THE MORTUARY LANDSCAPE OF THE 1ST–12TH CENTURIES: MAJOR RESEARCH QUESTIONS, APPROACHES AND METHODS IN THE HISTORY OF RESEARCH ON THE LATVIAN IRON AGE

In archaeology, landscape is studied as a cultural, social, and environmental process that simultaneously influences human thinking and is impacted by human actions. From such a perspective, the establishment of cemeteries, too, results from human choice with respect to the environment, engendering a specific mortuary landscape. This is, overall, a little-studied field in the history of research on the Iron Age in Latvia. Even so, a continuous development of ideas may be traced, both in terms of the broadening of the range of issues addressed, proceeding from basic description of the cemetery’s location to analysis of its significance in the landscape, and in terms of the growing diversity of approaches and methods employed, moving from simple observation of the surrounding area to interdisciplinary studies and various kinds of data analysis.