Landscape Phenomenology Research Articles

The Cave 3 Copper Scroll: A Symbolic Journey by Jesper Høgenhaven

Reviewed by: The Cave 3 Copper Scroll: A Symbolic Journey by Jesper Høgenhaven Al Wolters jesper høgenhaven, The Cave 3 Copper Scroll: A Symbolic Journey (STDJ 132; Leiden: Brill, 2021). Pp. x + 267. €116/$140. In this substantial monograph the author takes a fresh look at the Copper Scroll (3Q15), one of the most enigmatic of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is often described as a list of buried treasure. The monograph is divided into five chapters, followed by an appendix in which a new translation of the scroll is presented. [End Page 302] The first chapter, entitled "Legend or History: A Brief History of Scholarship," gives a comprehensive survey of the scholarly literature surrounding the Copper Scroll, highlighting especially the debate between those who consider the hidden treasure to be real, possibly deriving from the Second Temple before its destruction by the Romans in 70 c.e., and those who regard the treasure as folklore or fiction. In the second chapter, somewhat oddly called "A Walk on the Wild Side: A Suggested Reading of 3Q15," Høgenhaven takes the reader on a guided tour of the Copper Scroll on the assumption that it is not just a list of places where treasures are hidden but rather an itinerary, in which the scroll's author directs the addressee to go on a journey, moving sequentially from one hiding place to the next. Most of the journey involves traveling in Judea and includes three separate visits to Jerusalem (which is never explicitly named) and five visits to a mysterious place that H. calls "Kohlit," which he equates with Tell es-Sultan near Jericho. The last part of the itinerary takes the addressee on a trip well to the north of Judea, before returning again to Kohlit. The third chapter is entitled "A Map of Meanings: Places and Items in the Copper Scroll." Here, H. goes through the itinerary of the Copper Scroll again, this time noting what he calls the "inherent symbolic meanings" (p. 96) of the place-names and treasure descriptions of 3Q15. Drawing especially on the "phenomenology of landscape" developed by Christopher Tilley (A Phenomenology of Landscape: Places, Paths and Monuments [Oxford: Berg, 1994]), H. highlights the dialectic between story and place and discerns various artful arrangements in the itinerary, as well as multiple literary allusions and historical reminiscences in what might appear at first glance to be a dry catalogue of locations and valuables. Thus, "the valley of Achor" (3Q15 1.1), reminiscent of both Joshua 7 and Hosea 2, is a place of both divine wrath and divine blessing (p. 108). Similar patterns of significance can be discerned in the distribution of sacred objects that are included among the hidden treasures. There is a suggestion that the cult in the temple in Jerusalem has become illegitimate and that Kohlit replaces Jerusalem as the current cultic center. Analogous symbolic inferences may be drawn from the books and other valuables included among the treasures, as well as from the buildings and installations where the treasures are hidden, many of which convey the picture of a desolate and derelict landscape. The fourth chapter, called "What Is Real? The Copper Scroll as a Material Artefact," covers a lot of different ground. It discusses the significance of copper as the writing material, describes how in many ways the scroll is a metallic imitation of a regular scroll of parchment or papyrus, argues that it was not a secondary deposit after the other Qumranrelated material, defends a paleography-based dating to the mid-first century c.e., discusses the mysterious Greek letters in the first four columns, analyzes the type of Hebrew used, describes the way numbers are expressed and abbreviations used, and lays out the stereotypical literary pattern of the sixty-four distinct entries. In addition, drawing on current genre theory, H. in this chapter defends the view that the genre of 3Q15 is not "list" or "inventory" but rather "instruction for retrieving hidden treasures" (p. 172). Finally, he returns to the question whether the treasures recorded in 3Q15 were real or fictitious, lays out the arguments for and against each position, and concludes that the dilemma posed by the...

Carlos Astrada and Tetsurō Watsuji on the Phenomenology of Landscape

Carlos Astrada and Tetsurō Watsuji on the Phenomenology of Landscape

Returning from the Underworld: The West Kennet Palisades in the Avebury Monument Complex

In recent decades some archaeologists have come to doubt key components and properties of the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (EBA) Avebury monument complex. By site excavation of the Beckhampton Avenue, Silbury Hill, and the West Kennet Palisades the idea of an integrated group of contemporaneous monuments has been thrown into doubt. In this paper these critiques are themselves critiqued and further tested by an inter-disciplinary exercise integrating archaeology, landscape phenomenology, and archaeoastronomy. It is suggested that the emergent properties of this procedure reveal that these recent doubts are unfounded and that this monument complex was designed for rituals to initiate neophytes by simulating journeys through a virtual underworld.

