The Archaeology and Anthropology of Landscape: Shaping Your Landscape

538 Pages·1999·12.94 MB·English

by  Robert Layton

THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND
ANTHROPOLOGY OF LANDSCAPE
The study of landscape has become increasingly important in archaeology,
anthropology and geography. Researchers have raised their perspective beyond
that of the individual site or settlement to address the ways in which social
process and cultural meanings are shaped by and leave their mark upon the
landscape.
The Archaeology and Anthropology of Landscape contains twenty-eight
thematic chapters based on contributions to the third World Archaeological
Congress held in New Delhi in 1994. Contributors from the British Isles,
Scandinavia, North and South America, India, Australia and the Pacific
demonstrate the value of cross-disciplinary research in the fields of archaeology,
anthropology and geography. They investigate how the meaning of landscapes
has either been retained or transformed over time. They also explore how and
why different communities sharing the same environment have different
perceptions of their surroundings, especially where one is a colonising power.
This book provides new and varied case studies of landscape and environment
from five continents and will be of interest to all concerned with the theoretical
debates as well as the policy-making issues concerning development and the
management of heritage.
Peter J.Ucko is Director of the Institute of Archaeology, University College
London. Robert Layton is Professor of Anthropology at the University of
Durham.
ONE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY
Series Editor: P.J.Ucko
Animals into Art H.Morphy (ed.), vol. 7
Archaeological Approaches to Cultural Identity S.J.Shennan (ed.), vol. 10
Archaeological Heritage Management in the Modern World H.F.Cleere (ed.),
vol. 9
The Archaeology and Anthropology of Landscape: shaping your landscape
P.J.Ucko & R.Layton (eds), vol. 30
Archaeology and Language I: theoretical and methodological orientations
R.Blench & M.Spriggs (eds), vol. 27
Archaeology and Language II: correlating archaeological data and linguistic
hypotheses R.Blench & M.Spriggs (eds), vol. 29
Archaeology and the Information Age: a global perspective P.Reilly & S.Rahtz
(eds), vol. 21
The Archaeology of Africa: food, metals and towns T.Shaw, P.Sinclair, B.Andah
& A.Okpoko (eds), vol. 20
Centre and Periphery: comparative studies in archaeology T.C.Champion (ed.),
vol. 11
Conflict in the Archaeology of Living Traditions R.Layton (ed.), vol. 8
Domination and Resistance D.Miller, M.J.Rowlands & C.Tilley (eds), vol. 3
Early Human Behaviour in Global Context: the rise and diversity of the Lower
Palaeolithic Record M.D.Petraglia & R.Korisettar (eds), vol. 28
The Excluded Past: archaeology in education P.Stone & R.MacKenzie (eds),
vol. 17
Foraging and Farming: the evolution of plant exploitation D.R.Harris &
G.C.Hillman (eds), vol. 13
From the Baltic to the Black Sea: studies in medieval archaeology D.Austin &
L.Alcock (eds), vol. 18
Historical Archaeology: back from the edge P.P.A.Funari, M.Hall & S.Jones
(eds), vol. 32
Hunters of the Recent Past L.B.Davis & B.O.K.Reeves (eds), vol. 15
The Meanings of Things: material culture and symbolic expression I.Hodder
(ed.), vol. 6
The Origins of Human Behaviour R.A.Foley (ed.), vol. 19
iii
The Politics of the Past P.Gathercole & D.Lowenthal (eds), vol. 12
The Prehistory of Food: appetites for change C.Gosden & J.G.Hather (eds), vol.
31
The Presented Past: heritage, museums and education P.G.Stone &
B.L.Molyneaux (eds), vol. 25
Sacred Sites, Sacred Places D.L.Carmichael, J.Hubert, B.Reeves & A.Schanche
(eds), vol. 23
Signifying Animals: human meaning in the natural world R.G.Willis (ed.), vol.
16
Social Construction of the Past: representation as power G.C.Bond & A.Gilliam
(eds), vol. 24
State and Society: the emergence and development of social hierarchy and
political centralization J.Gledhill, B.Bender & M.T.Larsen (eds), vol. 4
Time, Process and Structured Transformation in Archaeology S.E.van der Leeuw
& J.McGlade (eds), vol. 26
Tropical Archaeobotany: applications and developments J.G.Hather (ed.), vol.
22
The Walking Larder: patterns of domestication, pastoralism and predation
J.Clutton-Brock (ed.), vol. 2
What is an Animal? T.Ingold (ed.), vol. 1
What’s New? A closer look at the process of innovation S.E.van der Leeuw &
R.Torrence (eds), vol. 14
Who Needs the Past? Indigenous values and archaeology R.Layton (ed.), vol. 5
THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND
