Kate Cameron-Daum Books

An Anthropology of Landscape tells the fascinating story of a heathland landscape in south-west England and the way different individuals and groups engage with it. Based on a long-term anthropological study, the book emphasises four individual themes: embodied identities, the landscape as a sensuous material form that is acted upon and in turn acts on people, the landscape as contested, and its relation to emotion. The landscape is discussed in relation to these themes as both ‘taskscape’ and ‘leisurescape’, and from the perspective of different user groups. First, those who manage the landscape and use it for work: conservationists, environmentalists, archaeologists, the Royal Marines, and quarrying interests. Second, those who use it in their leisure time: cyclists and horse riders, model aircraft flyers, walkers, people who fish there, and artists who are inspired by it. The book makes an innovative contribution to landscape studies and will appeal to all those interested in nature conservation, historic preservation, the politics of nature, the politics of identity, and an anthropology of Britain.

Pebbles, typically found on beaches, take on a new significance when they extend inland to form ridges that touch the sky. This work presents a 4,000-year history of these unique stones, drawing from a four-year archaeological project in the east Devon Pebblebed heathlands, a geologically distinct UK landscape made entirely of water-rounded pebbles. Christopher Tilley argues that pebbles hold a unique place in both prehistoric and contemporary contexts, prompting a re-evaluation of continuity and change through the lens of long-term embodied relationships between people and objects. The book is divided into two parts: the first examines the prehistoric landscape from the Mesolithic to the end of the Iron Age, while the second analyzes the same area from the eighteenth century to the present. Tilley reveals key findings from the study, including archaeological discoveries like early Bronze Age cairns and the documentation of 829 surviving pebble structures. Additionally, he explores the landscape's influence on local economies and its current role as a military training site. This research has implications across various fields, including archaeology, cultural and art history, anthropology, conservation, and landscape studies.