Presence in affective heritagescapes: connecting theory to practice

A recent shift in tourism studies has focused on the emotional, affective, embodied, and performative dimensions of heritage landscape experience. However, such research often struggles to transform theoretical and conceptual discussions into practical and applicable terms that can be effectively implemented by site managers. The concept of presence is therefore proposed to identify emotional and affective dimensions of heritage landscapes through an embodied, observational, and collaborative approach. Inspired by landscape phenomenology, I share how my own embodied encounter in the Viking Age site of Birka in Sweden prompted further observations and reflections on the existing site experience to confirm that certain areas of the landscape have been largely unexplored for their affective and emotional potential. Practical strategies to utilize these new dimensions emerge from focus groups and interviews with site managers, re-enactors, and tour guides. I conclude that a more collaborative study of presence grounded in embodied and observational encounters provides a useful stepping stone to transform theoretical and conceptual discussions of emotion and affect into more practical heritage management strategies.

Aging Well: Treherne's ‘Warrior's Beauty’ Two Decades Later

Over the (slightly more than) two decades that theEuropean Journal of Archaeology(formerly theJournal of European Archaeology) has been in print, we have published a number of excellent and high profile articles. Among these, Paul Treherne's seminal meditation on Bronze Age male identity and warriorhood stands out as both the highest cited and the most regularly downloaded paper in our archive. Speaking informally with friends and colleagues who work on Bronze Age topics as diverse as ceramics, metalwork, landscape phenomenology, and settlement structure, I found that this paper holds a special place in their hearts. Certainly, it is a staple of seminar reading lists and, in my experience at least, is prone to provoke heated discussions among students on topics as far ranging as gender identity in the past and present, theoretically informed methods for material culture studies, and the validity of using Classical texts for understanding prehistoric worlds. Moreover, in its themes of violence, embodiment, materiality, and the fluidity or ephemeral nature of gendered identities, it remains a crucial foundational text for major debates raging in European prehistoric archaeology in the present day.

Heliopolis and the Solar Cult in the Third Millennium BC

The article reassesses and re-discusses the available archaeological and textual evidence of the city of Heliopolis, in the attempt to clarify its role in the historical evolution of the solar cult and religion in third millennium BC Old Kingdom Egypt. By connecting archaeological evidence with landscape phenomenology as well as private sources with royal texts and decorative material, the paper emphasises how certain Egyptological assumptions, usually taken for granted, are far from being proven. It eventually shows that the key of the discussion has to be searched for in the study of the relationship between Atum and Re.

A City for Children: Women, Architecture, and the Charitable Landscapes of Oakland, 1850-1950 by Marta Gutman

