We investigate ancient agricultural terraces and their associated social and economic activities across the site complex consisting of the village at Politiko-Troullia and its more extensive ...associated taskscape. Surface artifact distributions mapped over 12 ha are integrated with evidence excavated from this Bronze Age settlement in central Cyprus. Contrary to expectations, artifact densities do not diminish with distance from the village architecture. In particular, concentrations of Prehistoric Bronze Age ceramics and ground stone artifacts are most pronounced on nearby terraced hillsides. These terraces were not utilized for domestic structures, but for extensive processing of agricultural crops and copper ore. Bronze Age excavated plant remains indicate cultivation of olives, grapes and figs, with wood resources dominated by olive and pine. Larger, non-portable ground stones and gaming stones are associated with communal social and economic activities in open courtyard settings in Politiko-Troullia. This category of ground stone also is particularly common on the terraced hillsides around Troullia, suggesting that similar behaviors occurred beyond village structures. The terraced landscape of Politiko-Troullia exemplifies a multi-faceted taskscape with a range of agricultural, metallurgical and social activities.
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•An ancient terraced landscape reveals social and economic activities on an extramural taskscape.•Surface artifact distributions document long-term anthropogenic landscape utilization.•Excavated and survey evidence provides key insights for behavioral inferences.
With the introduction of mechanization in agriculture, the area of terraced slopes has increased. However, in most cases, the planning of terracing in practice remains experience-based, which is no ...longer effective from an agricultural, geological, and hydrological point of view. The usual method of building terraces, especially terraces with earth risers, is therefore outdated, and a new method must be found for planning and building terraced areas. In addition to geographical information system (GIS) tools, parametric design tools for planning terraced landscapes are now available. Based on the design approaches for a selected plot in the Gorizia Hills in Slovenia, where we used a trial-and-error method, we improved previous results by defining a model using a computer algorithm that generates a terraced landscape on a selected slope depending on various input parameters such as the height of the terrace slope, the inclination of the terrace slope, the width of the terrace platform, and the number of terraces. For the definition of the algorithm we used the visual program tool Grasshopper. By changing the values of the input data parameters, the algorithm was able to present combinatorial simulations through a variety of different solutions with all the corresponding statistics. With such results it is much easier to make a conscious decision on which combination of parameters is optimal to prevent landslides, plan adequate drainage, and control soil movements when building terraces. The controlled slope intervention is further optimized by the introduction of a usage index (Tx), defined as the quotient of the sum of all flat areas (terrace platforms) and the total area of the plot.
Terraced agroecosystems (TAS)—apart from being an important cultural heritage element—are considered vital for sustainable water resource management and climate change adaptation measures. However, ...this traditional form of agriculture, with direct implications in food security at a local scale, has been suffering from abandonment or degradation worldwide. In light of this, the need to fully comprehend the complex linkage of their abandonment with different driving forces is essential. The identification of these dynamics makes possible an appropriate intervention with local initiatives and policies on a larger scale. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to introduce a comprehensive multidisciplinary framework that maps the dynamics of the investigated TAS’s abandonment, by defining cause–effect relationships on a hydrogeological, ecological and social level, through tools from System Dynamics studies. This methodology is implemented in the case of Assaragh TAS, a traditional oasis agroecosystem in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas, characterized by data scarcity. Through field studies, interviews, questionnaires and freely accessible databases, the TAS’s abandonment, leading to a loss in agrobiodiversity, is linked to social rather than climatic drives. Additionally, measures that can counteract the phenomenon and strengthen the awareness of the risks associated with climate change and food security are proposed.
Terraced landscapes were for centuries forms of sustainable and multifunctional land management, results of a long and intimate relationship between peoples and their environment. They demonstrated a ...rich cultural diversity and agrobiodiversity through sustainable land-use systems. These productive cultural landscapes in many cases were expressions of a pre-industrial circular model of rural development, where no resource was wasted. However, not all terraced landscapes have to be considered sustainable in themselves: in recent times, the terraces have undergone changes that have threatened their sustainability with abandonment and degradation as well as exclusively productive exploitation. This paper explores whether and how terraced landscape can recover an active role in modern society, analyzing emerging terraces recovery practices from the perspective of the circular economy. Innovative circular and productive uses of abandoned terraced landscapes aim at reducing the waste of natural and cultural resources, enlarging the lifetime (use value) of landscapes and preserving cultural and natural values for present and future generations. Results show that new functional uses of terraced landscapes are able to enhance in different ways their role as “middle landscapes” or places of mediation among economic, ecologic, ethical and aesthetic needs through circular adaptive reuse practices, becoming key drivers of new “circular” economies and a new pact between rural and urban regions.
Terraced areas have existed in Italy since ancient times, and they continue to be characteristic elements of the cultural identity of the country. The progressive abandonment of rural areas and ...farmland that began in the 1960s has led to the disintegration and disappearance of many terraces, representing one of the problems connected with the deterioration of the historic Tuscan agricultural landscape. This research aims to provide a contribution to the territorial analysis of the agricultural terraced landscapes at a regional scale. The preliminary phase of the study involved setting up a working method in Geographic Information System (GIS) for the quantitative definition of the population. Afterwards, for the territorial analysis at a more detailed scale, a method was devised to identify the areas of greater significance in terms of a terracing intensity index. The final results concerned considerations on the distribution of the terraced landscapes and analyses related to land use and the main environmental parameters of the most representative terraced systems.
