Bodmin Moor: An archaeological survey: Volume 2


Book Description

Bodmin Moor is an upland landscape, heavily protected, farmed extensively and with an increasingly light touch, and enjoyed by many as a retreat from busier modern worlds. But it is also a place of industry and the home of busy agricultural communities. Well-preserved remains of streamworking, mining, quarrying, clay working, turf cutting and more intensive farming were subjected to archaeological survey and historical research as part of the wider-ranging survey partly covered in the first volume (on prehistoric and medieval landscapes). Supplementing the survey text are aerial photographs and detailed line drawings, mainly plans and elevations, but also reconstructions of sites and schematic representations of processes as well as large-scale maps of key areas




Archaeology from Historical Aerial and Satellite Archives


Book Description

Historical archives of vertical photographs and satellite images acquired for other purposes (mainly declassified military reconnaissance) offer considerable potential for archaeological and historical landscape research. They provide a unique insight into the character of the landscape as it was over half a century ago, before the destructive impact of later 20th century development and intensive land use. They provide a high quality photographic record not merely of the landscape at that time, but offer the prospect of the better survival of remains reflecting its earlier history, whether manifest as earthworks, cropmarks or soilmarks. These various sources of imagery also provide an opportunity to examine from the air areas of Europe and beyond whose skies are still not open to traditional archaeological aerial reconnaissance. Tens of millions of such images are held in archives around the world, but their research potential goes very largely untapped. A primary aim of this volume is to draw to wider attention the existence, scope and potential access to historical archival aerial and satellite photographs, in order to encourage their use in a range of archaeological and landscape research. By drawing attention to this massive archival resource, providing examples of its successful application to archaeological/landscape questions, and offering advice how to access and utilise the resource, the volume seeks to bring this material to wider attention, demonstrate its huge potential for archaeology, encourage its further use and stimulate a new approach to archaeological survey and the study of landscape evolution internationally. ​




The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology


Book Description

Through international and multi-period chapters, this volume explores the origins and development of industrialisation from its emergence in 18th century Europe to its contemporary ubiquity. It interrogates the widespread exploitation of natural resources that forged industrialisation and its environmental and social legacy in our globalised world.




Making Sense of an Historic Landscape


Book Description

Why is it that in some places around the world communities live in villages, while elsewhere people live in isolated houses scattered across the landscape? How does archaeology analyse the relationship between man and his environment? Making Sense of an Historic Landscape explores why landscapes are so varied and how the landscape archaeologist or historian can understand these differences. Local variation in the character of the countryside provides communities with an important sense of place, and this book suggests that some of these differences can be traced back to prehistory. In his discussion, Rippon makes use of a wide range of sources and techniques, including archaeological material, documentary sources, maps, field- and place-names, and the evidence contained within houses that are still lived in today, to illustrate how local and regional variations in the 'historic landscape' can be understood. Rippon uses the Blackdown Hills in southern England, which marked an important boundary in landscape character from prehistory onwards, as a specific case study to be applied as a model for other landscape areas. Even today the fields, place-names, and styles of domestic architecture are very different either side of the Blackdown Hills, and it is suggested that these differences in landscape character developed because of deep-rooted differences in the nature of society that are found right across southern England. Although focused on the more recent past, the volume also explores the medieval, Roman, and prehistoric periods.




Bodmin Moor: The industrial and post-medieval landscapes


Book Description

Following on from the original 1994 volume which mapped and recorded the prehistoric and medieval landscape of Bodmin Moor, this second volume completes a comprehensive basic record of this archaeologically rich granite upland area by reporting on its important industrial and later post-medieval features and landscapes. A 1:25 000 map accompanies the text.