Book Reviews 197 children in the design of space and places for them both in the community and in structured spaces, where children spend much of their time. Policy makers and educators could learn much from reading these chapters. Indeed, if we continue to direct and shape the spaces our children can inhabit, then understanding the dissonances between the purpose and use of spaces for children, and the value of embodied, affective and just children’s spaces is essential. References Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. (Richard Nice, Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. MacRae, C. (2011). Making Payton’s rocket: Heterotopia and lines of flight. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 30(1), 102–112. Ingold, T. (2007). Lines: A brief history. London: Routledge. Tilley, C. (2004). The materiality of stone: Explorations in landscape phenomenology. Oxford: Berg. Review by Kumara Ward Dr. Kumara Ward is an academic at Western Sydney University teaching curriculum and Pedagogy in the Early Childhood Education program and a member of the Centre for Educational Research – Sustainability Strand. Her teaching, doctorial studies and current research focus on the symbiosis between the arts and the natural and built worlds and ways in which they promote embodied interaction and multifaceted ways of knowing our complex human and other than human common worlds. A City for Children: Women, Architecture, and the Charitable Landscapes of Oakland, 1850-1950 Marta Gutman (2014) Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 454 pages. $45.00; ISBN: 978-0-226-311289 Idealism followed industry into Oakland during 1870. The arrival in California of the transcontinental railroad in November 1869 helped hasten the growth of a settlement some 10,500 strong into one playing host, just 20 years later, to nearly 50,000 residents and all manner of attendant social concerns. Female charitable enterprise fanned out across the expanding city, with the Ladies’ Relief Society and sister organizations building from scratch upon foundations of religious Book Reviews 198 determination, expertise from neighboring San Francisco and no little local resolve. Into this “charitable landscape” steps Marta Gutman, scholar, architect and our expert chaperone to a world now mostly lost. A City for Children covers a hundred years and more of Oakland’s history, taking the reader up to the destruction—facilitated by an ex-army Sherman tank, no less— of the New Century Recreation Center, a neighboring playground, and public school. That recreation center and playground, together with kindergartens, orphanages, homes for the destitute, and daycare facilities, formed nodal points in a web of civic philanthropy. It is the very great achievement of this book to recover, reimagine and scrutinize this landscape made for the benefit of children by redoubtable women including dressmaker Rebecca McWade and teacher Elizabeth Betts. Eschewing the tendency of historians of childhood to focus on places for children in isolation, Gutman knits together the entire charitable city as it would have appeared to its sponsors and beneficiaries. To achieve this, the author draws on archival evidence ranging from oral histories to government reports and photographs, all interpreted with acuity. Particularly noteworthy are Gutman’s remarkable (and self-fashioned) neighborhood maps depicting the scale, layout and crucial proximity of institutions charitable and religious. Based on details gleaned from insurance records and (as the author states very modestly) “information culled from city directories, tax records, and fieldwork” (see, for instance, page 107), these maps represent an enormous labor of love and help excavate a layer of city life now obscured. Such painstaking attention to place is characteristic of a study many years in the making. Standing out as memorable landmarks in Gutman’s landscape are buildings intended for one activity and appropriated—or “repurposed”—for another. The chapter on “The Saloon That Became a School” exemplifies the author’s arguments regarding activists’ drive for identity to flow from spatial configuration. For example, Elizabeth Betts’ West Oakland Free Kindergarten occupied a site facing the rail terminus and intended to promote sobriety and particular forms of socialization among the many immigrant children arriving into the city. The “metaphor and practice of salvage” (p. 30) also characterized women, either privileged or more modest in means, who transformed private homes into charitable spaces, a process...

Landscape Phenomenology, GIS and the Role of Affordance

That despite over a decade and a half of research, effective dialogue within archaeology between Geographic Information System (GIS) (on one hand) and experiential theory (on the other) remains elusive is nothing short of remarkable. The present discussion seeks to not only explore the reasons behind this impasse but to suggest that perhaps the time for dialogue has passed and rather than building bridges, researchers in archaeological GIS should instead begin to build their own theoretical frameworks. To this end, a discussion of affordance (and its potential application in the field of experiential analysis) is offered.

Book Review of Body and Image: Explorations in Landscape Phenomenology 2, by Christopher Tilley and Wayne Bennett

Tilley furthers his inquiry into the phenomenology of landscape with the book Body and Image. Continuing the work established by The Materiality of Stone (New York 2004), Tilley presents a theoretically informed approach to archaeological scholarship that will appeal to readers from other disciplines. The text is complemented by 95 black-and-white line drawings and photographs and six tables of data. Following the pattern established in The Materiality of Stone, this book is divided into five chapters, consisting of a theoretical introduction, three case studies, and a short conclusion.

