Human-derived landscape changes on the northern Etruria coast (western Italy) between Roman times and the late Middle Ages

Abstract

Anthracological analysis has been carried out in three sites located on the Tyrrhenian coast of central Italy (ancient northern Etruria: the castle of Donoratico, the town of Populonia and the port of Alberese), spanning between the Roman Republican Period and the Late Middle Ages (3rd century BC???13th century AD). The integrated comparison of three different local charcoal data with the regional pollen and microcharcoal data available from northern Etruria showed well that vegetation changes are completely independent of climate and strictly connected to economic and social dynamics characterising the history of this part of central Italy. Indeed, Quercus ilex forests progressively retracted from the 3rd century BC in favour of open macchia formations just during the growing human impact of the Romanisation when intensive agriculture and livestock grazing characterised the economic system. The transition from macchia to deciduous Quercus forest at the end of the Roman Period from the mid-4th to the mid-5th centuries AD and long lasting until the 9th???10th centuries AD was related to economic and cultural factors which led to a phase of land abandonment. Finally, between the 11th and 13th centuries AD, the vegetation cover shifted again towards an open macchia environment at the same time of a re-settlement phase well evidenced also by intensive orcharding. Charcoal data also showed that the expansion of olive and chestnut in central Italy only began in the Late Medieval Period (11th century AD) and not in the Roman Period. This means that extensive cultivation of chestnut and olive has very recent origins and should be attributed to one and the same macro-factor such as the set-up of the economic establishment of the feudal system and the later political organism of the Medieval town

Palaeoecology and long-term human impact in plant biology

“…It is not a coincidence that the proposal of this approach came from Italians: in Italy, hundreds of archaeological sites have detailed integrated pollen and macroremains studies (Mercuri et al 2014a), and off-site/on-site comparisons are more and more present in research programmes and papers (Fiorentino et al 2013;Bosi et al 2014b;Di Pasquale et al 2014). This kind of approach finds important examples in the north European tradition (Hjelle et al 2012, and references therein).…”

Dendrochronological evidence for long-distance timber trading in the Roman Empire

“…9–10; 30–15 BCE), indicates the characteristics that make silver fir particularly valuable: its light wood and a large, regular stem. Archaeological finds in Pompeii and Herculaneum confirm this, where silver fir was the most common construction timber [8], followed by oak wood, which is heavier than silver fir and has a less regular stem, especially in the case of trees from the Apennines [4]. However, oak is stronger, harder and much more durable than fir.…”

“…With this declaration, Pliny (23/24-79 CE) points out the value wood had for the Romans. Wood was important for any aspect of everyday life, ranging from the construction of buildings [1] to heating systems [2], and from shipbuilding [3] to metalworking [4]. In Latin, the distinction between firewood, lignum , and construction timber, materia , is indicative in this respect.…”

The furnace and the goat—A spatio-temporal model of the fuelwood requirement for iron metallurgy on Elba Island, 4th century BCE to 2nd century ce

“…It is widely supposed that a lack of fuel caused the abandonment of smelting on the island [ 21 , 23 , 34 , 35 , 43 – 53 ]. Other authors mention the role of deforestation and the scarcity of resources as leading to the decline of metallurgy on Elba Island as well as in Populonia [ 54 , 55 ]. These scholars mainly cite historical evidence to argue that a lack of fuel was the (main) driver of the decline of iron industries on Elba Island during antiquity.…”