The experience of adaptation and instability to a plurality of threats that question the life of human beings on the planet, from the post-pandemic to political conflicts, up to the danger looming in ...the background—the upheavals expected from climate change—impose a reflection that recognizes that landscape/cultural heritage plays a key role in preservation/enhancement as a specific resource for its “human-centered development”, based on values included. These threats are challenges in which phenomena that require solidarity and common actions are faced, which should lead humans to cooperate to face them. The European Landscape Convention of 2000 attributed an important role to the landscape, as an “essential component of the life context of peoples”. The phase of listening to the territory and participatory and co-design processes are necessary tools for understanding the expectations and perceptions of the communities, co-exploring possible new uses of the landscape, being capable of generating added value for all stakeholders, and adopting a “win-win” approach. From this perspective, this contribution poses the following research question: how to build collaborative processes capable of putting local institutions, businesses, and local communities in synergy, to identify enhancement strategies for the cultural landscape? This study explores the potential of an integrated, incremental, and adaptive decision-making approach, oriented toward the elaboration of shared choices aimed at the elaboration of territorial enhancement strategies attentive to the specificity of the multiple values and complex resources that characterize the cultural terraced landscapes of the Costa Viola (Italy). In particular, the interactions between different knowledge, approaches, and tools makes it possible to formulate scenarios, strategies, and actions, contributing to the creation of a richer and more complex context of knowledge of the territory and to the construction of bottom-up and situated transformation strategies, supported from a decision-making process attentive to the identification of values and an understanding of the needs of the local ‘landscape community’ who live and animate it.
The types of relationships between buildings, settlements, and terraces are numerous, and sometimes they can represent a pattern that occurs in a particular region. Because the aim of civil and other ...initiatives is to protect terraced landscapes from the prejudice of marginality and ignorance, extended studies may be expected in this vast field of case studies. The creative phases are 3) marking passages between key locations that are oriented towards natural space, or earthly phenomena, or have guides such as mountain peaks or constellations, or, on a smaller scale, markings carved In a trunk along the way; such markings are of vital significance: the path must remain known If people want to exploit the area safely, and 4) the creation of the first spatial agglomeration. The question Is what kind of relationship exists between the analytical and creative phases when leveled platforms are built: are they part of the analytical phase or the creative phase? THE FIRST SETTLEMENT AND THE TERRACED LANDSCAPE The descriptions In the Introductory part can be presented using the example of Lepenski VIr, which Is one of the best-known Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites not only in Europe but in the world2 and one of the best examples of the so-called Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Europe.3 The Danube Gorges, an area embracing a 130 km tion of Danube Valley along the Serbian-Romanian border, were probably continuously populated at least between 10,000 and 5500 cal BC.4 There is an assumption that intensified fishing led to the prolonged stay of human groups in the area and consequently to the formation of the first (semi)sedentary settlements.5 The riverside terraces were certainly favorable for fishing and hunting wildfowl because they were close to large whirlpools and small river tributaries.6 The settlement sits in a narrow terraced belt between the river and the forest. ...a phenomenon can occur only in a society that lives practically permanently in one location.18 The excavators and researchers of Lepenski Vir19 speculated that the form of the house was related to the body position (sitting with crossed legs) of Burial 69 at Lepenski Vir.20 Authors such as Radovanovic21 and Boric22 have published interpretations that emphasize the significance of body position and orientation in relation to the landscape.
Cultural landscapes are a key resource for sustainable development. Among them, terraced landscapes are classified as “evolutive living” landscapes (UNESCO, 2012), an expression of the historical ...interrelationship between man and his territory. Currently many terraced landscapes are considered at risk because of the changed socio-economic conditions. The need for conservation and effective management of change of this exceptional heritage poses the question of identification of functions and complex values of the landscape, taking into account the needs, views and preferences of local communities. This study aims to identify the terraced landscape values and services based on the ecosystem services theory. It is addressed the issue of evaluation and mapping of cultural services in terraced landscape, with reference to the site of the Amalfi Coast in Campania. The categories of services have been evaluated with the involvement of the local community through a semi-structured questionnaire administered online. The integration of multi-criteria evaluation and spatial analysis in GIS (Geographic Information System) has led to the construction of maps of cultural services, which allow displaying the complex relations that link communities to the landscape. The tools for collaborative mapping (Volunteered Geographic Information – VGI) have been used for the construction of some of the maps of cultural services, integrating the results of the questionnaire with data related to the direct experience of the users.
The current paper presents a study on the interaction between land abandonment and soil responses to fire in old agricultural terraced landscapes. The study area, located near the Guadalest reservoir ...(E Spain), was partially affected by a forest fire in August 1998. We monitored burned and unburned areas as well as two pre-fire stand ages since agricultural abandonment: 8-15 years (dry grassland with young Pinus halepensis) and >35 years (mature pine forest). We analysed soil surface structure, water repellency and infiltrability, and we monitored plant response, runoff and sediment production for a period of 7 years after the fire. Aggregate stability increased with both time-since-abandonment and fire. Water repellency increased with land abandonment but was not affected by fire. Unburned erosion plots produced almost no runoff, even during heavy rainstorms. Fire scarcely modified runoff and erosion rates in recently abandoned terraces. A dry period following fire restricted plant recovery in burned pine forest. Burned forest plots registered runoff and sediment yields one to four orders of magnitude higher than unburned forest plots. In burned pine forest, the maximum sediment production was registered 3 years after the fire, when rainstorms took place and plant cover was still low. Old agricultural terraces colonised by pines were found to be both vulnerable to degradation as a consequence of fire and highly dependent on post-fire rain for their recovery.
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