The archaeology of Mediterranean landscapes: human-environment interaction from the Neolithic to the Roman period

This volume presents a comprehensive review of palaeoenvironmental evidence and its incorporation with landscape archaeology from across the Mediterranean. A fundamental aim of this book is to bridge the intellectual and methodological gaps between those with a background in archaeology and ancient history, and those who work in the palaeoenvironmental sciences. The volume also aims to provide archaeologists and landscape historians with a comprehensive overview of recent palaeoenvironmental research across the Mediterranean, and also to consider ways in which this type of research can be integrated with what might be considered 'mainstream' or 'cultural' archaeology. This volume takes a thematic approach, assessing the ways in which environmental evidence is employed in different landscape types. It presents analyses of how people have interacted with soils and vegetation, and revisits the key questions of human culpability in the creation of so-called degraded landscapes in the Mediterranean. It covers chronological periods from the Early Neolithic to the end of the Roman period.

IntroductionCharacterising the Mediterranean; Maritime Processes; Coastal Processes; Examples of Mediterranean Coastal Change; Higher-Energy Events; Pre- and Proto-Historic Coastal Exploitation; Coastal Exploitation: The Development of Ports and Harbours (Bronze Age Onwards); Early Ports and Harbours; Classical Coasts and Harbours; Controlling Permeability; 4 Rivers and Wetlands; Studying Mediterranean Rivers and Wetlands: Research Questions and Approaches; Characteristics of Mediterranean Rivers; Springs and Karst; Wetlands; Alluvial Geoarchaeology: People and Climate

Alluvial Landscapes and Farming in Anatolia and GreeceAspects of Alluvial Archaeology in Italy; Late Proto-Historic and Classical Alluvial and Hydrological Landscapes; Urban Alluvial Geoarchaeology: Glanum, Rome, and Gordion; Glanum; Rome; Gordion; Environmental Knowledge in Dynamic Alluvial and Wetland Zones; Human Engagements with Mediterranean Wetlands; Hydromythology; The Pontine Marshes: Roman 'Relationships' with a Wetland; Wetlands and Disease; Discussion: Responses to Hydrological Variability; 5 Environmental Change; Approaches and Research Questions; The Phytological Context

The Fall from EdenLandscape Change Around the Mediterranean; Anthropogenic and Climatic Impact: Views from Around the Mediterranean; Southern Mediterranean; The Near East; The Evidence for Soil Erosion; Anatolia and Greece; Some Anatolian Trends; Variability Across Greek Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Classical Landscapes; The Development of the Anthropic-Climatic Regime; People and Environment in Italian Landscapes; People and Environment in Southern French Landscapes; People and Environment in Spanish Landscapes; Variations in Vegetation Change Across Spain

Late Neolithic-Bronze Age Landscapes in SpainSite Catchments in Proto-Historic Spain; 6 Working and Managing Mediterranean Environments; Lifeways in Mediterranean Environments; Clearance, Terracing, and the Creation of the Sustainable Mediterranean Landscape; The Role of Fire; Agricultural and Productive Vegetation; Woodland and Landscape Management (Dehesa and Other Systems); Environmental Change and Social Geoarchaeology; The Sainte Victoire: Changing Patterns of Interaction with Environment; The Roman Watermill at Barbegal