Archaeology of Cultural Landscapes

Catalog description

Landscapes are outcomes of natural and cultural activity.  Natural landscapes are formed by geological processes and climatic patterns.  Cultural landscapes are shaped by the intentional and unintentional effects of human activity on the environment.  The archaeological study of cultural landscapes, therefore, concerns both the social and symbolic dimensions of local and regional environments as well as anthropogenic effects on environments at local, regional, and global scales.  Archaeologists interested in cultural landscapes study features such as earthen mounds, embankments, monumental architecture, ritual places and cemeteries, the built environment of human settlements, canals, ditches, fields, and signs of human impacts on natural environments.  Archaeologists typically study specific sites, but the archaeological study of landscapes emphasizes the significance of specific sites within broader regional contexts.  An archaeological perspective benefits the study of landscapes because archaeologists are inherently interested in the effects of both long-term trends and short-term changes on the ways that groups of people interact with each other and with their environment.  In this course, emphasis is placed on selected case studies from Europe, the North Atlantic, the South Pacific, and the Americas, although selected comparative cases and examples shall also be drawn from Africa and Asia.