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 x The dislocation, an experience in an alien landscape