Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
and Landscapes
Lecture 1: Introduction
ARC 1000a
Interpreting Sites and Landscapes
http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/students/
• Sites
- definition of ‘site’ much wider than
might be imagined
• Settlements
- ‘deserted’ and ‘living’
• Landscapes and regions
- growth of ‘landscape archaeology’
Well-defined
archaeological sites
Norton Priory
Castleshaw Roman fort
Geophysical
anomalies
Cropmarks
Artefact
scatters Palaeoenvironmental sites
Wessex
hillforts
(after Barry
Cunliffe)
Dam/barrage
• Archaeological
speculation retarded by
the Old Testament
account of Creation
• Until the middle of the
nineteenth century –
widely accepted that the
earth was a few thousand
years old (created in 4004
BC)
The
Renaissance:
• Renaissance
atmosphere of
discovery and
enlightenment
conducive to deeper
interest in the past
• Importance of the
‘Grand Tour’
• Growing interest in
the Classical past –
‘cabinets of
curiosities’
Early Antiquarians: John
Leland 1503 - 1552
• Tudor royal librarian dedicated “to
peruse and diligently to serche al
the libraries and collegies of this
youwre noble reaulme” (1533)
• Planned: Britannia – a description
of Britain – notes only
• Not critical of his sources
• Notes on Hadrian’s Wall, Offa’s
Dyke, hillforts, castles, etc
William Stukeley 1687- 1765
• Published Itinerarium Curiosum
(1725)
• “to oblige the curious in the
Antiquities of Britain: it is an
account of places and things
from inspection, not completed
from others’ labour, or travels in
one’s own study”
• Important for careful and logical
descriptions – made accurate
sketches of Avebury,
Stonehenge and Silbury Hill
William Stukeley:
Stonehenge
Charles Darwin:
The Biological Revolution
• On the Origin of Species
(1859)
– Evolution as an explanation for
the development of plants and
animals
• Recognition of the concept of
‘deep time’ developed by
geologists
• Descent of Man (1871)
– Made the antiquity of human
beings more believable
Augustus Lane-Fox (Pitt-Rivers),
1827-1900
Willard Libby
(American physicist,
d. 1980)
• C14 dating
developed in 1949
• ‘Radiocarbon
revolution’,
particularly in
prehistory
Processual Archaeology
developed in North America from 1960s
archaeological interpretation should be
scientific – why ancient peoples did what
they did; growth of hypotheses, models
and systems theory
Some key figures:
• Eric Higgs
• Lewis Binford
• Kent Flannery
• Colin Renfrew
• Grahame Clark
Post-Processual Archaeology
reaction against positivism
emphasis on the human experience in the
past – gender, behaviour, symbolism and
ritual
multiple interpretations – no single model or
paradigm works Some key figures:
• Ian Hodder
• Matthew Johnson
• Michael Shanks
• Chris Tilley
• Julian Thomas
Next Week……..
Survey: Sites and Landscapes