Online-Only Content

Previous articleNext article FreeOPEN ACCESS ON AJA ONLINE (www.ajaonline.org)Online-Only ContentPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreOnline-only content accompanying American Journal of ArchaeologyVolume 116, Number 1 (January 2012)SUPPLEMENTARY CONTENTImage Gallery: “Good Luck from Corinth”: A Mosaic of Allegory, Athletics, and City Identity, by Betsey A. RobinsonImage Gallery: From Urban Origins to Imperial Integration in Western Syria: Umm el-Marra 2006, 2008, by Glenn M. Schwartz, Hans H. Curvers, Sally S. Dunham, and Jill A. WeberBOOK REVIEWSArchaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France, by Michael Dietler. Reviewed by Gocha TsetskhladzeBody and Image: Explorations in Landscape Phenomenology 2, by Christopher Tilley and Wayne Bennett. Reviewed by Marguerite HelmersAnalysing Pottery: Processing, Classification, Publication, edited by Barbara Horejs, Reinhard Jung, and Peter Pavúk. Reviewed by Susan I. RotroffChanging Natures: Hunter-Gatherers, First Farmers and the Modern World, by Bill Finlayson and Graeme M. Warren. Reviewed by Jane PetersonBotanical Aspects of Environment and Economy at Gordion, Turkey, by Naomi F. Miller. Reviewed by Patricia L. FallOrganising Bronze Age Societies: The Mediterranean, Central Europe and Scandinavia Compared, edited by Timothy Earle and Kristian Kristiansen. Reviewed by Anthony HardingAssyrian Reliefs From the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography, edited by Ada Cohen and Steven E. Kangas. Reviewed by Diana Krumholz McDonaldLe donateur, l’offrande et la déesse: Systèmes votifs dans les sanctuaires de déesses du monde grec. Actes du 31e colloque international organisé par l’UMR Halma-Ipel (Université Charles-de-Gaulle/Lille 3, 13–15 Décembre 2007), edited by Clarisse Prêtre. Reviewed by Brita AlrothThe Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore: The Terracotta Sculpture, by Nancy Bookidis. Reviewed by Jaimee P. UhlenbrockCultural Interactions and Social Strategies on the Pontic Shores: Burial Customs in the Northern Black Sea Area c. 550–270 BC, by Jane Hjarl Petersen. Reviewed by Lieve DonnellanThe Polychrome Grave Stelai from the Early Hellenistic Necropolis, by Richard Posamentir. Reviewed by Renée M. CalkinsTanagras: Figurines for Life and Eternity. The Musée du Louvre’s Collection of Greek Figurines, by Violaine Jeammet. Reviewed by Nancy SerwintDie “Agora des Italiens” in Delos: Baugeschichte, Architektur, Ausstattung und Funktion einer späthellenistischen Porticus-Anlage, by Monika Trümper. Reviewed by Burkhard EmmeThe Archaeology of Sanctuaries and Ritual in Etruria, edited by N.T. de Grummond and I. Edlund-Berry. Reviewed by Anthony TuckRoman Diasporas: Archaeological Approaches to Mobility and Diversity in the Roman Empire, edited by Hella Eckardt. Reviewed by David MattinglyLes mythes fondateurs de Rome: Images et politique dans l’Occident romain, by Alexandra Dardenay. Reviewed by R. Ross HollowayIl codice botanico di Augusto: Roma, Ara Pacis. Parlare al popolo attraverso le immagini della natura / The Augustus Botanical Code: Rome, Ara Pacis. Speaking to the People Through the Images of Nature, by Giulia Caneva. Reviewed by Rolf WinkesResurrecting Pompeii, by Estelle Lazer. Reviewed by Marshall Joseph BeckerPompeii’s Living Statues: Ancient Roman Lives Stolen from Death, by Eugene Dwyer. Reviewed by John R. ClarkeRoman Sculpture in Asia Minor: Proceedings of the International Conference to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Italian Excavations at Hierapolis in Phrygia, Held on May 24–26, 2007, in Cavallino (Lecce), edited by F. D’Andria and I. Romeo. Reviewed by Felipe RojasFrom Face to Face: Recarving of Roman Portraits and the Late-Antique Portrait Arts, by Marina Prusac. Reviewed by Diana E.E. KleinerPaneas, by V. Tzaferis and S. Israeli. Reviewed by Kevin ButcherList of Books Received Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Archaeology Volume 116, Number 1January 2012 The journal of the Archaeological Institute of America Views: 26Total views on this site Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.3764/aja.116.1.online Views: 26Total views on this site Copyright © 2012 by the Archaeological Institute of America. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Chorography, Phenomenology and the Antiquarian Tradition

This article takes a critical look at claims that Landscape Phenomenology owes an ancestral debt to the work of early antiquarians; a belief that is in danger of becoming an orthodoxy through casual repetition. Through an exploration of the inherent tensions that arise when attempts are made to link pioneering empiricists (who in many senses embodied the Baconian experimental science of the seventeenth century) and Landscape Phenomenology (that positions itself in direct opposition to this enlightenment project) it is argued that rather than antiquarian practices pre-empting or anticipating those of Landscape Phenomenology, the nagging sense that the two are in some way connected derives from their shared reliance upon practices that are best described as chorographic.

