Introduction to Part One European and Asian Landscapes Only een thousand years have pased since the frst stements appeated in the Neat Eastcenfoothils, «shore duration in human evolution. In those ter mille Din human ealre has evolved fiom occupying a tentative place in the land= trol over many of it environmental clements. In the process reepible cycle in which culeural eMlorescence preceded social ine, often the result of economic expansion reaching the in stainabilty. All of these achievements and failures—the ag ‘nd eatly modern phases of landscape utilization —have had ‘ow wer tf contemporary individuals, perceive and utilize the ‘Wihin this broad framework of events, we will examine two aspects of Thuan uelzation of the environments in the Near East, Europe, and Asia tha ‘une ts to form conclusions about landscape bistory. The first has to. do wit fhow and why humans have shaped the landscape over the millennia, and how Certain valuct inlueneed the use of particular technical strategies over others The second aspect has to do with perception—or idealization of the landscape, selfs fanedon of human values relative to time and place. Together these as pees stimulated societies to create pattems in the landscape, public and privat, ar over time have created a ich layering of form and meaning in the Ero Dean ancl Asin regions. Each of these layers is stamped with exemplary evidence Pema endeavor, well 3 sense of how Fir a culture could expand before the eovitonment liited is advancement, In the European Region~-by which we mean here the lands surrounding the Mediterranean bain, including the Near East and continental Europe—time tind human activity define several broad periods of landscape development. The Ent phate prehitory, the period of human activity through the end of the fost cent lee Age, 9200 BLC., during which hurans had a minimal impact inthe structure and function of te landscape. The second phase i the petiod of agricultural civilizations, begining with the small communities in the up- hand of southwestern Asia and conchiding with the beginning of industrial ‘dom is Wester Europe in 1400 A/D. The third phase includes the period of t= ‘ustiahzaton and rapid utbanization in che West, the emergence of national politcal eyions an the influence of the Renaisance, Baroque, and Romant fosters, This phase corresponels to a peti dwhen the "idea of landscape— iandicape as an economic and aesthetic entity—prevailed in Western Europe The fou and lst phase inchades the period Irom the wide oF the nineteenth Tenmury to the preset, when changes in science, politics, and art altered the way sve currently view and affect the landscape Tn centel and eastern Ata, human activity in the landscape produced seilar phaet of apeion and development. The two dominant cultural influences inMIGRATION AND ADAPTATION AGRICULTURAL CIMUZATIONS, the sepion are India and China, wth Southesst Asa Japan, and Kerea adding Sigua to the cultural bc. By the fr century B.C. the appeanince of Specular sedements in cent an wortera nda ad jn he allava reas be tween the Yellow and Vangie Rivers in China provided the foundation for tisance phases of landxape development. Beginning with the Indus civilization, Tn sustained a succesion of cultural phases marked by a persistent agricultural foci tary Chinese culture adapeed to dynasbie rule and maintained a feodal fagcullual «stem, founded on ecient oodconttol and ination srategies ‘During ths protracted agricultural period, hoth India and China achieved remarkable levels of liniheape design and expresion. From the twelfth co the Sixteenth centuries A.D. Mughal nuence sa India resulted in the elegan gr dene nthe northem haifa te region, while the influence ofthe fourtcenth to Seventeenth centuries A.D. Ming dyauty in Cina produced significant adi Tonal garden design ss wells cty pln, In the fst millennium B. cast Ada began ca mainenn cites independent of China, namely Vietnam and ambodia present-day Campuches), the Iter signiBeane forthe extensive Khmer architecture and lanseapes st Angkor herween the moth and fourteenth Cent AD othe ene oe ita etre AD. apn pe ey of architecture aad landicapearchitectre, reetng ee influence of song Piling clans and the presence of Buddhism and Shintousm. For all regions — Indi’ China, Japan, and Southease Asan industs phase simular to that of the West appeared inthe nineteenth century and contindes co the present Before settlements began to appear inthe foothills of the Near Fast Europe, and Ashman went trou + peed of dow adaption othe nape, The oder individuals Pav of thee evolutionary advances stemmed fom etviron~ imental changes many