"Spirit of Place" as Process: Archaeography, Dowsing and Perceptual Mapping at Belas Knap

Authors: Graves, Tom; Poraj-Wilczynska, Liz

Source: Time and Mind, Volume 2, Number 2, July 2009 , pp. 167-193(27)

Publisher: Berg Publishers

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Abstract:

"Spirit of place," or genius loci, is both an abstract concept and a profoundly personal experience of relationship with place. Each place and district and region has its own characteristics, both explicit and implicit, that make it "locally distinctive," to use the term coined by the English charity Common Ground. As such, it provides a rich seam of interest for archaeography— archaeology's artistically-oriented cousin.

Using examples from a long-term archaeography project at and around the Belas Knap long-barrow in south-west England, this paper explores an approach in which, by combining the formal rigor of archaeology with disciplines from a variety of other sources, "spirit of place" can be transformed from metaphor to method, yielding not only new insights about past and present, but also concrete archaeological evidence about habitation and use.

Keywords: ARCHAEOGRAPHY; SPIRIT OF PLACE; SENSORY ARCHAEOLOGY; ART; METHODOLOGY; SUBJECTIVE INVESTIGATION

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.2752/175169709X423673

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