1,720,981 research outputs found
Historical Ecology, Archaeology and Biocultural Landscapes: Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to the Long Anthropocene
Full text linkFrom the local to the global scale, human impact is the real protagonist of the Anthro- pocene. It is impossible to understand ecosystems and the landscape without considering the long-term processes of anthropic activities. The driving forces in landscape change are strongly related to historical dynamics. Changes in political regimes, social structures, eco- nomic modes of production, cultural and religious influences—which all traditionally fall within the domain of the humanities—are phenomena entangled with many ecological and environmental factors. Thus, understanding landscapes in the Anthropocene is impossible without a cross-disciplinary approach
Vegetation series as a marker of interactions between rural settlements and landscape: new insights from the archaeological record in Western Sicily
Full text linkPlant communities are complex and dynamic elements of the landscape, intertwined with both natural factors and human activities. Vegetation series reflect the environmental characteristics of the landscape, but also the anthropic impact, one of the exogenous forces that most profoundly affects the landscape formation process. This paper aims to investigate the interactions between long-term human settlement catchment areas and vegetation series. The case study area of the Sicani Mountains (Central-Western Sicily) proved to be an ideal place to perform GIS-based spatial analysis in order to compare a data set of rural archaeological sites and land units created through the mapping of vegetation series. The existence of a causal link between vegetation series and human settlement patterns allows us, as well as future researchers, to find new explanations for the formation of the multifaceted Mediterranean rural landscape
Geobotanical approach to detect land-use change of a Mediterranean landscape: a case study in Central-Western Sicily
No full textA landscape is a palimpsest of the interactions between human activities and ecological dynamics. In an interdisciplinary perspective of dialogue between the ‘Two Cultures’ (Natural Sciences and Humanities), a study of a rural area has been carried out through a reading of plant ecosystems as signs of human impact. The purpose of this paper—as part of the project ‘Harvesting Memories’: Ecology and landscape archaeology of Castro/Giardinallo Valley and Mt. Barraù district (Corleone, Palermo, Sicily)—is to analyse the formative-processes of a Sicilian rural landscape and its changes in the last century. A key element in the reconstruction of the formation of the present landscape is the series of vegetation types which indicate the successive stages of different plant communities occurring in close relation with the human exploitation of natural resources (forestry, grazing, agriculture). An analytical frame for the landscape’s biography was generated through a diachronic comparison of images of the area in 1955 and the present day. The comparison in GIS of both spatial and typological changes in the different vegetation series, together with the calculation of a naturalness index Naturalness Evaluation Index, showed the trajectory the landscape (‘landscape-change map’) has undergone since the 1950s, with an increase in wooded and shrubbed areas and a reduction of pastures and cultivated areas
The settlement of contrada castro (Corleone, Palermo) between the Byzantine and Islamic Periods (7th-11th c. AD)
No full textSince 2015, a fruitful collaboration between a private bio-farm, Bona Furtuna LLC, the University of Palermo and the ‘Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA.’ has been established within the ‘Harvesting Memories’ project, which is focused on the study of long-term landscape transformations as a result of the diachronic interaction between human socio-economic patterns and environmental and ecological trends. The investigation of the site of Contrada Castro reveals new insights into the settlement dynamics before and after the first stage of the Aghlabid conquest of western Sicily, a real ‘dark age’ from the perspective of archaeological knowledge, especially in a rural area. The material culture, archaeozoological and archaeobotanical data have also indicated the high potential of the site for the reconstruction of economic and human-environment interaction trends of an early medieval community during the complex transition from the Byzantine to Islamic period
The Sicilian Countryside in the Early Middle Ages: Human–Environment Interactions at Contrada Castro
Full text linkWithin the project ‘Harvesting Memories: Ecology and Archaeology of Monti Sicani Landscapes’, this paper aims to reconstruct human–environment interactions in the inland areas of Western Sicily during the Early Middle Ages through a comparative analysis of environmental archaeological data. We analyse carpological and anthracological finds and faunal remains originating from different layers of the rural settlement of Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo), excavated in 2017–2019. The site was mainly occupied between the Byzantine and Islamic periods (late 8th to 11th c. AD). The examination of wood charcoal enabled the identification of plant species selected and exploited in the landscape of the site for each main chronological period. The archaeobotanical data indicated a precise, qualitative picture on the historical vegetation of this area, accompanied with the agricultural practices of the communities. The zooarchaeological data added further information on the reconstruction of rural economy and animal exploitation patterns. An integrated comparison of the characteristic landscape and the archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data presented the dynamics of agricultural strategy, wood exploitation, and management of animal resources of an early medieval rural community in Western Sicily
Historical Landscape Ecology of the Favorita Park in Palermo (Sicily)
No full textHistorical Landscape Ecology of the Favorita Park in Palerm
Harvesting memories project: ricognizioni archeologiche nelle contrade Castro e Giardinello e nell’area di Monte Barraù (Corleone, Palermo)
No full textThe “Harvesting Memories” project (funded by Bona Furtuna LLC) is focused on the long-term Transformation of the cultural landscape in the central part of the Alto Belice Corleonese (Central-Western Sicily). In particular, we surveyed the area of Contrada Giardinello, Castro Valley and the western slopes of Monte Barraù (Corleone, Palermo). The fieldwork led to the identification of 12 sites featuring pottery concentrations spanning from Protohistory (Middle Copper Age/Aeneolithic and Bronze Age), Classic period, Middle Ages/Arab-Norman period to the Late Modern period and 4 areas with dry-stone structures related to the Late Modern Age pastoral activities. This report represents the first step of a research aimed at using a holistic approach to explain the diachronic dynamics of the human occupation and the landscape ecology
The Harvesting Memories Project: Historical ecology and landscape changes of the Sicani Mountains in Sicily
Full text linkThe Harvesting Memories project aims to investigate the historical landscape dynamics in an inner area of the Sicani Mountains district in Western Sicily (Contrada Castro, Corleone-Palermo). The interdisciplinary approach of the project allowed us to combine and integrate methods from different disciplines such as historical ecology, landscape archaeology, archaeobotany and GIS-based spatial analysis. In this paper some results have been summarized. The comparison between land mosaic change during the last 60 years, the relationship between site catchment area and land suitability and the correlation between archaeobotanical and phytosociological data. This approach underlined the relevance of the historical ecology for understanding landscape trajectories and planning strategy of suitable development of rural areas
Long-term human occupation of a rural landscape in central-western Sicily (Castro/Giardinello valley and mt Barraù): Harvesting memoires project case study
Full text linkThe “Harvesting Memories” project focuses on the study of long-term landscape transformations as a diachronic result of the interaction between socio-economic human patterns and environmental and ecological trends in a rural area of Central-Western Sicily. The aim of this paper is to present the results of the archaeological survey carried out in Castro/Giardinello Valley and the Mt. Barraù area (Corleone, Palermo). The fieldwork confirmed the long occupation of this area characterized by archaeological evidences dating to the Middle Copper Age/Eneolithic, Bronze Age, Classical period, Middle Ages and Late Modern age. The detection of the high intensity of human presence in this area across the time represents a fruitful point of start for future investigations aimed to correlate historical land use, ecological factors and settlement patterns
LONG-TERM OCCUPATION OF A MEDIEVAL RURAL SETTLEMENT IN SICANI MOUNTAINS (C-W SICILY): NEW DATA FROM CONTRADA CASTRO (CORLEONE, PALERMO)
Full text link- …
