughzone’. Such areas are normally surveyed primarily through fieldwalking, but we suggest that lidar may make a significant contribution, although there are serious practical and methodological problems to overcome. Further, we argue that including these areas will alter the overall picture of rural landscapes in unexpected ways. The potential and challenges of integrating these areas and activities into landscape and regional scale research are sketched in this paper. We use a recent lidar survey as a case study to explore these issues. The project was funded by the Regional Council of the Franche-Comté for the lieppec project, led by the USR 3124 and LEA ModeLTER, and is based in the hinterland of Besançon, Doubs, France.
The area surrounding Besançon is now largely forested, resulting in a dependence on the interpretation of the lidar model to guide field prospection. This paper provides some early results from the Forêt de Chailluz, north of Besançon; we use lidar to refocus the picture from one dominated by questions of settlement, settlement patterns and agriculture to one incorporating questions about complex networks of sites and activities, distributed across a wider range of landscape contexts. Using these initial results, we reflect on how lidar survey fits into the dynamic area of survey, landscape and regional archaeology.
KEYWORDS
LiDAR, survey, regional perspectives, remote sensing, rural landscapes
INTRODUCTION: LIDAR SURVEY IN REGIONAL AND LANDSCAPE RESEARCH
The archaeological study of local and regional long-term landscape change can be approached from many perspectives. Survey Archaeology, Regional Analysis and Landscape Archaeology are three major, interdependent approaches to this subject, employed to study how people exploited and experienced their surroundings, addressing questions including: How did natural and social resources and contexts influence the creation and development of settlement? Conversely, how did past societies manage and develop their surroundings to reshape the landscape? How are the cumulative results of these actions reflected in the modern landscape?
6.5 - Landscape Studies: The Future of the Field
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- 05 July 2012, pp 515-526
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In this paper, I will go back to basics in landscape archaeology. How do we use the evidence of the landscape to find out about the past? I reflect on the distinctive nature of landscape studies as distinctive not as ‘art’ or as ‘science’, but as a field-based discipline, in which the [claim of an] apprehension and encounter with a reality ‘out there’ in the field is placed at centre stage.
Historically, field-based disciplines have a stress on what is claimed as ‘direct experience’, particularly in terms of their vernacular imagination – in other words, the colloquial language and everyday values deployed in field practice. Field-based disciplines rest, in part, on the urge to go out and see for oneself, rather than rely on others’ reports.
‘Direct experience’, however, is a problematic concept. Most crucially, the claims of any discipline to be ‘scientific’ must rest not on the amount of direct experience gathered, but rather in the way that experience is brought to bear on concepts and theories about it, and vice versa. If landscape archaeology is to be rigorous and scientific, it must abandon rhetorical appeals to an untheorised category of direct experience and reflect more seriously on the relation of evidence to inference.
INTRODUCTION
This paper has as its aim the setting out of issues of knowledge construction and knowledge evaluation in landscape archaeology. It forsakes some of the more detailed and advanced dicussions of the field (for which see Johnson 2007; David & Thomas 2008; Tilley 1994, 2004; Bender 1998; Thomas 1999; Ingold 2000; Bender et al. 2008; Smith 2003). Instead, it goes back to basics: asks how landscape archaeologists find out about the past, and in particular, how they make a judgment as to whether their interpretations are ‘good’ or ‘bad’, are or are not supported by evidence. My desire is to strengthen these methods of evaluation and to make landscape archaeology a more rigorous empirical science.
I want to be as clear and precise as possible in what follows. Landscape archaeology, for reasons we shall explore, is an area of research that is full of woolly thinking. The field has been beset by a lack of conceptual clarity.
1.8 - Configuring the Landscape: Roman Mining in the Conventus Asturum (NW Hispania)
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- 05 July 2012, pp 127-136
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The Conventus Iuridicus Asturum (mainly, though not only, modern Asturias and León provinces in Spain) was created after the Cantabrian Wars carried out by Augustus himself, which finished in 19 BC. Even though the NW quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula was rich in gold, the C. Asturum concentrated the greatest deposits in the western ends of both Asturias and León. The exploitation of gold was a strategic need for Augustus’ new Imperial coin, the aureus. Those areas with rich pre-Roman goldwork were systematically prospected and mined during the first two centuries of the Christian Era. As a consequence, local populations were subjected to a special form of imperialist policy directed at ensuring the maximum output of minerals. Settlement form and function was radically changed and a tributary system was put in place, thereby changing local society completely.
