A Statistical Analysis of Ringfort Distribution and Morphology on the ...

Chapter 1: Introduction
by year less <strong>and</strong> less productive.’ The importance <strong>of</strong> the l<strong>and</strong>scape perspective to the underst<strong>and</strong>ing
<strong>of</strong> archaeology is further reflected in other papers in the volume. 1
Morrison’s L<strong>and</strong>scape with Lake Dwellings provides an excellent synthesis <strong>of</strong> environment <strong>and</strong> culture,
the implications <strong>of</strong> this combined study to a large degree typifying l<strong>and</strong>scape analysis as a distinct
archaeological approach. 2 In his conclusions Morrison expresses how fundamental a consideration <strong>of</strong>
the l<strong>and</strong>scape context is to the underst<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> Scottish crannogs. ‘Their use <strong>of</strong> the islets was part <strong>of</strong>
life in the l<strong>and</strong>scapes that formed their setting, <strong>and</strong> generally seems to have been interwoven with it
in a whole range <strong>of</strong> ways, direct <strong>and</strong> indirect.’ He goes on to argue that ‘an holistic view’ must be
taken <strong>of</strong> the situation whereby the study <strong>of</strong> the environmental, economic <strong>and</strong> settlement evidence is
to be regarded ‘... as an extension <strong>of</strong> the study <strong>of</strong> the l<strong>and</strong>scape into the water, rather than as
something set apart from the rest <strong>of</strong> archaeology.’ He also indicates that crannogs may be seen as <strong>of</strong>
special importance within l<strong>and</strong>scape studies as their submerged nature, coupled with their apparent
immunity from destructive forces allows an unparalleled opportunity to map them over a large area
<strong>and</strong> on a scale approaching a complete distribution.
Perry <strong>and</strong> Davidson corroborated many <strong>of</strong> Davidson’s inferences in their spatial analysis <strong>of</strong> chambered
cairns on the Isle <strong>of</strong> Arran in Scotl<strong>and</strong>. 3 Once again the results showed a strong correlation between
the varying quality <strong>of</strong> soil types <strong>and</strong> the occurrence <strong>of</strong> chambered cairns on the isl<strong>and</strong>. However, by
their careful use <strong>of</strong> simulation analysis, other influencing factors were identified. These included the
proximity <strong>of</strong> sites to streams or to coastal cliffs. However, such results cannot be interpreted purely in
terms <strong>of</strong> the locations most favoured for tombs. Instead it must be recognised that megalithic tombs
may have also functioned as markers for territorial division, possibly compromising any simplistic
analysis <strong>of</strong> the sites in relation to soil types. 4
The research <strong>of</strong> the Stonehenge Environs Project centred on the state <strong>of</strong> preservation <strong>of</strong> prehistoric
settlement for the purposes <strong>of</strong> implementing an effective management strategy for the archaeological
remains. The work <strong>of</strong> the project included site location <strong>and</strong> definition by means <strong>of</strong> extensive surface
collection, geophysical <strong>and</strong> geochemical surveying <strong>and</strong> sample excavation. The well developed
methodological framework employed by the project ensured that all these diverse data components
could be integrated successfully to produce a l<strong>and</strong>scape-wide context, as opposed to a more
fragmentary ‘site-by-site’ approach. The most important consequence <strong>of</strong> the implementation <strong>of</strong> this
diachronic approach to the study <strong>of</strong> the l<strong>and</strong>scape around Stonehenge was that it allowed the project
to organise itself around the interrelated themes <strong>of</strong> social <strong>and</strong> l<strong>and</strong>scape evolution. 5
In their study <strong>of</strong> the linear earthworks <strong>of</strong> the Salisbury plain Bradley, Entwistle <strong>and</strong> Raymond note
that in their evolution it is the character <strong>and</strong> mode <strong>of</strong> perception <strong>of</strong> the l<strong>and</strong>scape which alters in the
spheres <strong>of</strong> ‘demography, settlement, <strong>and</strong> cultural interaction.’ 6 More importantly, in a wider context
the authors conceive the l<strong>and</strong>scape ‘... to be culturally structured in the same sense that raw
materials are transformed by social intention into man-made objects.’ 7
In their major study <strong>of</strong> the twentieth-century excavations at Stonehenge, Cleal, Walker <strong>and</strong> Montague
deal with ‘the overwhelming problem ... <strong>of</strong> putting the monument back into the l<strong>and</strong>scape in which it
1 e.g. Spratt 1981. For similar approaches see Drewett et al. 1982, 208; Barnes 1982; Frazer 1983; Maxwell
1990; Corser 1994; Armit 1995, 479; Moore & Jennings 1992, 118.
2 Morrison 1985; Cross 1992, 28.
3 Perry & Davidson 1987. cf. Davidson 1979.
4 cf. Renfrew 1976.
5 Richards et al. 1990, 1-4.
6 Bradley, Entwistle & Raymond 1994, 102.
7 Op. cit., viii.
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