Body and Image: Explorations in Landscape Phenomenology 2. Christopher Tilley

<i>Body and Image: Explorations in Landscape Phenomenology 2</i>. Christopher Tilley

A phenomenology of landscape

Recent criticism of the accuracy of the claimed observations on monument location by workers employing a ‘phenomenological’ approach to landscape archaeology in Britain has exposed failures in the way their particular approach has been employed to explain the choices made in the siting of certain Neolithic monuments. This article explains why such errors of record may have occurred and re-examines the ways in which the phenomenology of Martin Heidegger can offer a more positive contribution to our understanding of the historical context of the creation of these monuments.

Entering, and returning from, the underworld: reconstituting Silbury Hill by combining a quantified landscape phenomenology with archaeoastronomy

Landscape phenomenology limits the number of possible narratives for interpreting prehistoric monuments through the embodied experience of walking their remains in their landscape. While this method may improve upon an archaeology that narrows interpretation to single site excavations isolated in Euclidean space, it has been criticized for deploying unsubstantiated metaphors as an interpretative resource. Contemporary archaeoastronomy's dominant methodology submits regional groups of prehistoric monuments to rigorous statistical methods for testing whether perceived alignments were in fact intended by their builders. However, it is presently unable to saturate alignment findings with meaning, and reaches its limits when monuments are found to align on local landscape features rather than ‘astronomical’ bodies. Through a detailed examination of Silbury Hill in its landscape and late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age monument context, this article shows that problems in both methods can be transcended by studying the emergent properties generated by their combination. These emergent properties are consistent with the predictions of a recent anthropological model of lunar‐solar conflation.RésuméLa phénoménologie du paysage limite le nombre d'interprétations possibles des vestiges préhistoriques à celle obtenue par l'expérience vécue d'un arpentage dans leurs alentours. Bien que cette méthode puisse enrichir l'archéologie, qui restreint l'interprétation aux seules fouilles du site isolé dans l'espace euclidien, elle est critiquée pour l'usage de métaphores infondées comme sources d'interprétation. Par ailleurs, la méthodologie dominante de l'archéoastronomie contemporaine consiste à appliquer à des groupes régionaux de monuments préhistoriques des méthodes statistiques rigoureuses pour vérifier si les alignements perçus avaient effectivement été projetés par leurs constructeurs. Elle ne peut cependant pas saturer de signification les alignements retrouvés et atteint ses limites quand les monuments s'avèrent alignés sur des repères locaux du paysage plutôt que sur des corps « astronomiques ». À travers un examen détaillé de Silbury Hill dans son paysage et dans son contexte monumental du Néolithique et du Bronze ancien, l'article montre que les points faibles des deux méthodes peuvent être transcendés si l'on étudie les propriétés émergentes nées de leur combinaison. Ces nouvelles propriétés sont cohérentes avec les prédictions récentes d'un modèle anthropologique de rapprochement entre temps lunaire et temps solaire.

The materiality of stone: explorations in landscape phenomenology - Christopher Tilley (with Wayne Bennett)

The materiality of stone: explorations in landscape phenomenology - Christopher Tilley (with Wayne Bennett)

Phenomenology and the Megaliths of Wales: a Dreaming Too Far?

It is argued that the field data do not support the claims made by Tilley in his A Phenomenology of Landscape (1994) for intentional relationships between the placing of Welsh megalithic tombs and natural features of the landscape. The critique relates to sample quality, observational rigour and failure to examine alternative hypotheses concerning the siting factors involved in the placing of the tombs.

Christopher Tilley, A Phenomenology of Landscape: Places, Paths and Monuments

Christopher Tilley, A Phenomenology of Landscape: Places, Paths and Monuments

Landscape phenomenology and the imagination of a new South Africa on Parktown Ridge

Abstract This paper employs a phenomenological approach to examine the cultural appropriation of the physical landscape of Parktown Ridge immediately after the Anglo‐Boer War. It argues that the geographical circumstances of the Ridge in the early 1900s, when understood through the experiential constructs of spaciality, temporality and materiality, developed a powerful regional reciprocity with the cultural imagination of ‘New Imperialism’. The fundamental premise of the paper is that the processes of history are as much spatial as they are economic, racial and social, and that spatial histories in turn are rooted in phenomenological experience. It argues that such experience, while fundamentally subjective and therefore difficult to record, can be found in the poetics of inventive transformation which are evident in all forms of cultural representation. The creative strategies of Dorothea Fairbridge and Herbert Baker in particular are used to provide glimpses of the heterogeneous ‘spatial history’ of Par...