Over the next week or so I will be working on and off on an experiment using CryEngine2 to to investigate the views from the Bronze Age settlement at Leskernick, Bodmin made famous by the phenomenological musings of Barbara Bender (Bender et al 1997) as epitomised in her photographs of views "framed" from the doors of the prehistoric houses. Bender's work was critiqued by Chapman and Geary (2000) who pointed out that the ample evidence of past environment from the pollen record might suggest that vegetation, particularly Oak and Alder woodland, might have dramatically altered some of the views in antiquity. So, using a combination of GIS modelling of landscape and vegetation, and CryEngine2 for visualisation, I plan to re-explore Bender's views of Bronze Age Bodmin. BENDER, B, HAMILTON S, & TILLEY. C.1997. Leskernick: stone worlds: alternative narratives; nested landscapes. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 63: 147-78.
CHAPMAN H.P. & GEAREY B.R. 2000. Palaeoecology and the perception of prehistoric landscapes: some comments on visual approaches to phenomenology. Antiquity 74: 316–319.