of which induced Turon to mugpate fom the Affcan Content ings region of Asa and Europe. By 300,000 BP humans existed i snost ofthe lndicapes in these regions, moowy in favorable Habits south of she Fchinologialy carly humans wer limited in thei ringe of achie stitable for hunting, gathering, and prime camp building, Even with thes tlevices, humans asured themselves ofa reasonable supply of protein, mostly de fived from the herds of migating minal that foraged on the continens. To a feat dogres twas the hubit and avalbity of Unese great hers that kept ho fhans fom cstblshing permanent setlemens an accesable source of protein, Iheie on the move, selected agains 2 sedentary existence. Not unt ¢ Permanent settlemens, based on agricultual economics, became the vehicle for human advancement, TThe earliest planned landscapes in the Near East, including gardens, town spaces, and parks, appeared in Mesopotamia during the Sumerian, Assyrian, and fneo-Babylonian periods, The Sumerians maintained small gardens as 3 compl ment to ther larger agriculeural holdings. They uized imgation and drainage techniques to ase adequate food praduction inthe lower Tiges-Eupheates re fon. The Asyrians, who ruled Mesopotamia fiom 1250 to 612 B.C., intro- dhiced the concept of private parks into the Middle East, notably the hunting parks of the various kings. These gardens contained omamental plants brough co the region during Asytian expeditions to foreign lands and were watered by elaborte irigition systems. The neo-Babylonians (612-589 B,C.) teinsti- tuted the Babylonian culture in southern Mesoporaiia and ding t Nebuchadnesar I and Il, built slaborate se for is broad avensies and its fabled ha cates tht these gardens ments, sachiding Babylon, noted ng gatdens. Recent scholarship ind Laborate terraced spaces, enclved by hgh wal Which created the appearance of plants hovering above the ground. When the Persians invaded the region in 839 B.C. they borrowed many of the tenty, Throughout the Mesopotamian era the landscape was constanty de eed by excenive igo which came sity ofthe so pd aap in In the Nile Vale, small agricultural sclemens gradually coalesced into a Kingston undce Menes (6. 3201 B.C), who unified Upper and Lower Egypt dino one society. For thee dhowsandl year agriculture was the prnary activity of the Egyptian society. Because the Nile deposited precious sks along its banks eich yetr, thereby ssring decent agricultural yield, the Egyptians were abl The Egyptiats ao wtilizedisgation techniques to convey wate t thet felch located on levees abo the river though thee particule srategy, basin ign approach vas sufficient to allow the state to maintain lange temple state the ‘rious pharaohs maintained their own elaborate landings. where zardens added to the weil of their dynasties. tes inact Tamely merchants and bureacrsts, ako owned ekg homes. Mat Soller estates included enclosed gardens, symmetaclly ranged, and detailed ‘ith formal pools and grover offi ad palin trees During the New Kingdom {i567—1085 B.C.) Fayptan rlers including Rupees Il ordered the urban provement of Thebes. including the planting of papyrus and ares, the Nie Sela sitar improvertens occurred with the planting of vineyards, lots, and ppyrus, andthe consmaction of shaded walk, lined wath exotic pans imported Fon focien "As the Egyptian culture began to wane by the fourth century BLC., Greek and Roman societies controlled the quality of landscape utiltation in the Mediverancan region. The Greeks were les expansive, agriculturally, than thie Near Esser and Egyptian predecessors te peography oF the Greek mainland which, conssed of imnumerable mountains, hil, and valleys intersected by small drainage channel nd arable pln, simply favored smalscale agicultue 2etivity. Nevertheless, by carfly fang the sal pls that surrounded thei olaed communities, the Crk produced saficientagsicultural prodice. Wo cessor: rudimentary dans and ieigation elements were pare of the Greek arc Caleurl tateay. The Greeks abo smproved heir wan areas with groves snd orchas epee at Athen anda sera ts They were able tose ste working wath the prevaling contours of the land. Gutscmding examples of Greck hind-plnning sesthaty exist ¢ Delph, Corinth, Athens, and Svat The Roman, note! for their amxaos pola expansion, commanded the epee Medea ein by ah i emu AD» Tho stg nde Rome and the other major Roman cies. The Nile, North Affica, Asta Minor, southern France, and Span al yielded vase agricultural outputs, lending o rapid deterioration of arable landscapes. Mostly this was arsul of intensive sical tural practices, and the clearing of forests for new agricultural lands. Leptas