ANTHROPOLOGY OF
LANDSCAPE
Shaping your landscape
Edited by
Peter J.Ucko and Robert Layton
London and New York
First published 1999
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of
thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1999 selection and editorial matter,
Peter J.Ucko and Robert Layton;
individual chapters, the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
The archaeology and anthropology of landscape: shaping your
landscape/edited by Peter J.Ucko and Robert Layton.
—(One World Archaeology)
Papers presented at the third World Archaeological Congress,
held in New Delhi, India, Dec. 1994
Includes bibliographical references and index
(hardbound: alk. paper)
1. Landscape assessment—Cross-cultural studies—Congresses.
2. Landscape archaeology—Congresses. I. Ucko, Peter J.
II. Layton, Robert. III. World Archaeological Congress
(3rd: 1994: New Delhi, India) IV. Series.
GF90.A73 1994
304.2–dc21 98–20323
ISBN 0-203-20244-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-26619-6 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-11767-4 (Print Edition)
Contents
List of figures xix
List of tables xxii
List of contributors xxiii
Preface xxvi
1 Introduction: gazing on the landscape and encountering the 1
environment
Robert Layton and Peter J.Ucko
Explanation 2
Understanding 2
The impact of postmodernism 3
Writing as oppression 5
Is there a world out there? 6
Expressions of culture in the environment 8
Human adaptation and transformation of the environment 9
Social strategies which co-ordinate or coerce action 10
Reading the landscape 11
Two problems for archaeology 12
Conclusions 15
Acknowledgements 17
References 17
2 Chronologies of landscape 21
John C.Barrett
Acknowledgements 30
References 30
vii
3 Subverting the Western Gaze: mapping alternative worlds 31
Barbara Bender
Introduction 31
Western maps in western contexts 34
Western maps in contact situations 36
Indigenous maps 40
Conclusions 41
Notes 42
Acknowledgement 43
References 43
4 Social landsciapes in Irish prehistory 46
Gabriel Cooney
Introduction 46
Landscapes from the outside: the extent of prehistoric settlement 47
People, pathways and places 48
A sense of place 51
The landscape as context of activity 55
Transforming the landscape 60
References 61
5 Small-scale communities and the landscape of Swaledale 66
(North Yorkshire, UK)
Andrew Fleming
References 73
6 A historical interactive landscape in the heart of Europe: the 74
case of Bohemia
Jaromír BenesMarek Zvelebil
Theorising landscapes 74
Landscapes in action: the case of northern Bohemia 79
Enculturation of the landscape 79
Land division and field systems 86
Burials as territorial markers 86
viii
Focal places in the landscape 87
Conclusion 90
Note 90
Acknowledgements 90
References 91
7 Is landscape history possible? Or, how can we study the 95
desertion of farms?
Mats Widgren
Introduction 95
Is landscape history possible? 95
Form versus process 96
Nature versus culture; ecological versus social theory 98
Is it possible to survive on a deserted farm? 99
Surveying 100
Agro-ecosystems over time 101
Social and tenurial development 102
Note 103
Acknowledgement 104
References 104
8 The historic environment, historic landscapes, and space—time 106
—action models in landscape archaeology
Timothy Darvill
Introduction 106
Archaeology and the landscape 107
Landscapes as ‘objects’ 107
Landscapes as ‘subjects’ 107
Critique of traditional archaeological approaches to landscape 108
Landscape as context 110
Space 110
Time 111
Social action 111
ix
Time-space-action models in archaeology and beyond 111
Landscape and the social use of space: Stonehenge 113
Conclusions 117
Notes 118
References 119
9 Protecting time and space: understanding historic landscape 121
for conservation in England
Graham Fairclough
Introduction 121
Philosophy and definition 122
Time 123
Space and scale 128
Articulation 129
Territorial inter-relationships 129
Regional or national patterning 130
Methods and practice 130
Conclusion 135
References 136
10 The role of caste hierarchy in the spatial organisation of a 137
village landscape in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka
Nilu Abeyaratne
References 146
11 The anatomy of dispossession: a study in the displacement of 148
the tribals from their traditional landscape in the Narmada
Valley due to the Sardar Sarovar Project
Ashish Chadha
Introduction 148
The Sardar Dam and its impact 149
The emergence of popular protest movements 151
Are the tribals an indigenous group? 152
A changing relationship to the landscape 155