Chorography, phenomenology and the antiquarian tradition

This article takes a critical look at claims that Landscape Phenomenology owes an ancestral debt to the work of early antiquarians; a belief that is in danger of becoming an orthodoxy through casual repetition. Through an exploration of the inherent tensions that arise when attempts are made to link pioneering empiricists (who in many senses embodied the Baconian experimental science of the seventeenth century) and Landscape Phenomenology (that positions itself in direct opposition to this enlightenment project) it is argued that rather than antiquarian practices pre-empting or anticipating those of Landscape Phenomenology, the nagging sense that the two are in some way connected derives from their shared reliance upon practices that are best described as chorographic. Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2011.