Pathways to past ways: a positive approach to routeways and mobility

Bell, Martin; Leary, Jim

doi:10.15184/aqy.2020.133

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The move away from exotic narratives of long-distance movement and connectivity to focus instead on the human-scale of seafaring mimics criticisms of the heavy focus on broader scale migration patterns in studies of movement (Bell & Leary, 2020) as well as big data analysis as a whole (Niklasson, 2014). With regard to prehistoric maritime movement, large-scale approaches will not achieve the nuanced understandings that researchers should now be striving for; this study highlighting the argument made by Niklasson (2014, p. 62) that big data approaches do not always equate to better data outputs.…”

Section: Final Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Sea)ways of Perception: an Integrated Maritime-Terrestrial Approach to Modelling Prehistoric Seafaring

Blankshein

2021

J Archaeol Method Theory

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The seaways have played a significant role in the movement of people, goods and ideologies since prehistory; yet, the ephemerality of movement combined with the paucity of direct evidence for prehistoric seafaring has challenged more refined understandings of the role of early seafaring in anthropogeny. Advances in digital methodologies within archaeology, such as least-cost approaches, allow more nuanced models of movement to be generated but suffer from dichotomous approaches to land and sea. These disentangled land-sea perspectives have long been criticised as ineffectual for understanding past maritime cultures, and previous discussions of prehistoric seafaring more specifically have advocated the consideration of the unique character of maritime space in order to more closely actuate a seafarer’s perspective. Drawing on these ideas, this paper argues that more nuanced approaches to past seafaring are not only necessary but also achievable through holistic perspectives, heuristic methods and scaled-down resolutions, which allow for a more contextualised understanding of the spatiality and temporality—i.e. the human-scale—of maritime movement. This will be demonstrated through an integrated land-sea least-cost method to model Neolithic seafaring around the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It is not the intention of this paper to advocate solely for the methodology outlined here but rather to demonstrate the need to consider and understand the unique character of maritime space and its many influences on the practices being studied. Only through such contextualised cognition can the perspectives and ideologies of past seafarers and the role of seafaring in anthropogeny truly be understood.

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Section: Final Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Sea)ways of Perception: an Integrated Maritime-Terrestrial Approach to Modelling Prehistoric Seafaring

Blankshein

2021

J Archaeol Method Theory

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“…For Britain, the relationship of the Cambridgeshire Dykes with wetlands is well established, serving to block movement on dry land across their lines, but also facilitating/ directing movement between upland grazing and the fens (Ladd and Mortimer 2017;Malim 2020b; see also Moore 2012;Fioccoprile 2021). Together with a growing awareness of the importance of studying mobility via overland movement in the Early Middle Ages (Langlands 2019) and more broadly over time (Bell and Leary 2020), a consideration of land flow as well as fluvial and other watery interactions provides new insights into how early medieval linear earthworks operated.…”

Section: Discussion: Linear Earthwork and Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking Wat’s Dyke: A Monument’s Flow in a Hydraulic Frontier Zone

Williams

2021

OD Journal

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Britain’s second-longest early medieval monument – Wat’s Dyke – was a component of an early medieval hydraulic frontier zone rather than primarily serving as a symbol of power, a fixed territorial border or a military stop-line. Wat’s Dyke was not only created to monitor and control mobility over land, but specifically did so through its careful and strategic placement by linking, blocking and overlooking a range of watercourses and wetlands. By creating simplified comparative topographical maps of the key fluvial intersections and interactions of Wat’s Dyke for the first time, this article shows how the monument should not be understood as a discrete human-made entity, but as part of a landscape of flow over land and water, manipulating and managing anthropogenic and natural elements. Understanding Wat’s Dyke as part of a hydraulic frontier zone not only enhances appreciation of its integrated military, territorial, socio-economic and ideological functionality and significance, most likely the construction of the middle Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, it also theorises Wat’s Dyke as built to constitute and maintain control both across and along its line, and operating on multiple scales. Wat’s Dyke was built to manage localised, middle-range as well as long-distance mobilities via land and water through western Britain and beyond.

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“…The focus of their study was on the Early Bronze Age features and hollow ways around Tell Brak; however, a second set of narrower tracks were identified using satellite imagery which appear closely associated with a 14ha settlement of the early Islamic period (c. AD 700-900) that grew around an earlier Castellum at the north-eastern corner of the site. The dating of such trackways poses similar dating challenges to those of agricultural features such as constructed terraces and lynchets, which require multi-method solutions to establish their chronology (Bell et al 2020;Brown et al 2021;Turner et al 2021;Vervust et al 2020). Identifying and using ancient trackways in the landscape, where feasible, can embed visitors within the historic landscape and act as a conduit to show how it has been transformed.…”

Section: Presenting the 'Castlescape'mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In effect, the creation of tourist trails and geo-educational itineraries can utilise patterns of movement made by historic agents for current and future movement. The bodily engagement of movement is central to the way we structure space and understand our identity and place in the world Bell & Leary 2020;Nuninger et al 2020). Landscapes, routeways and tourist trails can be strongly linked to identity and embedded within a range of social, political and cultural aspects of movement along them (Bell & Leary 2020;Bender & Winer 2001;Hanrahan et al 2017;Holley-Kline & Papzian 2020;MacLeod 2017;Santos 2002), and 'castlescapes' can be equally evocative and contested, and conflicts of the Middle Ages can still resonate in present day politics and recent conflicts (Banerjea et al 2019;Harrison 2013;Link 2015;Pluskowski 2012;Vandekerckhove 2020: xi).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environment, Archaeology and Landscape: Papers in honour of Professor Martin Bell

2021

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Environment, Archaeology and Landscape is a collection of papers dedicated to Martin Bell on his retirement as Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Reading. Three themes outline how wetland and inland environments can be related and investigated using multi-method approaches. ‘People and the Sea: Coastal and Intertidal Archaeology’ explores the challenges faced by humans in these zones – particularly relevant to the current global sea level rise. ‘Patterns in the Landscape: Mobility and Human-environment Relationships’ includes some more inland examples and examines how past environments, both in Britain and Europe, can be investigated and brought to public attention. The papers in ‘Archaeology in our Changing World: Heritage Resource Management, Nature Conservation and Rewilding’ look at current challenges and debates in landscape management, experimental and community archaeology. A key theme is how archaeology can contribute time depth to an understanding of biodiversity and environmental sustainability. This volume will be of value to all those interested in environmental archaeology and its relevance to the modern world.

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Pathways to past ways: a positive approach to routeways and mobility

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 12 publications

References 15 publications

(Sea)ways of Perception: an Integrated Maritime-Terrestrial Approach to Modelling Prehistoric Seafaring

(Sea)ways of Perception: an Integrated Maritime-Terrestrial Approach to Modelling Prehistoric Seafaring

Rethinking Wat’s Dyke: A Monument’s Flow in a Hydraulic Frontier Zone

Environment, Archaeology and Landscape: Papers in honour of Professor Martin Bell

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