H I S TO R I C A L C O N T E X T O F L A N D S C A P E A R C H I T E C T U R E
Dawn of Early Human Habitation on the Land A history of designed landscapes begins with human adaptive habitation and activities on the land. Early human modifications of their environment to better accommodate agriculture and basic living activities were minimal with no appreciable legacies such as structures or land modifications. Early societies were composed of nomadic hunter–gatherers, engaged in the day-to-day survival of living off the land. As the populations of the early human societies outgrew a nomadic approach to survival, agriculture with its requirement to manage and alter the landscape created a new relation of people to the landscape. Agriculture led to permanent place-making and practical adaptations of the land, creating patterns of use to maximize agricultural productivity and accommodate commercial activities. The human–landscape relationship was one of humans working with the landscape (early application of environmental determinism) based on their knowledge and understanding of seasonal events and harnessing the productive capacity of the land to support agriculture and to meet other needs such as providing safe shelter. The Bandelier National Monument in the state of New Mexico was home to the ancestral Pueblo People from the twelfth to the early seventeenth centuries, situated in a deep river valley with agricultural activities located within the flood plain, where the presence of rich soil and water would support crops (Figure 4.1). The summer habitation of the residents was located safely in the higher ground above the flood plain. At the onset of winter, the inhabitants relocated in dwellings carved out of the side of south-facing slopes (an advantageous location for receiving heat gain). Human use and habitation of the landscape exhibited regional expression where a society’s activities and methods varied according to the potential or limitations of
Figure 4.1 Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico, an early Pueblo People settlement. 69