This policy had a major effect on the landscape in two ways: the mines brought about important geomorphological changes, and the territorial policy changed the rural exploitation of the area with a new landscape management and an increasing importance of cereal cultivation. In this paper these changes are brought forth as what they are: a measure of the impact that Roman gold mining had on the landscape.
KEYWORDS
Roman gold mining; geomorphology; palaeoenvironment; pollen analysis; rural exploitation
GEOMORPHOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS AND FOREST EVOLUTION
In 19 BC the Cantabrian Wars ended. At that moment Roman Asturia was configured as the Conventus Iuridicus Asturum (see Figure 1), thereby becoming incorporated into the Empire. In that area gold had already been exploited at the artisan level (Fernández-Posse de Arnáiz et al. 2004; Sánchez-Palencia Ramos & Fernández-Posse de Arnáiz 1998), generating a rich catalogue of goldwork from the Iron Age (García Vuelta 2007; Montero Ruiz & Rovira Llorens 1991; Diputación Provincial de Lugo, 1996; Perea Caveda & Sánchez-Palencia Ramos 1995). Augustus had designed a new monetary system which consolidated the aureus and the denarius as the gold and silver standards, exhibiting the strength of the imperial treasury (Crawford 1985, 258-260). In order to mint the aurei the amount of gold needed was multiplied, no doubt spurring a massive survey of the sites throughout the region. As a result, a great number of mostly opencast mines were opened in the 1st century AD.
THEME 1 - HOW DID LANDSCAPE CHANGE?
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
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- 05 July 2012, pp 31-32
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2.1 - Pre-industrial Charcoal Production in Southern Brandenburg and its Impact on the Environment
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
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- 05 July 2012, pp 167-178
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ABSTRACT
Due to modern lignite mining in southern Brandenburg and northern Saxony (East Germany), entire landscapes are being destroyed. In the area of the lignite extraction, the BLDAM (Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum) concurrently carries out largescale archaeological surveys and excavations to study and document evidence of past land use by prehistoric and historic cultures. On the area of the Jänschwalder Heide (Lower Lusatia, southern Brandenburg) one of the largest archaeologically investigated charcoal production areas in Germany was discovered, demonstrating the great intensity of energy production in historical times. The charcoal was probably used in the nearby ironworks of Peitz, where bog iron ore was smelted since 1567. Meanwhile, remnants of more than 400 charcoal hearths are excavated. To charge those piles, large areas had to be cleared, which certainly had major consequences for the environment and the character of the landscape. At least for a while, the vegetation was completely absent on the deforested areas, which were used as farmland although the soils are very sandy and poor in nutrients. Wind-blown sediments covering the charcoal pile relicts prove that clearing and agricultural use has induced aeolian soil erosion and the remobilisation of Quaternary sands.
One of the main aims of the ongoing investigation is to build up a chronological framework of the former charcoal production. These findings have to be correlated with the major phases of the landscape dynamics, which are documented by the relicts of soil erosive landforms, human-induced aeolian sediments, and buried soils.
KEYWORDS
lignite mining, charcoal burning, Lower Lusatia, land-use history, anthropogenic impact
INTRODUCTION
Opencast lignite mining results in the total destruction of cultural landscapes and even small towns. Therefore, over the past years systematic archaeological research has been carried out in the opencast pits in Lower Lusatia (southern Brandenburg, Germany), prescribed by the regulations of the Brandenburgisches Denkmalschutzgesetz (BbgDschG). For the opencast pit Jänschwalde, it is expected that during the year 2010, an area of approximately 200 ha will be utilised (4 km length of the opencast pit and 500 m width of the excavated stripe). However, the large-scale impact of lignite extraction offers the opportunity for archaeologists to study landscape and settlement history as a whole instead of recording single findings and find spots.
