Sourcebook for Garden Archaeology

Amina-Aïcha Malek is researcher at the CNRS laboratory « Archéologies d’Orient et d’Occident et textes anciens » (AOROC) of the École Normale Supérieure (UMR 8546 CNRS-ENS) in Paris, France. Special Garden Archaeology Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks from 1999 to 2002, she has collaborated to several garden excavations, such as the Petra Pool and Garden Project in Jordan, and the garden at the Villa Arianna in Stabiae and the garden of Horace’s Villa in Licenza, Italy. She is co-founder and current vice-chair of the Society for Garden Archaeology.

• Contents: Didier Wirth: Preface – Amina-Aïcha Malek: Gardens for Archaeologists – Amina-Aïcha Malek: Preamble. What do Archaeologists Look for when Looking for Gardens? – Kenkichi Ono/Amina-Aïcha Malek: Garden Archaeology in Japan – Amina-Aïcha Malek: Wilhelmina F. Jashemski and the Gardens of the Roman Empire – Amina-Aïcha Malek: Christopher Taylor and British Garden Archaeology – Amina-Aïcha Malek: American Garden Archaeology and the Chesapeake Bay – Amina-Aïcha Malek: Conclusion – Kathryn L. Gleason/Mark P. Leone: Apprehending the Garden: Non-destructive Approaches to Detecting Gardens – Bruce Bevan/Rinita Dalan: Geophysical Exploration of Gardens – Lawrence B. Conyers: Ground-penetrating Radar Exploration and Mapping Techniques for Garden Archaeology – Kathryn L. Gleason: Special Considerations in Excavating a Garden – Kathryn L. Gleason: Detecting and Documenting. Archaeological Features of a Garden through Excavation – Kathryn L. Gleason: Coordinating the Study of Environmental Remains in the Garden Soils – Kathryn L. Gleason/Michele Palmer: Synthesis & Interpretation: The Garden as a Built Environment – Kathryn L. Gleason/Michele Palmer/John E. Foss: Glossary – John E. Foss: Garden Soils – Mark Horrocks: Macroremains of Plants – Eberhard Grüger: Microbotanical Remains: Pollen Analysis – Mark Horrocks: Phytoliths – Hiram Larew: Invertebrates: Insects – James L. Wescoat Jr.: Water and Waterworks in Garden Archaeology – Stefano De Caro/Wilhelmina F. Jashemski: Physical Evidence of the Garden. A. The Gardens of Pompeii and the other Vesuvian Sites – Elizabeth Kryder-Reid: B. The Physical Evidence of the American Garden – Wilhelmina F. Jashemski: Cultural Elaboration of Nature. A. Interpreting the Gardens of Pompeii – Elizabeth Kryder-Reid: B. Interpreting the American Garden – Giorgio Galletti: Preservation, Conservation, and Garden Archaeology – Giorgio Galletti: Experiences in Garden Archaeology – Christopher Currie: Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens, West Midlands, England, UK – Brian Dix: The Gardens at Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire, England, UK – Paul Everson: Stow Park, Lincolnshire, England, UK. Palace and Hunting Park of the Medieval Bishops of Lincoln – Anne Allimant: The Garden of Vallery, Yonne, France – Michel E. Fuchs/Jacques Monnier: Vallon/Sur Dompierre, Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland – Wilhelmina F. Jashemski: The Courtyard Garden in the House of Bacchus and Ariadne at Thuburbo Maius, Zaghouan, Tunisia – Wilhelmina F. Jashemski: The Garden of Hercules at Pompeii, Campania, Italy – Kathryn L. Gleason: The «Villa of Horace» at Licenza, Latium, Italy – Dorota Sikora: Branickis’ Garden in Bialystok, Podlaskie, Poland – Leigh-Ann Bedal/Lawrence B. Conyers/John E. Foss/Kathryn L. Gleason: The Petra Garden and Pool-Complex, Ma’an, Jordan – Dominique Beyer: Sacred Gardens in the Old Town of Emar, Meskene, Syria – Abdul Rehman: Garden of Hasan Abdal (Wah Garden), Punjab, Pakistan – Elizabeth B. Moynihan: The Mahtab Bagh, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India – Hongxun Yang: The Palace Garden of the Nanyue State, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China – Kenkichi Ono: The Garden at Block 6, East Second Ward on Third Street At the Nara Capital Site, Nara Prefecture, Japan – Mark Horrocks/Robert B. Rechtman: Ancient Gardening in the Kona Field System, Island of Hawai, US – Christian Isendahl: Maya Urban Gardens at Xuch, Campeche, Mexico – Payson Sheets: The Gardens of Ceren, El Salvador – Barbara J. Heath: Landscape Archaeology at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, Virginia, US – Mark P. Leone: William

«Il n’est pas permis de douter que ce riche ouvrage saura trouver son public : étudiants et professionnels de l’archéologie profiteront de sa qualité en termes de contenu et de conceptualisation (cet ouvrage remplit sa fonction de manuel), en termes de présentation formelle (l’objet est beau, les planches couleurs sont de qualité) et de style rédactionnel (les traductions de langues étrangères vers l’anglais sont bonnes). Pour les chercheurs des jardins non archéologues, issus de l’histoire ou de l’histoire de l’art par exemple, les aspects techniques et méthodologiques pourront être maîtrisés grâce à la didactique soignée de l’ouvrage ; mais peut-être que les éléments théoriques concernant les diverses approches du jardin dans le monde seront plus intéressants encore pour eux. En tous les cas, l’exhaustivité de l’ouvrage, associée à sa philosophie générale (proposer des modèles et encourager la nouveauté), doit promettre un rôle décisif à ce Sourcebook dans la diffusion des « sciences des jardins ».»(Ilse Hilbold, Histara - les compte rendus 2015)Read the full review here