BRAUDEL, Ferdinand

(1902–1985)

   The influential French historian who employed the interdisciplinary techniques of economics, geography, and anthropology in the study of short- and long-term change, particularly in the Mediterranean area. These approaches became central to the Annales school, which he led. His seminal work, written from memory as a prisoner of war, was on the age of Philip II. His attempt to transfer this to the ancient world—Les Memoires de la Mediterranee or The Mediterranean in the Ancient World—was never published during his life and now appears old-fashioned and is much less successful. However, the influence of his work has been considerable on Anglo-American, Dutch, and now Italian landscape fieldwork and analysis, most notably on the field projects of Gubbio and Tuscania close to the Etruscan area. Another developing strand of Annales influence is on ancient historians such as Nicholas Purcell and Peregrine Horden, who have not yet covered the pre-Roman periods (or indeed much archaeology) in any detail.