Abstract
Medieval landscape archaeology has mainly focused on the function and management of medieval settlements and their immediate surroundings. While theories concerning the experience of the cultural landscape, regional identity and social structure have proved fruitful in other disciplines such as prehistoric archaeology and human geography, medievalists have disregarded the possibilities of phenomenology for landscape studies. The wealth of materiel available to medieval landscape studies ought to be fully exploited in the development of theories concerning the experience of the landscape during the Middle Ages. Evidence from Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor in south-west Britain is re-examined in order to discuss the ways in which the landscape was perceived by those who lived and worked on the moors and by those who had an interest in the moors from further afield.
Highlights
Medieval landscape archaeology has lagged behind in the theoretical discussion carried out within British and Scandinavian prehistoric landscape studies during the 1980s and 1990s
The tradition of landscape archaeology has developed alongside that of cultural geography, it has followed the path of agrarian and local history rather than profiting from the post-modernist discussion conducted within the discipline of geography
This article will argue that medieval archaeology can benefit by adopting ideas about the experience of the landscape from the discourses of phenomenology and temporality, which are frequently used within prehistoric landscape archaeology
Summary
Medieval landscape archaeology has mainly focused on the function and management of medieval settlements and their immediate surroundings. While theories concerning the experience of the cultural landscape, regional identity and social structure have proved fruitful in other disciplines such as prehistoric archaeology and human geography, medievalists have disregarded the possibilities of phenomenology for landscape studies. The wealth of materiel available to medieval landscape studies ought to be fully exploited in the development of theories concerning the experience of the landscape during the Middle Ages. Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor in south-west Britain is re-examined in order to discuss the ways in which the landscape was perceived by those who lived and worked on the moors and by those who had an interest in the moors from further afield. Karin Altenberg, Departtnent of Arcitaeology, University of Reading, 11'hitel.
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