Regional Vegetation Histories: An Overview of the Pollen Evidence from the Central Mediterranean

Kouli, Katerina; Masi, Alessia; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Sadori, Laura

doi:10.1163/22134522-12340053

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…The sites for the north are all but one from within the meso-Mediterranean and supra-Mediterranean zones, and all but three are located at medium and high elevation (>260 masl), while all samples for the south derive from the thermo-Mediterranean zone, and all but one are located at low elevations (most around 20 masl) ( Figure 1b, Supplementary Table 2, available online). The differences in the API can also (to some extent) be associated with the fact that most of the core locations in the north do not have any major settlements within their catchments, with the exception of the Orestias core that clearly records activity from the nearby settlement of Dispilió, with increased human activity during Neolithic, Hellenistic and Roman times (Kouli, 2015;Kouli et al, 2018;Mercuri et al, this volume). In contrast, most pollen core locations in the south are within regions for which archaeological remains suggest high human activity (if not specifically on site).…”

Section: Pollenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term trends of land use and demography in Greece: A comparative study

et al. 2019

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This paper offers a comparative study of land use and demographic development in northern and southern Greece from the Neolithic to the Byzantine period. Results from summed probability densities (SPD) of archaeological radiocarbon dates and settlement numbers derived from archaeological site surveys are combined with results from cluster-based analysis of published pollen core assemblages to offer an integrated view of human pressure on the Greek landscape through time. We demonstrate that SPDs offer a useful approach to outline differences between regions and a useful complement to archaeological site surveys, evaluated here especially for the onset of the Neolithic and for the Final Neolithic (FN)/Early Bronze Age (EBA) transition. Pollen analysis highlight differences in vegetation between the two sub-regions, but also several parallel changes. The comparison of land cover dynamics between two sub-regions of Greece further demonstrates the significance of the bioclimatic conditions of core locations and that apparent oppositions between regions may in fact be two sides of the same coin in terms of socio-ecological trajectories. We also assess the balance between anthropogenic and climate-related impacts on vegetation and suggest that climatic variability was as an important factor for vegetation regrowth. Finally, our evidence suggests that the impact of humans on land cover is amplified from the Late Bronze Age (LBA) onwards as more extensive herding and agricultural practices are introduced.

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Section: Pollenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term trends of land use and demography in Greece: A comparative study

et al. 2019

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“…In fact, the river has always represented the way for foreign populations (such as the Greek settlers) who were attracted to the lands for farming to access the territory. The sites of the coastal plain (5)(6)(7)(8), which all belong to the chora (rural territory) of the Greek colonial city of Metaponto, are located mainly on the first marine terraces a few meters above the plain, which is often subject to floods. The network of small farmhouses and rural villages along the Bradano river had a crucial role in setting up the local farming system and regiment the water course and its floods [71].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From a long-term perspective, human influence and then-depending on the time and space scale-impact have generated notable patterns of landscape complexity [3][4][5][6]. This is especially evident in the Mediterranean area, where, since ancient times, the continuous succession of different civilizations has had direct and indirect effects on the environment that led to changes in the vegetation cover [7][8][9]. Grazing is one of the most important factors determining patterns of vegetation in Mediterranean ecosystems [10][11][12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The History of Pastoral Activities in S Italy Inferred from Palynology: A Long-Term Perspective to Support Biodiversity Awareness

Florenzano

2019

Sustainability

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The present-day Mediterranean landscape is a result of the long-term human–environment–climate interactions that have driven the ecological dynamics throughout the Holocene. Pastoralism had (and still has) an important role in shaping this landscape, and contributes to maintaining the mosaic patterns of the Mediterranean habitats. Palaeoecological records provide significant multi-proxy data on environmental changes during the Holocene that are linked to human activities. In such research, the palynological approach is especially useful for detailing the complexity of anthropogenically-driven landscape transformations by discriminating past land uses and pastoral/breeding activities. This paper focuses on the palynological evidence for the impact of centuries of grazing on the vegetation of Basilicata, a region of southern Italy where animal breeding and pastoralism have a long tradition. A set of 121 pollen samples from eight archaeological sites (dated from the 6th century BC to the 15th century AD) and five modern surface soil samples were analyzed. The joint record of pollen pasture indicators and spores of coprophilous fungi suggests that continuous and intense pastoral activities have been practiced in the territory and have highly influenced its landscape. The palaeoecological results of this study provide us with better knowledge of the diachronical transformations of the habitats that were exposed to continuous grazing, with a shift toward more open vegetation and increase of sclerophyllous shrubs. The palynological approach gives insights into the vocation and environmental sustainability of this southern Italy region on a long-term basis.

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“…In this paper the role of palynology in investigating natural and human-forced changes of past environments is stressed. Although pollen analysis provides relatively local vegetation histories, these histories often record human-environmental dynamics on regional and superregional scales, as broadly shown in the Mediterranean [7][8][9][10][11]. We focus on the mid-late Holocene vegetation of the Argive Plain in the northeastern Peloponnese (from 4760 BP/2810 BCE to present).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mid-late Holocene vegetation history of the Argive Plain (Peloponnese, Greece) as inferred from a pollen record from ancient Lake Lerna

et al. 2022

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This study provides a high-resolution reconstruction of the vegetation of the Argive Plain (Peloponnese, Greece) covering 5000 years from the Early Bronze Age onwards. The well dated pollen record from ancient Lake Lerna has been interpreted in the light of archaeological and historical sources, climatic data from the same core and other regional proxies. Our results demonstrate a significant degree of human impact on the environments of the Argive Plain throughout the study period. During the Early Bronze Age evidence of a thermophilous vegetation is seen in the pollen record, representing the mixed deciduous oak woodland of the Peloponnesian uplands. The plain was mainly used for the cultivation of cereals, whereas local fen conditions prevailed at the coring site. Towards the end of this period an increasing water table is recorded and the fen turns into a lake, despite more arid conditions. In the Late Bronze Age, the presence of important palatial centres modified the landscape resulting in decrease of mixed deciduous oak woodland and increase in open land, partly used for grazing. Possibly, the human management produced a permanent hydrological change at Lake Lerna. From the Archaic period onwards the increasing human pressure in association with local drier conditions caused landscape instability, as attested by a dramatic alluvial event recorded in the Pinus curve at the end of the Hellenistic Age. Wet conditions coincided with Roman times and favoured a forest regeneration pattern in the area, at the same time as we see the most intensive olive cultivation in the pollen record. The establishment of an economic landscape primarily based on pastures is recorded in the Byzantine period and continues until modern times. Overgrazing and fires in combination with arid conditions likely caused degradation of the vegetation into garrigue, as seen in the area of the Argive Plain today.

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Regional Vegetation Histories: An Overview of the Pollen Evidence from the Central Mediterranean

Cited by 8 publications

References 65 publications

Long-term trends of land use and demography in Greece: A comparative study

Long-term trends of land use and demography in Greece: A comparative study

The History of Pastoral Activities in S Italy Inferred from Palynology: A Long-Term Perspective to Support Biodiversity Awareness

Mid-late Holocene vegetation history of the Argive Plain (Peloponnese, Greece) as inferred from a pollen record from ancient Lake Lerna

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