Interpreting Landscapes : Geologies, Topographies, Identities; Explorations in Landscape Phenomenology 3

pt. I. Interpreting landscapes -- pt. II. Chalk country -- pt. III. From pebbles to sandstone and slate -- pt. IV. Granite. This book takes a new approach to writing about the past. Instead of studying the prehistory of Britain from Mesolithic to Iron Age times in terms of periods or artifact classifications, Tilley examines it through the lens of their geology and landscapes, asserting the fundamental significance of the bones of the land in the process of human occupation over the long durée. Granite uplands, rolling chalk downlands, sandstone moorlands, and pebbled hilltops each create their own potentialities and symbolic resources for human settlement and require forms of social engagement. Taking his findings from years of phenomenological fieldwork experiencing different landscapes with all senses and from many angles, Tilley creates a saturated and historically imaginative account of the landscapes of southern England and the people who inhabited them. This work is also a key theoretical statement about the importance of landscapes for human settlement. Interpreting Landscapes. Outline Of A Phenomenological Perspective -- The Neolithic Sensory Revolution -- Chalk Country. Stonehenge's Architecture And Landscape -- Round Barrows And Cross Dykes As Landscape Metaphors -- The Beach In The Sky -- From Pebbles To Sandstone And Slate. Sensory Experience On The East Devon Pebblebeds -- Stalking With Stones On Exmoor -- Granite. Landscapes And Power On Bodmin Moor -- Supernatural Places In West Penwith -- Conclusions. Christopher Tilley. Collection Of Published And Unpublished Essays On Landscape And Monuments Written And Researched Since 1994. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 491-513) And Index. Introduction: interpreting landscapes: geologies, topographies, identities Outline of a phenomenological perspective The Neolithic sensory revolution Chalk country Stonehenge: its architecture and its landscape: a re-analysis Round barrows and cross dykes as landscape metaphors The beach in the sky From pebbles to sandstone and slate From sensory experience to the cosmological domain on the East Devon pebblebeds Stalking with stones: the "minilithic" stone settings of exmoor Granite Rocks as resources: landscapes and power on bodmin moor An archaeology of super-natural places: the case of West Penwith Conclusions References. Examines role of landscape in phenomenological study of ancient Britain.