Archaeological Investigation


Book Description

The thoroughly updated second edition of Archaeological Investigation reviews and explains the practices of field archaeology in the world today. Now co-authored by Madeleine Hummler, the book’s scope has been enlarged in time and space, reaching out to the different methods and strategies applied in both the academic and commercial sectors in diverse terrain on land and under the sea. Archaeological Investigation accompanies the reader on a journey from absolute beginner to professional. Part 1 (Principles) sets the scene for newcomers, showing the axial role of fieldwork in rediscovering the past. Part 2 (In the Field) is aimed at those setting out to collect primary data by the diverse methods of modern survey and excavation. Word pictures on "First day in the field" and "First day on a dig" provide friendly introductions to the high-tech enterprise that fieldwork has become. Now fully engaged in the process, newcomers to archaeology are ready, in Part 3 (Writing Up), to take part in the process of making the discoveries known. Here the findings of fieldwork are marshalled to analyse the assemblage, the use of space and the chronology of what happened. The results are then combined in a synthesis and communicated through websites, museums, the display of sites and above all through publication. Part 4 (Design) engages the reader in archaeology’s primary action: how to design projects that conserve, rediscover and explain the human past, beginning with a review of some landmark examples (Chapter 13). The final chapter (The Profession) reviews the role of the state, the academy, the commercial sector and the public in making archaeology happen – and why it matters. Building on the authors’ extensive experience, Archaeological Investigation remains an inspiring, provocative, informative and entertaining book for students and professionals, arguing that the investigation of the human and environmental past is highly relevant to contemporary society and its future.




The Importance of British Material Culture to Historical Archaeologies of the Nineteenth Century


Book Description

Britain was the industrial and political powerhouse of the nineteenth century--the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and the center of the largest empire of the time. With its broad imperial reach--and even broader indirect influence--Britain had a major impact on nineteenth-century material culture worldwide. Because British manufactured goods were widespread in British colonies and beyond, a more nuanced understanding of those goods can enhance the archaeological study of the people who used them far beyond Britain's shores. However, until recently archaeologists have given relatively little attention to such goods in Britain itself, thereby missing what is often revealing and useful contextual information for historical archaeologists working in countries where British goods were consumed while also leaving significant portions of Britain's own archaeological record poorly understood. The Importance of British Material Culture to Historical Archaeologies of the Nineteenth Century helps fill these gaps, through case studies demonstrating the importance and meaning of mass-produced material culture in Britain from the birth of the Industrial Revolution (mid-1700s) to early World War II. By examining many disparate items--such as ceramics made for export, various goods related to food culture, Scottish land documents, and artifacts of death--these studies enrich both an understanding of Britain itself and the many places it influenced during the height of its international power.




Economy and Ecology of Heathlands


Book Description

Heathlands in Europe reflect a long history of human activity and use. Through the ages heathlands have been of importance as (semi)agricultural areas, hunting territories and various other uses of mankind. This diversity of use has created a cultural diversity over the whole Atlantic area of Europe, from Portugal and Spain in the south to Norway in the north and from Germany in the east to Ireland in the west. Economy and Ecology of Heathlands shows us both the diversity in use all over Europe and combines this information with the newest insights in ecology and the Natura 2000 status most of these heathlands have got nowadays. Central theme is how to cover the costs of maintenance of these heathlands. Is their future in new types of commons, or do other types of land ownership, using the revenues of heathland ecosystem services, give better opportunities? The editors combine a broad variance in knowledge of heathlands varying from all aspects of ecology, land use, as well as economy.




Industrial Archaeology


Book Description

Industrial Archaeology sets out a coherent methodology for the discipline which expands on and extends beyond the purely functional analysis of industrial landscapes, structures and artefacts to their cultural meaning.




Estate Landscapes : Design, Improvement and Power in the Post-medieval Landscape


Book Description

An exciting study of the social and landscape phenomena of the Estate Landscape. In recent years, the post-medieval landscape has attracted new interest from archaeologists, historians, and geographers concerned to understand the development of the historic environment. One of the key structuring elements within these landscapes from the sixteenth century until the aftermath of the Second World War was undoubtedly the landed estate. However, it was not until the late nineteenth century that any systematic attempt to quantify the presence of these estates was undertaken, prompted by the move to democratic reform and the persistent link between political power and landed wealth. Yet the importance of the landed estate in structuring power, social relationships, and both agricultural and industrial production was not limited to the UK. From the eighteenth century, the link between the UK estates and patterns of landholding and exploitation in the colonies became increasingly complex and recursive. This volume explores the relationships between the form and structure of British and Colonial estate landscapes, their agricultural management and the political structures and social relationships they reproduced. The articles address themes as diverse as the creation and development of the agrarian landscape, improvement, ornamental landscapes and gardens and estate architecture. Overall, it highlights the wealth and diversity of existing scholarship and suggests new directions for post-medieval archaeology in this dynamic area of research.