Historic Landscape Characterisation in England and a Hampshire case study

This paper describes English Heritage's national programme of 'historic landscape characterisation' carried out by local government. Historic Landscape Characterisation is a new GIS-based archaeological method for defining the historic and archaeological dimension of the present-day landscape. It can explain how and why the landscape looks as it does, identify landscape's 'time-depth' and facilitate sustainable management. One of the earlier Historic Landscape Characterisation projects, in Hampshire, is presented as an example.