Making a landscape sacred - L Nixon

This book examines the landscape in southwestern Crete from AD
1000-2000, using a phenomenological approach. Specifically, the
positioning of outlying churches (exokklisia) and icon stands
(eikonostasia) around Sphakia is looked at, in terms of spatial
and social reasoning. What is certainly clear, is that people
choose the location of sacred buildings particularly carefully,
so the locations themselves cannot be seen as random. Routes,
resources and boundaries are all factors but primarily these
locations are symbolic: such monuments mark, protect and preserve
the memory of significant locations in the landscape.