Part of the debates in archeology series from Bloomsbury, this book looks at land use issues in Anglo-Saxon England, using research from archeological excavation, climate, and historical records. The author, Dr. Susan Oosthuizen (historic environment, U. of Cambridge, UK), divides the book into two sections: tradition and transformation. These roughly correspond to the two sides in a scholarly debate about continuity or change between Anglo-Saxon and Romano-British landscapes. One side believes the English medieval system of fields, villages, and lord was developed from the Roman occupation, the other from the Germanic tribes. The author suggests a third option: medieval open fields and common rights were inherited from indigenous Celtic or pre-Celtic land-use traditions going back thousands of years, and that what England looked like in the middle ages was a result of a negotiation between lords eager to manage their lands and traditions that a community's agricultural assets were collectively managed by the community. The book is written in a technical prose style in a somewhat academic English idiom. It has an extensive bibliography, and will be suitable for archeologists and medievalists whose focus is early England, both scholars and advanced students. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)