ABSTRACT
The term ‘landscape’, however, is also frequently used to describe the combined natural and cultural features of an area, recognising that humans frequently modify natural landscapes, sometimes subtly and sometimes dramatically. A key element of landscape archaeology involves trying to identify and understand archae ological patterning linked to how people used different parts of a landscape, and how this may have changed through time. Landscape approaches also sometimes entail investigation of not only physical environments, but also the social or cultural landscapes in which people lived. If the objective of a landscape approach is to understand human activity beyond the ‘site’, then exploring what a landscape meant to people is as important as understanding the effects of taphonomy on site preservation. A field survey designed solely to find rock art sites, for instance, would adopt very different methods to one focused on finding historical artefacts within the same landscape.
