J.B. Ward-Perkins, the BSR and the Landscape Tradition in Post-War Italian Archaeology

Nothing has so characterized the British School at Rome's approach, from its inception, as the commitment to landscape archaeology in one form or another. This paper discusses the origins of this commitment in the work of Thomas Ashby, but focuses on the major contribution of J.B. Ward-Perkins and the South Etruria Survey. This survey is set in the context both of intellectual developments in landscape archaeology, and the specific circumstances of the BSR, and its Director, after the Second World War. The article traces the impact of this work on subsequent landscape archaeology.