Multi-proxy record of environmental changes and past land use practices in a Mediterranean landscape: The Punta Mesco cape (Liguria - Italy) between the 15th and 20th century

This paper presents the first pedoanthracological study carried out on two mountains of the Northern Apennines, Monte Cimone, and Corno alle Scale, where the results provided new palaeoenvironmental data. The pedoantracological sampling followed an elevation gradient from the current timberline to the highest possible elevation, also adapted to the geomorphological characteristics of the study areas. Based on radiocarbon datings (16 at Monte Cimone and 9 at Corno alle Scale), the soil charcoal fragments provided data about the vegetation dynamics and plant landscape reconstruction, primarily indicating the Late Holocene. The landscape over the last 3000 years appears very similar to the current one with very small altitudinal variations of the timberline and treeline. The present study shows a lack of radiocarbon dates for the Middle Holocene and two hypotheses are discussed to explain this finding. Data suggest that past fires were locally linked to periods of climate optimum and possibly with the management of natural resources (especially animal grazing) by human societies. Some questions concerning the absence of Abies alba, today only present as plantation and normally associated with Fagus sylvatica at these latitudes, are discussed.

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“…This has already been observed previously in other European mountains (e.g. Davasse, 2006; Galop, 1998; Pescini et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Plant landscape reconstruction above the current timberline at the Monte Cimone and Corno alle Scale mountain areas (Northern Apennines, Italy) during the Late Holocene: The evidence from soil charcoal

et al. 2019

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“…From the pollen composition it is possible to picture the past vegetation and to document the climatic trend in a region and/or at an archaeological site (Geib & Smith 2008, Mercuri 2008, Mariotti Lippi et al 2009, Fyfe 2012, Grill et al 2013, Morales et al 2013, Fiacconi & Hunt 2015, Currás et al 2017, Melis et al 2017, Novák et al 2017, Pini et al 2017, Pescini et al 2018. Palynological studies in Sardinia are still rare, and applied mainly in archaeological contexts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Past environments of Sardinian archaeological sites (Italy, West Mediterranean Sea), based on palynofacies characterization

Pittau

Buosi

Scanu

2018

Acta Palaeobotanica

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A study method based on characterization of palynofacies (organic matter, palynomorphs) preserved in sediments was applied to obtain information about past environments of Sardinian sites. Organic matter (OM) was classified in ten categories according to its biological source, ecological characteristics, morphology and preservation state. These categories included woody and non-woody particles (cuticles, amorphous organic matter), phytoclasts, spores and pollen grains, gelified particles, and altered phytoclasts that ranged from transparent to opaque fragments. Cluster analysis classified the samples into associations. Each cluster includes stations with a similar spatial distribution pattern. The characterization of the different types of OM was coupled with palyno-logical analyses to produce suggested hypotheses about past vegetation, human activity and land use in Sardinia.

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“…Litter raking is recorded until after World War II in the foothills of the Italian Alps and the Cerbaie near the Monte Pisano (Piussi and Stiavelli 1986 ; Volta 1989 ). Until the 1960s chestnut leaves were raked for stable bedding in Liguria and the Apennines (Moreno 1990 ; Mathews, 2022 ) and pine needles were cut for fertilizer in Liguria (Pescini et al 2018 ). Whereas in Switzerland litter raking increased in the late eighteenth century and peaked in the 1930s, with a rapid decline after World War II (Gimmi et al 2008 ), litter raking in Italy may have a much longer duration, as demonstrated by sixteenth-century communal litter raking regulations in Liguria (Raggio 1992 , 1995 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfires as legacies of agropastoral abandonment: Gendered litter raking and managed burning as historic fire prevention practices in the Monte Pisano of Italy

Mathews,

Malfatti

2024

Ambio

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Agropastoral practices that historically reduced the flammability of Mediterranean landscapes are poorly understood due to state prohibitions and lack of scientific interest. Oral histories, analysis of agronomical writings, transect walks, and ethnographic study of fire managers and community members in the Monte Pisano of Italy, find legacies of traditional agropastoral practices in present-day landscapes. Forest leaf litter raking, largely carried out by women, combined with fire wood cutting and burning to greatly reduce fire risk. Historic stigmatization of traditional burning and ignoring gendered peasant labor have reduced contemporary scientists’ and fire managers’ understandings of ecological processes and of options for reducing fire risk. Fire managers in the Mediterranean, and in areas around the world affected by rural depopulation, would benefit from a better understanding of traditional agropastoral and fire management practices. Litter raking has been understudied outside Central Europe, is often gendered, and may have important ecological consequences around the world.

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Multi-proxy record of environmental changes and past land use practices in a Mediterranean landscape: The Punta Mesco cape (Liguria - Italy) between the 15th and 20th century

Cited by 7 publications

References 16 publications

Plant landscape reconstruction above the current timberline at the Monte Cimone and Corno alle Scale mountain areas (Northern Apennines, Italy) during the Late Holocene: The evidence from soil charcoal

Plant landscape reconstruction above the current timberline at the Monte Cimone and Corno alle Scale mountain areas (Northern Apennines, Italy) during the Late Holocene: The evidence from soil charcoal

Past environments of Sardinian archaeological sites (Italy, West Mediterranean Sea), based on palynofacies characterization

Wildfires as legacies of agropastoral abandonment: Gendered litter raking and managed burning as historic fire prevention practices in the Monte Pisano of Italy

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