Before London

The idea that London had pre-Roman origins is considered, but dismissed for the want of evidence from both within and around the city. The pre-settlement landscape and topography of the region is described, tracing the course and character of the Thames and London’s other rivers including the lost Walbrook. The pre-history of the London basin is summarized, and London’s place in the emerging political landscape of late Iron Age Britain reviewed. It is concluded that the area where Roman London was established lay on the border of earlier polities and that the Thames constituted a boundary zone and relative backwater. The sites of pre-Roman farmsteads within this landscape are identified and described, including important settlements at Bermondsey and Southwark that may have been occupied at the time of the Roman conquest. It is speculated that London gained its Roman name and identity from these pre-Roman farmsteads on the south bank of the river, making it a place of Kent. The city itself was a Roman creation, made possible by the political unification of southern Britain through the force of conquest.

Recognition of Values of Traditional Villages in Southwest China for Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Liufang Village

With the implementation of China’s Rural Revitalization Strategy, more and more traditional villages have been developed. However, due to the lack of value awareness, many rural planning policies are unreasonable, and therefore, characteristics disappear. In the past, the value identification of traditional villages mostly stayed in the general value description, which was not enough to highlight the unique overall value of the village. From the perspective of the cultural landscape, taking Liufang village in Liping County of Guizhou Province as an example, this paper interprets the value of cultural landscape from the concept of “long-term interaction between human and nature,” and then carry out three value themes of “settlement landscape of Dong people in the low and middle mountain valley area,” “agricultural landscape and activities of Dong people under traditional rice farming,” and “spiritual landscape of Dong People’s beliefs, systems and customs”. Moreover, by interviewing local residents, this paper summarizes two aspects of Liufang village value consensus—traditional culture and landscape construction, as well as tourism development opportunities and challenges—and analyzes the relationship between them. The new attempt to identify traditional village’s value in this paper lies in the combination of object value and subject perception, which is more conducive to the scientific formulation of traditional village protection and tourism sustainable development strategy.

THE ERBIL PLAIN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY: PRELIMINARY RESULTS, 2012–2020

The Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey (EPAS) investigates settlement and land use from the Neolithic to the present in the Erbil Governorate of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which includes a large portion of the core of the Assyrian Empire. In seven field seasons, it has documented a broad settlement landscape in a region of great social and political importance, especially in the Bronze and Iron Ages, including 728 archaeological sites. Its field methodology combines traditional surface collection with the use of historical aerial and satellite photographs, mobile GIS, and UAV (drone) photogrammetry. Preliminary results show some unexpected patterns: a high density of culturally Uruk settlements in the fourth millennium B.C., variable urban morphologies in the Early Bronze Age; and large but low-density settlements at the end of the Sasanian period or the early Islamic period. The project is explicitly testing several hypotheses about centralized Neo-Assyrian landscape planning in the imperial core. These hypotheses appear to be confirmed, although the situation was more complex than in surrounding provinces, probably due to the longer history of continuous settlement.

Settlement, landscape and land-use change at a Pictish Elite Centre: Assessing the palaeoecological record for economic continuity and social change at Rhynie in N.E. Scotland

The first millennium AD was a transformative period when many of the medieval kingdoms of Europe began to take shape, but despite recent advances in palaeoecological and archaeological research there remains a shortage of interdisciplinary collaborative research targeting this period. For some regions we know relatively little about the societies who lived during this formative period. This current investigation focusses on an early medieval elite centre near to Rhynie in NE Scotland; an important power-centre during the fourth–seventh centuries AD as evidenced by a remarkable series of Class I Pictish symbol stones, fortified enclosures at Cairn more, Tap o’ Noth and the Craw-Stane, as well as high status metal-working and a range of continental imports from the Craw-Stane enclosure. However, by the end of the seventh century AD, elite focus appears to have shifted elsewhere with the Craw-Stane and Cairn More enclosures all being abandoned. By combining paleoenvironmental analysis with available historical and archaeological archives this paper provides new insights into societal change during the first Millennium AD, with focus on the economic, social and environmental impacts caused by the rise and subsequent abandonment of elite nodes of power. A calibrated age of AD 260–415, near the base of the core, coincides with the earliest dates for the Craw-Stane complex and pre-dates the construction of the nearby Cairn More enclosure. The results provide a rare snapshot of the Late Roman Iron Age to Medieval environment of Northeast Scotland. This centre appears to have been supported by a rich agricultural landscape, with evidence of pastoral and arable farming, and potential metal working. One of the most significant findings of this study has revealed that despite abandonment of these elite enclosed sites by the seventh century AD, people continued to utilise the surrounding landscape and available resources right through until modern times.

The Kurpie region. Transformation of settlement landscape until Poland’s accession to the European Union

The Kurpie region is among the most interesting ethnographic regions of Poland, with the center of the original, well-preserved and carefully cultivated folk culture of the Kurpie [ethnographic group of the Polish population]. The image of the Kurpie village resulted from centuries of human activity. Over the centuries, transformations of the landscape occurred. Activities that gave the area a modern appearance were based on adaptation of the natural environment for cultivation of land and gradual establishment of human settlements. The traditional folk culture developed by the Kurpie ethnographic group, as well as high value of the natural environment prompted research in the scope of transformation to open settlement landscape of the Kurpie region. The present study was aimed at investigating processes that determined the transformation to the natural and cultural landscape of the Kurpie region. The territorial scope of the present work covers the Kurpie region located between the Omulew and the Szkwa rivers. In the 15th century, the region was included in the Ostrołęka County and has remained there since then. The time scope of the study concerns the period from when first mention of the area being settled was made to the moment of Poland's accession to the European Union. The following research methods were adopted for the study: analysis of source literature and literature on the subject undertaken in the present work, historical analysis to cover the development of settlement in the studied area, comparative cartographic analysis in the field of settlement and landscape transformation, statistical analysis in the field of social and technical infrastructure. In the study, landscape and urban-rural inventory was also applied. The study structure covers issues related to formation and development of settlement in the Kurpie region: 1) the Kurpie region in scientific research, 2) the Kurpie region in folk culture, 3) the Kurpie region – an outline of settlement-agricultural functions, as well as landscape layout, 4) the Kurpie region – characteristics of the settlement landscape, 5) the Kurpie region – dominant changes to the landscape under the influence of socio-economic factors in the period of the 45 post-war years, 6) the Kurpie region – dominant modification to the landscape as influenced by socio-economic factors during the political system transformation in Poland.

The Nile Delta during the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods. Preliminary remarks on the evolution of settlement landscape

The 3rd millennium BC appears to be a key period of development of the historical settlement landscape in ancient Egypt. After the unification of the country, the process of disappearance of the predynastic socio-political structures and settlement patterns associated with them significantly accelerated. Old chiefdoms, along with their centres and elites, declined and vanished. On the other hand, new settlements emerging in various parts of the country were often strictly related to the central authorities and formation of the new territorial administration. Not negligible were climatic changes, which influenced the shifting of the ecumene. Although these changes were evolutionary in their nature, some important stages may be recognized. According to data obtained during surveys and excavations, there are a number of sites that were considerably impoverished and/or abandoned before and at the beginning of the Old Kingdom. On the other hand, during the Third and Fourth Dynasties some important Egyptian settlements have emerged in the sources and begun their prosperity. Architectural remains as well as written sources indicate the growing interest of the state in the hierarchy of landscape elements and territorial structure of the country.