Landscapes of Movement
Trails, Paths, and Roads in Anthropological Perspective
Trails,
paths, and roads are the manifestation of human movement through the landscape,
and are central to an understanding of that movement at multiple scales.
Archaeologically, however, the study of these features – as indicated
by their physical presence and by objects arrayed along them - presents
conceptual and empirical difficulties. Recent archaeological approaches
combine extensive regional surveys and remote sensing
with landscape approaches that draw upon ethnography and ethnohistory.
In the process we are developing a better understanding of infrastructure,
social, political and economic organization, cultural expressions of patterned
movement, and the ways that trails, paths, and roads materialize traditional
knowledge and engineering, worldview, memory, and identity. This
symposium will emphasis the critical balance between empirically-based
research and nuanced cultural understanding, collectively representing
a dramatic new direction in the study of landscapes and human society.
Participants & Areas of Research