Landscape and Culture in Northern Eurasia: An Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the life-ways and beliefs of the indigenous peoples of Northern Eurasia. It contributes ethnographic, ethnohistoric and archaeological case studies stretching from Fennoscandia, through Siberia, and into Chukotka and the Russian Far East. The book generates a range of ethnographic parallels which direct attention to the relationship between social activity, material culture and landscape. It explores the spatial organisation of higher-latitude routine and ritual practices and the social and symbolic roles played by objects and vernacular architecture. The book demonstrates how cultural landscape research can provide foundations for a new phase in circumpolar studies. It encourages increased international collaboration between archaeologists, ethnographers and historians, and opening out new directions for archaeological investigation of spirituality and northern landscape traditions.