THEME IV - APPLYING CONCEPTS OF SCALE
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
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- 05 July 2012, pp 277-278
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1.5 - The change analysis of the green spaces of the Historical Peninsula in Istanbul, Turkey
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
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- 05 July 2012, pp 81-96
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ABSTRACT
The Historical Peninsula, having a nearly 8500 year historical background, serving the capital city of three empires, having a strategic position, offering unique natural beauties, architectural and archaeological values and a stunning skyline, was declared as a protected area in 1985. However, the area has been subject to planning legislation several times, although the planning did not address some crucial issues of the city, and caused the conversion of the historical downtown into a suburban area. This is one of the common problems of historical cities. As a consequence, the Historical Peninsula, through both social and physical changes, has experienced changes in entity and identity – and still it is changing.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the spatial formation of the Historical Peninsula from past to present through literature review and visual materials (such as maps and photographs), using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. I will aim to establish the location of green spaces, and I will consider the alteration of those spaces due to changing social structures, political decisions, planning legislation and physical conditions. Several maps of the peninsula, prepared at different dates and time periods, were selected to conduct the study. These maps vary in resolution and appearance, but the aspects and size of the green spaces are specified. As a result of the study, functional and spatial changes of green areas in Historical Peninsula were examined in its historical process.
KEYWORDS
urban landscape, urbanisation, change analysis, green spaces, Historical Peninsula
INTRODUCTION
The function of cities, in general, has changed and developed rapidly over time, depending upon various factors. Cities have also expanded, and as a result of these changes they have gained different identities, in terms of history and politics. The political, physical and technological changes have resulted in the destruction of the urban textures, largely because of changes in social values which have lead to new demands. Because of all these factors, the development areas in big cities have become, in a historical sense, collapsed areas.
The transformation process still continues in the city of Istanbul today, as it has occurred in other developed cities around the world. The city of Istanbul has attracted a huge number of people from the Anatolian part of the country, who arrived as immigrant workers.
1.4 - Cultural forces in the creation of landscapes of south-eastern Rhodope: Evolution of the Byzantine monastic landscape
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
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- 05 July 2012, pp 71-80
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Cultural landscapes constitute the cultural, social, ecological and economical heritage of the local population. The mountainous area of South-eastern Rhodope, from the Byzantine times till the 1970s, includes a complicated palimpsest characterised by multiplicity and density of natural and cultural elements. The purpose of this paper is the research, identification and evaluation of the cultural landscape of the area of Mt Papikion in south-eastern Rhodope. Information and data were collected and analysed. The consecutive producers of landscape, with different cultural identities, acted within a historical and ecological outline. The monks and later the Pomaks (part of the Muslim minority in Greece as recognised by the Lausanne Treaty in 1923) preserved the basic landscape's structures, while adapting them to their cultural reality. The ruins located in the area indicate the existence of a renowned centre of Byzantine monasticism which is mentioned in the ancient sources from as early as the 11th century.
Since the 1970s, new stakeholders and social changes have had their impact on the landscape, and modern methods of landscape management have replaced the traditional practices. Although it is recognised that traditional knowledge can contribute to sustainable resource use in general (Schmink et al. 1992), modern management rarely takes it into account. Due to extensive afforestations and to the loss of traditional practices of woodland management, the landscape has become more homogenised. Historical, demographic, social, natural and economic changes affect the evolution of the landscape, so it should be mapped, registered and evaluated before its complete disappearance. The cultural landscape of the area is a significant source of knowledge of the traditional environmental know-how.
KEYWORDS
cultural landscape, Byzantium, monasticism, Pomaks
INTRODUCTION
The region of the Papikion Mountain in Rhodope has a variety of traditional landscapes. It was first inhabited by hermits and the communal monastic system was introduced later. During the 11th century AD monks began developing a monastic centre, adopting techniques to shape the landscape according to their needs. After the 13th century, monasteries began to decline, mostly due to fires. During post-Byzantine times, Papikion was no longer considered to be a monastic centre. However, close to the ruins of the monasteries the Islamised residents of the uplands of Rhodope, the Pomaks, built small settlements in order to exploit the arable land around them.
1.9 - English town Commons and Changing Landscapes
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- By Nicky Smith
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
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- 05 July 2012, pp 137-150
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ABSTRACT
English Heritage has recently completed a project which investigated the archaeological content of English town commons. Commons in urban areas are under pressure and because their historic element is not understood it is unprotected. This paper examines the results of the project and argues that town commons should be recognised as a valid historical entity and a valued part of the modern urban environment. This is an essential first step towards successful informed conservation. It also promotes the view that landscape archaeology is about the fabric of the land as created and modified over a long period, in which our own activities are part of that continuum. This reflects the changing nature of archaeology as a discipline that is increasingly concerned with public understanding, along with land management and conservation.
