Abstract

landscapes, Vol. 14 No. 1, June, 2013, 3–6 INTRODUCTION Landscapes and Scale: Some Introductory Thoughts Chris Gosden University of Oxford, UK The articles in this issue concentrate predominantly on one aspect of scale: the large scale. Such a concentration is in tune with a broader trend in British archaeology, which sees considerable research into, and thought about, the mass of data confronting us. Large data sets are in considerable part due to PPG 16 (with information brought together in the Archaeological Investigations Project and through the Archaeology Data Service), but also derive from national projects run through English Heritage, such as the National Mapping Programme and Historic Landscape Characterisation, and also the Portable Antiquities Scheme. All this somewhat new information joins the longer term archives held in the Historic Environment Records. Furthermore, much of the huge amount of archaeological information now potentially available is due to a lot of investment of both private and tax payer’s money, and it is incumbent upon us as a profession to think creatively about its uses. As Evans emphasises, many stories we tell about England’s past were generated when we had much less information. Do any of these narratives stand up to present