Tree Aesthetics at Holme I, Norfolk

Abstract

This paper explores how plant-human relationships can expand sensory experiences, both active and passive. In discussing the notions of exploring past senses and the ways in which the material world has shaped human perspectives, it is important to discuss the ways in which things—other than objects—may have influenced the creation of such perspectives. By arguing that plants have a deserved and unique form of agency, we can reconsider how plants (as living, active organisms) provide distinct experiences, both as plants and as materials. I define such experiences by considering the sensory and emotive aspects of plants and suggest that plants are active within inter-species relationships. We can see such roles at the site of Holme I, in Norfolk, UK, which provides an archaeological exploration of tree-human relationships at an early Bronze Age monument.