KEYWORDS
urban, town, archaeology, earthwork, common
INTRODUCTION
A common is an area of land, in private or public ownership, over which rights of common exist. Right of common has been defined as ‘a right, which one or more persons may have, to take or use some portion of that which another man's soil naturally produces’ (from Halsbury's Laws of England [1991], quoted by Clayden 2003, 10). There are six main rights of common: pasture (the right to graze animals); pannage (the right to feed pigs on fallen acorns and beech mast); estovers (the right to collect small wood, furze and bracken); turbary (the right to cut turf or peat); piscary (the right to fish) and common in the soil (the right to take sand, gravel, stone or minerals). Rights of common were usually held either by all householders of a town, just burgage holders (holders of freehold property), or freemen (possessing citizenship of the town). Over time, they tended to become restricted to senior members of the town corporation or to wealthier townsfolk.
English town commons have been largely disregarded by historians and archaeologists, even though their wildlife and recreational value has been recognised. Typically, they have no Conservation Plans and their historic environment content is unknown, and therefore delivers no conservation benefits. Those that have survived, despite urban expansion and other threats to their existence, are regarded locally as important places, ‘green lungs’ in cities and havens for wildlife. Although it is rarely recognised, they are also a reservoir of archaeological remains.
6.1 - The Future of Landscape Archaeology
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
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- 05 July 2012, pp 461-470
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This overview of landscape archaeology/landscape history (LAH) is presented in the form of a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). LAH is no longer just an array of field skills and methods, however holistically deployed. The discipline has had to respond to postmodernism and to embrace cognitive approaches, and it now needs to become more richly theorised, building on its reconstructive potential to develop an archaeology of landscape. Strengths discussed here include the flexibility of landscape archaeology, and its capacity to operate at different scales; it is suggested that LAH's ultimate importance may lie in its potential contribution to human historical ecology. Under ‘weaknesses’, the dangers of localism are considered. It is argued that the success of the ‘Annales’ school has shown how the microcosm may encapsulate the macrocosm. As the author's own work on medieval roads demonstrates, a focus on apparently local matters may engender trains of thought which open up much wider issues (the dividend of empiricism). In considering ‘threats’, this paper argues that the postmodern challenge has introduced an unhelpful and unnecessarily polarised debate. It is important to acknowledge the potential of the ‘digital revolution’, although computer-driven methodologies cannot be expected to supplant more traditional insights and ways of working.
KEYWORDS
landscape archaeology, postmodernism, SWOT analysis, human ecology
INTRODUCTION
It would be a brave, not to say foolhardy person who would venture to predict how landscape archaeology will have developed in ten or twenty years’ time; in the words of the old joke, I had to tell my Amsterdam audience that owing to unforeseen circumstances, the clairvoyant would not be making an appearance. In any case, these days, people in England who wish to be taken seriously never say ‘in future’; instead, Margaret Thatcher's children say ‘going forward’, to indicate how focused and businesslike they are. And of course there are no ‘problems’ anymore, just ‘challenges’. Approaches and buzzwords fashionable in the world of business studies have spread into our universities; for instance, in recent years some British academics have found themselves under instructions to carry out a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym, meaning Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
6.2 - Look the other way – from a Branch Of Archaeology to a Root of Landscape Studies
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Book:
- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 21 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 05 July 2012, pp 471-484
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Summary
ABSTRACT
This paper explores Landscape Archaeology's location within the broader interdisciplinary field of landscape research beyond archaeology. A variety of factors are already creating a widening field of landscape research, including the increasingly integrative role of the concept of landscape as promoted, for example, by the European Landscape Convention, a growing questioning (within more general trends in society towards holistic thinking) of the traditional divides between disciplines, and the scale of social and environmental problems perceived to be confronting the world which require comprehensive views such as landscape offers. There are similar trends in heritage management concerned with the social role and value of heritage (the Faro Convention), the distinction (or lack of) between the present and the past, and the social relevance of archaeological work.
It will be argued that, by presenting the continuum of (pre)history (as represented by past material culture) as a part of present-day landscape not merely as a pointer to understanding past environments or landscapes, Landscape Archaeology could become an important part of broader landscape research in addition to being a sub-discipline of archaeology. Landscape archaeology can bring special and unique expertise to landscape studies, and can in its turn benefit from exposure to the different horizons, theories and aims of other landscape disciplines. Working more closely with other landscape disciplines and practices studies would also help landscape archaeology to develop greater social relevance through the unifying framework of landscape.
