Approaching prehistoric architectures of Western Europe from a ‘dwelling’ perspective
Vítor Oliveira Jorge (University of Porto, Faculty of Arts,
Cultural Heritage Department, Portugal), João Muralha Cardoso (Museum of the City of Lisbon, Portugal), and Gonçalo Leite Velho (Polytechnic Institute, Landscape Managment Department,
Tomar, Portugal)
email : vojorge@clix.pt
Far from being divided into natural (neutral objects) and built (intentional, cultural) forms, the environment is a product of a continuous evolution, or form-generation process (Ingold, 2000)*. Why did people in certain phases of prehistory engage in particular modes of dwelling in an environment which we call now `architectures´, devoting thereby a long lasting effort and energy in the transformation of certain features of that environment? In order to improve knowledge, from an archaeological point of view, we need to connect a phenomenology of those `architectonic devices´ made out of the landscape to an historic-sociological approach of the communities that built them. Detailed analysis, as survey and excavation, are much needed, but the very process of excavation is an interpretative one. This means that a permanent hermeneutic spiral occurs in the process of giving meaning to the materialities we uncover. We need fresh ways of looking into the so-called prehistoric architectures and this session will try to focus on these emerging approaches.
*Ingold, Tim. The Perception of the Environment. London, Routledge, 2000,
pp.172-188.
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