Historic Landscape Analysis (ARCM206)

Lecturer(s)
Credit Value15
ECTS Value7.50
Pre-requisitesnone
Co-requisitesnone
Duration of Module1 term
Total Student Study Time150 hours

Module aims

To provide a solid understanding of the concepts, sources and techniques used in the analysis and interpretation of the historic landscape.

Intended learning outcomes

- Understand the principles behind the main sources and techniques used within landscape archaeology to examine the development of a historic landscape (the present pattern of field, roads, settlements and landuses)

Learning and teaching methods

Lectures, seminars and tutorials

Assignments

critique of a case-study: written assignment based on seminar presentation (15 minutes), on which
feedback will be given
essay: to deploy a wide ranging knowledge of the techniques of landscape archaeology, on which feedback will be given

Assessment

critique (34%) of a published landscape survey (1,500 words max.)
essay (66%): to deploy a wide ranging knowledge of the techniques of landscape archaeology (2,500
words max.).

Syllabus plan

1. Introduction and Historiography
2. Regionality and the Character of Britain's Landscape
3. Data collection: Field Archaeology
4. Data collection: Documents
5. Data collection: Maps, Place- and Field-names
6. Case-study: a landscape in focus
7. Techniques of Analysis: Retrogressive Analysis and Historical Landscape Characterisation
8. Techniques of Analysis: Viewsheds and GIS
9. Key Concepts: Marginality
10. Key Debates: approaches to landscape

Indicative basic reading list

key periodicals: Landscape History; Landscapes
Aston, M. 1985: Interpreting the Landscape. London: Routledge.
Bowden, M. 1999: Unravelling the Landscape. Stroud: Tempus.
Muir, R. 1999: Approaches to Landscape. London: Macmillan.
Muir, R. 2000: The NEW Reading the Landscape. Exeter: Exeter University Press.
Rippon, S. 2004: Historic Landscape Analysis. York: Council for British Archaeology.
Taylor, C. 1983: Village and Farmstead: a history of rural settlement in England. London: Dent.
Williamson, T. and Bellamy, L. 1987: Property and Landscape: a social history of land ownership and the English Countryside. London: George Philip.