KEYWORDS
interdisciplinary studies, perception, landscape research, social relevance, European Landscape Convention
INTRODUCTION
The organisation of a first international conference devoted exclusively to ‘landscape archaeology’ implied a coming of age for a discipline which (although its many sub-types vary in age, with some countries having longer traditions than others) is nevertheless mainly relatively young. The conference could not represent every part of Landscape Archaeology's broad scope, and there have been substantial sessions devoted to Landscape Archaeology at other international conferences, notably EAA and WAC. In its special focus, aspiration and consciousness, however, LAC2010 represented an important milestone and it is to be hoped that it will become as established in future years as, for instance, pecsrl, Ruralia, EAA or CAA already are.
5.9 - Radiography of a Townscape. Understanding, and Managing a Roman Townsite
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Book:
- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 21 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 05 July 2012, pp 429-442
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INTRODUCTION
In spring 2009, a European project, short-named ‘Radio-Past’, was launched within the FP7 Marie Curie framework ‘Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways’. The project, fully titled ‘Radiography of the past, integrated non-destructive approaches to understand and valorise complex archaeological sites’, aims to join different resources and skills to improve, refine and validate intensive archaeological surveys on complex sites, with a special focus on abandoned ancient urban sites in the Mediterranean. A consortium of seven partners merges academic institutions – University of Évora (P), Ghent University (B), University of Ljubljana (Sl) and the British School at Rome (UK), with private companies: 7Reasons Media Agency (A), Past2Present (NL) and Eastern Atlas (D) – to fulfil the objectives of the programme. Its general European-scale aims can be summarised as follows: ‘to open and foster dynamic pathways between public research organisations and commercial enterprises’ and ‘to stimulate inter-sector mobility and increase knowledge sharing through joint research partnerships in longer term co-operation programmes between organisations from Academia and Industry’.
The Radio-Past project seeks to integrate different methodologies in the widely developed field of non-destructive survey technologies as applied to archaeology, and also to pursue validation of the results through innovative methods of visualisation and the development of strategies for efficient management of the cultural heritage sites studied. It is a main target of this project to allow multiplication of methods and research approaches, and to generate methodological guidelines for archaeological diagnostics. The idea is to develop a standard set of survey approaches, based on a series of already widely used as well as more innovative methods, such as active low-altitude aerial photography, geophysical prospection, Li- DAR survey and geomorphological observations, which can in the future be efficiently used in a comparable and integrated way on a wide range of complex sites in Europe. Practically, this work should result in a guide of good practice for many researchers in survey archaeology, which considers with care the suite of survey approaches that are most appropriate for the nature of each site in question.
1.7 - Talking ruins: The Legacy of Baroque Garden Design in Manor Parks of Estonia
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Book:
- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 21 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 05 July 2012, pp 115-126
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The late 19th-century and early 20th-century ‘grand era’ of manor parks in Estonia coincides with a period when English gardening ideas dominated Europe. What is less recognised, however, is that manors in Estonia possess formal French-inspired gardens dating from the mid-18th century (the introduction of Baroque design in Estonia was delayed). Today, about 600 complete manor ensembles remain, retaining distinctive structural characteristics which date from the 18th-19th centuries. It is quite typical that in old parks of Estonia Baroque and English garden styles have merged, giving them a unique and original character. This research reports on archival study, field investigation and map analyses of 45 protected manor parks in Estonia. The analysis suggests that, despite the relatively short period (ca. 1730-1770), formal Baroque gardening was the dominant style practised in Estonia. The movement had a significant influence on local garden design, and on landscape planning more broadly. The Baroque elements in manor lands include formal geometric spaces, axial connections between landscape and buildings, orchestrated vistas and tree-lined roadways. Within the Baroque garden, formal plantings, pathways and water features were arranged in classical configurations. Finding physical traces of Baroque artefacts today is difficult because many manor parks were destructed during the Soviet era in the latter half of the 20th century. Nevertheless, archival materials and present-day visits to garden ruins in manor parks suggest that formal Baroque gardens dating from mid 18th-century manor lands were vivid and sophisticated ensembles of formal terrain, tree allées, sculptural elements and finely orchestrated water elements.
KEYWORDS
landscape design, park planning, manor parks, Baroque garden design, Estonia
INTRODUCTION
The Baroque garden design movement has given to mankind some of the most splendid and grandiose examples of spatial arrangement in the built and natural environment. For example, the legendary park at Versailles near Paris ranks amongst the world's greatest achievements in garden design. However, after the rise of ideals of equality one of the key ideologies of the French monarchy – formal Baroque design – fell out of favour during the 18th century. As the popularity of Baroque design waned in Western Europe, however, formal garden design continued to be practised in Estonian manor parks during 19th century by local German-influenced gentry.
