Les cultures temporaires, entre longue durée et chronologie fine (Montagne ligure, Italie)

The Archeology of Woodland Ecology: Reconstructing Past Woodmanship Practices of Wooded Pasture Systems in Italy

“…As we will see in following section, wooded pasture and meadows-as directly documented in the descriptions of many wooded parcels in 1822 in Vara Valley-are currently involved in the exploitation of individual, scattered small fields, setting a temporary form of minor cereal crop growing (based on the controlled fire practice called "ronco"). This temporary agriculture practice [26] must not be confused with the slash-and-burn agriculture systems, as frequently occurs in archeological and geographical literature. The right to set up the temporary field ("roncare, campeggiare") in the wooded commons is part of a regular cycle of cultivation treatments and practices, in which the crop itself is not the more important product; the main goal is to control the excess of organic substance and the invasions of shrubs and non-palatable herbaceous species due to intense grazing.…”

“…These descriptions (called "Consegne") were transcribed by a notary chancellor, had a legal value, and were collected in the agenda for the formation of a Forest Inventory in charge to the Forest Administration of the Kingdom of Sardinia. The Consegne are textual source type that in recent years have provided historical ecology research in the NW Apennines with a reliable sample of hundreds of wooded parcels with the opportunity to localize them and assess the precise environmental content of the site [26,27]. As commonly attested in this type of documents, the language of the oral answers interacts poorly and confusingly with the form and terms proposed by the administration's questionnaire.…”

“…The Archeology of Woodland Ecology: Reconstructing Past Woodmanship Practices of Wooded… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86101 "bosco arborato," and "boscaglia arborata"-produce wood assortments employing practices that characterized high-standard forest management [26]. These four wood types were composed of pure or mixed populations of beech and oak (especially Turkey oaks), each subjected to a cutting/harvesting practices; a selective cut of every chosen single tree with a cut cycle estimated by users of 100-200 years, called in Italian "taglio saltuario," and in French "jardinage."…”

“…The abundance of juniper and fir charcoals fragments found in the basal stratigraphic unity (US) of the excavated stone mound (cairns = dial. "groppere") indicates, in fact, an episode of fire dating back to 640-770 AD; probably fire practices for agricultural purposes (early medieval practice of temporary agriculture on a wooded soil with controlled fire, called "ronco" in medieval and post-medieval texts [26,[54][55][56][57]).…”

“…Also the cored site of Pian Brogione is part of the common land of the parish of Casanova: the pastoral resources of the slope where disputed since the end of eighteenth century by the inhabitants of the adjoining Fontanigorda parish [26]. The core section (between 74 and 174 cm) proved the abundance of silver fir trees during fourteenth to seventeenth centuries continuously living in the site from the Middle age population.…”