An Archaeology of Natural Places: Trees in the Early Modern Landscape

Nicola Whyte explores sixteenth- and seventeenth-century perceptions of trees as part of a rich and varied assemblage of natural and archaeological features, identified by contemporaries as surviving from the ancient past, that carried meaning in the present and for future generations. Trees were part of an intricate network of meaningful and symbolic places, including other natural and archaeological features, such as stones, earthworks, and boundary marks, which gave tangible context and substance to the organization and control of spatial jurisdictions and customary rights that characterized the early modern landscape. The importance of material relics of the past such as trees was recognized by elite and plebian people alike.