5.1 - Biting off more than we can chew? The Current and Future role of Digital Techniques in Landscape Archaeology
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Book:
- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 21 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 05 July 2012, pp 309-320
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ABSTRACT
In this paper, a broad overview is given of the recent development of digital techniques in landscape archaeology, and of the way in which these have effectively revolutionised the way in which we do landscape archaeology nowadays. Within this development, a number of fields can be identified where computer techniques are highly successful in producing better scientific results more efficiently. The main contribution of computer techniques to landscape archaeology is found in their application to the prediction and detection of archaeological remains, to exploratory data analysis and to the visualisation of research results. A number of examples are shown illustrating this. The paper also tries to address the more fundamental issue if the application of digital methods and techniques is actually helpful for developing new interpretations and theory. It is concluded that we are still facing some stiff challenges there that are closely related to the attitude of archaeology as a science to theory, but also to the difficulties of developing software tools that actually do what we need them to do.
KEY WORDS
digital techniques, landscape archaeology, archaeological theory
INTRODUCTION: THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION IN LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY
For those not so closely involved in the development of digital techniques within and outside (landscape) archaeology, it may not always be appreciated how quickly the digital world is changing. A short look at the amount and variety of software tools available for landscape archaeologists nowadays shows the speed at which these processes move. Freeware and open source packages like Python, Meshlab, Land- Serf, Depthmap, gvsig, Google Sketchup, Whitebox gat , NetLogo, R and GeoDa may all be used for specific tasks that are of interest to (landscape) archaeologists. This list is far from exhaustive; and yet, almost all of these packages were either not available ten years ago, or have gone through significant modification and development. And more significantly: there will be very few landscape archaeologists who have used all of them, or even know what they can be used for. We are now far removed from the days when an archaeological ‘computer specialist’ could be relied on to be proficient in all the computer skills necessary for archaeological research.
6.4 - ‘Landscape’, ‘Environment’ and a Vision of Interdisciplinarity
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- By Thomas Meier
- Edited by Sjoerd J. Kluiving, Erika Guttmann-Bond
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- Book:
- Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 21 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 05 July 2012, pp 503-514
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Summary
KEYWORDS
environment, landscape, interdisciplinarity, history of archaeology, humanities, science
ABSTRACT
In this paper, presented at the end of the Amsterdam-LAC2010 conference, I felt obliged to react to the contributions delivered so far. Thus, I am starting with a few words on the term ‘environment’, which was first used at the beginning of the 20th century. Its use encapsulates an epistemological division between an individual being and its a-/biotic surroundings and therefore should be used for any research based on that fundamental division. Therefore, ‘environmental archaeology’ is the proper term for all those archaeological approaches based on scientific methods, as science in itself is rooted in the analytical division between humans and the world.
On the other hand, the word ‘landscape’ has a very old epistemology and history of meaning. In the Middle Ages its emphasis was on a politically defined body of people and, on a secondary level, on the land inhabited by them, i.e. it was the people who made the land. During early modern times the word acquired an additional aesthetic notion incorporating social imaginations of beauty and nature. Therefore – despite its quite shapeless use in actual academia – ‘landscape archaeology’ is a reasonable term for all research in the social construction of space.
This separation of ‘environmental archaeology’and ‘landscape archaeology’ is not meant to perpetuate the grand divide between science and humanities. But this is an attempt to establish a clear-cut terminological clarification in order to enable an understanding of different disciplinary epistemologies a a necessary component of interdisciplinary cooperation. While actual multidisciplinary work aims at an exchange of disciplinary results, I am presenting a model of interdisciplinarity, which takes into account the presuppositions of participating disciplines as well. This approach asks for greater consciousness of different epistemologies and it is with this aim that I am proposing a clear-cut terminology for ‘environmental archaeology’and ‘landscape archaeology’.
‘LANDSCAPE’ – A SEXY WORD?
Nowadays the word ‘landscape’ is in. It obviously sounds sexy to archaeologists in 2010. Starting some years ago, there were a growing number of archaeological publications proudly bearing ‘landscape’ in their titles. Simultaneously the word ‘environment’ is losing its prominent position on the front page of archaeological books and papers. Does this reflect a new type of research, a new topic in archaeology – or is it just one of the fashionable sound bites of the new millenium?
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