Archaeology from the Ploughsoil - Studies in the Collection and Interpretation of Field Survey Data - Colin Haselgrove
8. Settlement, Economy or Behaviour? Micro-regional Land Use Models and the Interpretation of Surface Artefact Patterns
Archaeology from the Ploughsoil - Studies in the Collection and Interpretation of Field Survey Data - Colin Haselgrove
Christopher Gaffney
School of Archaeological Sciences University of Bradford
Vince Gaffney
Martin Tingle
Description
The application of the 'off-site' approach to survey is investigated in the context of detailed survey of a Romano-British landscape in Berkshire. The authors criticise previous approaches to the reconstruction of behaviour patterns through survey, and in particular demonstrate the limitations of methods like Site Catchment Analysis which over-simplify data. The off-site data from Berkshire are used to reconstruct the activities associated with a Roman villa and to show the potential of this method. Stress is laid on the complexity from detailed field survey which, nevertheless, yields information of very considerable potential.