The book draws on the evidence of landscape archaeology,
palaeoenvironmental studies, ethnohistory and animal tracking to
address the neglected topic of how we identify and interpret past
patterns of movement in the landscape. It challenges the pessimism of
previous generations which regarded prehistoric routes such as hollow
ways as generally undatable. The premise is that archaeologists tend
to focus on ‘sites’ while neglecting the patterns of habitual
movement that made them part of living landscapes. Evidence of past
movement is considered in a multi-scalar way from the individual
footprint to the long distance path including the traces created in
vegetation by animal and human movement. It is argued that routes may
be perpetuated over long timescales creating landscape structures
which influence the activities of subsequent generations. In other
instances radical changes of axes of communication and landscape
structures provide evidence of upheaval and social change.
Palaeoenvironmental and ethnohistorical evidence from the American
North West coast sets the scene with evidence for the effects of
burning, animal movement, faeces deposition and transplantation which
can create readable routes along which are favoured resources.
Evidence from European hunter-gatherer sites hints at similar
practices of niche construction on a range of spatial scales. On a
local scale, footprints help to establish axes of movement, the
locations of lost settlements and activity areas. Wood trackways
likewise provide evidence of favoured patterns of movement and past
settlement location. Among early farming communities alignments of
burial mounds, enclosure entrances and other monuments indicate axes
of communication. From the middle Bronze Age in Europe there is more
clearly defined evidence of trackways flanked by ditches and fields.
Landscape scale survey and excavation enables the dating of trackways
using spatial relationships with dated features and many examples
indicate long-term continuity of routeways. Where fields flank
routeways a range of methods, including scientific approaches, provide
dates. Prehistorians have often assumed that Ridgeways provided the
main axes of early movement but there is little evidence for their
early origins and rather better evidence for early routes crossing
topography and providing connections between different environmental
zones. The book concludes with a case study of the Weald of South East
England which demonstrates that some axes of cross topographic
movement used as droveways, and generally considered as early
medieval, can be shown to be of prehistoric origin. One reason that
dryland routes have proved difficult to recognise is that insufficient
attention has been paid to the parts played by riverine and maritime
longer distance communication. It is argued that understanding the
origins of the paths we use today contributes to appreciation of the
distinctive qualities of landscapes. Appreciation will help to bring
about effective strategies for conservation of mutual benefit to
people and wildlife by maintaining and enhancing corridors of
connectivity between different landscape zones including fragmented
nature reserves and valued places. In these ways an understanding of
past routeways can contribute to sustainable landscapes, communities
and quality of life
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781789254037
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxbow Books
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter