Archeologia delle risorse: tra archeologia ambientale, ecologia storica e archeologia rurale

This contribution, through the discussion of case studies, tries to illustrate the study approach of the Laboratory of Environmental Archaeology and History (Dafist-Distav,University of Genoa) to rural areas settled and not settled. The main object of the research is an attempt to reconstruct, with a strongly contextual analytical approach, historical practices of management and activation of environmental resources (and the practices and naturalistic knowledge related to such practices), starting from the analysis of their archaeological environmental evidence and through the contributions of archaeology, archaeobotany, historical ecology and documentary research. The examples focus on traces, related mostly to multiple practices of management of agro-forestry-pastoral resources (grazed wooded grassland and grazed woodland, temporary agriculture and use of fire, permanent crops and grazing activities), studied in different areas of the Ligurian Apennines and referring to mostly medieval and postmedieval ages.