Archaeologies of Landscape: Contemporary Perspectives

Archaeologists have long given attention to landscape, especially within settlement archaeology. In recent years, however, the focus on landscape has shifted and what was once generally passive background has now assumed the foreground. This results partly from archaeologists expanding their view beyond individual sites to considering a more comprehensive distribution of human traces in and especially between specific "places of special interest". This book offers new and diverse perspectives on the ideational qualities of past landscapes. The editors introduce several theoretical sources supporting studies of ideational landscapes and, in so doing, give definitions of key categories of landscape, as constructed, conceived, and ideational. The contributors draw on the wide range of literature on these kinds of landscape, numerous case studies and their own theoretical background and experience to provide a thematic examination of the archaeologies of landscape.

1. Archaeological Landscapes: Constructed, Conceptualized, Ideational: A. Bernard Knapp and Wendy Ashmore. Part I: Ethnographic and Historical Cases: . 2. Identifying Ancient Sacred Landscapes in Australia: From Physical to Social: Paul S. C. Taçon. 3. Creating Social Identity in the Landscape: Tidewater, Virginia 1600–1750: Lisa Kealhofer. 4. Conceptual Landscapes in the Egyptian Nile Valley: Janet E. Richards. 5. Buddhist Landscapes in East Asia: Gina L. Barnes. 6. Mountains, Caves, Water: Ideational Landscapes of the Ancient Maya: James E. Brady and Wendy Ashmore. Part II: Protohistoric / Ethnohistoric Cases: . 7. The Inca Cognition of Landscape: Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and the Aesthetic of Alterity: Maarten van de Guchte. 8. The Ideology of Settlement: Ancestral Keres Landscapes in the Northern Rio Grande: James E. Snead and Robert W. Preucel. Part III: Prehistoric Cases: . 9. Centering the Ancestors: Cemeteries, Mounds and Sacred Landscapes of the Ancient North American Midcontinent: Jane E. Buikstra and Douglas K. Charles. 10. Ideational and Industrial Landscape of Prehistoric Cyprus: A. Bernard Knapp. 11. The Mythical Landscapes of the British Iron Age: John C. Barrett. Part IV: Commentaries: . 12. Sacred Landscapes: Constructed and Conceptualized: Carole L. Crumley. 13. Exploring Everyday Places and Cosmologies: Peter van Dommelen. Index.

"Good insights for landscape historians and archaeologists." Landscape History <!––end––> "The varied contributions and stimulating interpretations combine with a strong and thought–provoking introduction by the editors and useful concluding commentaries on sacred landscapes and everyday places and cosmologies to produce a well–structured book of unusually powerful appeal." Landscapes