Ricerche palinologiche per l’identificazione di sistemi agro-silvo-pastorali storici

Characterisation of environmental resources management practices on the basis of palynological data Environmental archaeology refers to the use of methods of natural sciences in the interpretation of archaeological sites and their environment. This discipline is focused on the study of environmental resources management practices with the use of different sources, including archaeobotanical analyses. In particular, the archaeopalynology is defined by Fægri and Iversen (1989) as “the pollen analysis of the human environment”. Since its first application, this discipline has been applied when vegetation changes are not only due to natural factors but also to anthropogenic disturbances. The archaeopalynologycal researches, together with multidisciplinary studies, contribute to the reconstruction of the past cultural landscape (Birks et al., 1988). Fægri ed Iversen (1989) define the cultural landscape as “a mosaic of plant communities directly or indirectly influenced by the activities of man”. The present day landscape is in fact the result of its evolution due both to natural factors and to human influence. In detail, my PhD project is focused on the identification, at a topographical scale, of some agro-sylvi-pastoral practices spread during the past in Eastern Ligurian Apennines (northern Italy) on the base of archaeobotanical analyses. In particular my attention is focused on: • Sweet chestnut terraced cultivations (5 sites) • Beech wooded-pastures (3 sites) • The “alnocoltura”, a particular local type of agricultural and woodmanship practice, documented in some areas of the Ligurian Apennines between the XVIII and the XIX century, involving a cyclical soil management for cereals seeding (rye and oat) through the use of controlled fire in alder woods, in which the fertilization of the parcel was due to the particular alder fertilizing quality and to wood pastures (6 sites) The main aim of my research is to study these sites on the base of palynologycal and anthracological data with particular attention to the historical time, trying to focus on the effects that these particular management practices of vegetation resources had on post-cultural dynamics of the vegetation cover. Starting from different traces still visible in the landscape (coppicing, pollarding, terraces, charcoal piles, rocks piles, etc.) and thanks to the information also given by documentary sources and archaeological investigations, the aim is to reconstruct the history of these particular features of the Ligurian cultural landscape now still completely disappeared.