Julie Satchell

'Two Women in a Boat: some considerations of a maritime landscape'

This paper will consider aspects of a maritime landscape initially centred around the Viking ship burial of Oseberg, Norway. The use of theoretical perspectives to provide new perspectives on landscape will then be addressed, particularly how people interact with and experience space.

The Viking ship burial at Oseburg is part of a landscape system with inextricable maritime links. Traditional interpretations have concentrated on art history of the artefacts and the functional and technical aspects of the burial and the craft inside. However, theoretical ideas utilised in other areas of archaeology, sociology and psychology can help to bring new interpretation and understanding to the utilisation and conceptualisation of space from physical and mental perspectives. The application of these to the Oseberg context is outlined.

Of particular interest are aspects of space, analysing it to try to appreciate how it is influenced by and influences those that inhabit it. This includes divisions, what can be seen or is hidden from certain view points, or how bodily movement is restricted or channelled by the manipulation of space.

The implications of these approaches to the practice and recording of maritime landscapes in the field is then considered with specific reference to ongoing work on the river Hamble, Hampshire.