Managing the Historic Rural Landscape

This book addresses the rapid changes taking place in countryside management and their effect on the cultural landscape. Written by archaeologists and ecologists, it examines areas of cooperation and conflict between the two professions, considers current problems and their solutions, and speculates on the prospects for archaeology in the countryside in the 21st century. "Agri-environmentalism" has been a buzzword since the Rio Environment Summit of 1992, but the impact of changes in policy-making reaches beyond the agriculture and ecology implied in the term, to embrace the cultural landscape. This volume outlines the changes that have taken place and reviews responses to them in the form of innovative land management systems. Contributors in government, private practice, and academia provide a lively and at times discordant discussion on the issues surrounding archaeology, nature conservation, and the social perception of the countryside.