To tree, or not to tree? On the Empirical Basis for Having Past Landscapes to Experience.

This article provides an overview of some of the complex issues involved in reconstructing and visualizing past landscapes. It discusses the importance of empirical data and introduces some of the terminology necessary for understanding methods which are often considered more in the domain of the natural sciences than humanities. Current methods and practices are put in the context of environmental archaeology, archaeological theory and heritage management as well as related, briefly, to the broader context of archaeological theory, practice and research data infrastructure. Finally, some examples and pointers for the future are given in the hope that the article may provide a point of reference for those looking to gain an entry point into the study of past landscapes, and understand their relevance in archaeological visualisation. Aims Our intention with this point of view paper is to help refocus an increasingly abstract and theoretically orientated Digital Humanities (DH). We will present a critical perspective on some of the problems and potentials relating to the visualisation of past (primarily non-urban) landscapes, with particular emphasis on the use of empirical evidence, from a combined environmental and archaeological point of view. We will outline some of the major challenges associated with reconstructing past landscapes from data, and give some examples of recent attempts to create platforms for addressing some of these issues. We will also briefly discuss the importance of landscape visualisation in the context of heritage management.

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