Landscape and temporality are the major unifying themes of archaeology
and social-cultural anthropology. This paper attempts to show how the
temporality of the landscape may be understood by way of a 'dwelling
perspective' that sets out from the premise of people's active, percep
tual engagement in the world. The meaning of 'landscape' is clarified
by contrast to the concepts of land, nature and space. The notion of '
taskscape' is introduced to denote a pattern of dwelling activities, a
nd the intrinsic temporality of the taskscape is shown to lie in its r
hythmic interrelations or patterns of resonance. By considering how ta
skscape relates to landscape, the distinction between them is ultimate
ly dissolved, and the landscape itself is shown to be fundamentally te
mporal. Some concrete illustrations of these arguments are drawn from
a painting by Bruegel, The Harvesters.