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

Abstract

Recently, the woodmanship practices and localized naturalistic knowledge have been acquired as indispensable for the European forest heritage conservation as well as for restoration of individual woodland landscapes. Minor importance has been given to the historical approach, both in the study of the local resources ecology and of the local societal context. Using the results of a series of case studies-applied to the knowledge and planning of sites that host present (or have hosted in past) wooded pasture systems and their environmental legacy-the chapter shows the interest of the environmental resource archeology (ERA): a "multisource approach" in reconstructing past management systems practices and underpinned lore. ERA is inspired by the method and sources of the English historical ecology and topographical history employing both archives and field evidences (palynology, anthracology, etc.).

Digitalization and Classification of Cesare Battisti’s Atlas of 1915

“…Actually, international scholars have agreed in the interpretation of forest and woodlands as historical products, deeply influenced during time by societies' uses, managing and exploitation both in their ecology and their location and extension in the space. Indeed, if wooded areas are considered historical objects, they would be studied using classical historical sources, such as textual documents, photos, and maps, compared with field sources whenever possible [34,35].…”

Which Origin for Charcoal in Soils? Case-Studies of Environmental Resources Archaeology (ERA) From the Ligurian Apennines, Seventh to the Twentieth Century

“…This was common in the Trebbia Valley, but also for other North-Western Apennines areas, such as in the territories of the surrounding leading city-states of Parma, Reggio or Lucca (Moreno et al, 2019).…”

“…Traces of LNK can be found in the orally communicated cultural memory and also in the agronomic-botanical literature from the end of the Middle Ages, while the fertilizing properties of the species are not mentioned by the authors of the Classical Age. In this context, the adoption of the system in the Ligurian-Tuscan-Emilian Apennines could be linked to the major changes that occurred in the management of mountain pastures resources during the early Middle Ages, when intensive systems and multiples use of fodder resources were introduced, such as wooded pasture/meadow systems (Cevasco, 2007, p. 184-185;Moreno et al, 2019).…”

The socio-ecological legacies of centuries-old charcoal making practices in a mountain forest of the northern Pyrenees

“…Among key analytical approaches developed in the field of historical forest ecology, the study of soil and archaeological charcoal, called anthracology, provided tools to renew our knowledge of woodland landscapes from a historical and socio-environmental perspective in the longue durée of forest ecosystems (Nelle et al, 2013;Feiss et al, 2017;Dufraisse and Coubray, 2018;Moreno et al, 2019).…”