How natural are natural places? : challenging stereotypes in the interpretation of landscape in Iron Age Veneto, Italy

In this chapter I would like to present an alternative perspective on places that are somewhat underprivileged in the archaeological agenda and under-interpreted in the literature due to their lack of monumental structures or features (De Nardi 2007); these are places mostly characterised archaeologically by the chance, unsystematic recovery of objects pertaining to ritual, be it cult or burials. I will ask whether the locations of these 'archaeologically barren' locales are not part and parcel of their significance with or without structures to guide our interpretation of them"¦ and whether we are in fact walking on, exploring and navigating their material culture as soon as we step into the area.