In recent decades, archaeological research in north-west Europe has developed a keen interest in the total landscape that was inhabited and used by man in ancient times. The present study of palaeo-landscapes constitutes an important contribution to the reconstruction of the morphology of protohistoric and Roman landscapes. By means of combined geo-archaeological methods and computer technology researchers from Ghent University have tried to understand the structure of pre-medieval landscape of northwestern Gaul. Intensive use of remote sensing techniques and the application of a Geographic Information System, combined with more traditional fieldwork and analysis, open the way to a new approach of man's delineated environment during the early formation stage of the European landscape. Although the authors have tested this new approach only in a restricted region of the Roman Empire, it can easily be applied in most other parts of the Classical World.
As such this well-illustrated book not only presents a detailed account of innovative investigations on early landscape structures in parts of modern France, Belgium and the Netherlands, it also procures a concise methodological contribution to early historical landscape research in general.