On Contested Taskscapes

Routledge eBooks, pp. 29–49

Abstract

This chapter presents a theoretical debate on the importance of considering the political aspects in the concept of landscape and particularly in the concept of taskscape. The author uses Ingold’s notion of “taskscape” and Bender’s notion of “contested landscape” to create the unified concept of “contested taskscape” to articulate the complexity of the archaeological record with the abstract definitions of landscape. Yet, in order to define a clear methodological frame to relate the material record and the definition of landscape, Herrera Malatesta presents a discussion on the notion of the archaeological site, which also takes him to define a more appropriate term to articulate site with taskscape. In this sense, his chapter aims to contribute to global debates on landscape research and cultural transformations in archaeology by developing two methodological concepts—“sites as tendencies” and “contested taskscapes.”

Authors 1

1. Eduardo Herrera Malatesta corresponding Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University