Ancient and Medieval Agricultural Terraces in Italy: Chronology, Geoarchaeology, and sedaDNA

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Agricultural terraces are ubiquitous in the Mediterranean. The pan-European TerrACE Project has been using new methods to deepen our understanding of the chronology and cultural ecology of terraces. The terraces investigated in Italy span later-prehistory to the post-medieval period. We have applied portable luminescence (pOSL/pIRSL), luminescence dating (OSL), and 14C for dating with a combination of pXRF and thin-section micromorphology for soil history, as well as phytoliths and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), to determine crops and livestock. The sedaDNA of these terraces proved to be better preserved than expected and this will be one focus of the paper. Although these methods have met with variable success, between them they have allowed chronology, history, and crop use to be determined for most sites. Some terraces at Soave are prehistoric but most represent medieval agricultural intensification associated with changes in urban fabric and control. The Sicilian site was constructed in the 11th century AD and was reconstructed in the post-medieval period. SedaDNA and phytoliths reveal a wide variety of fully Mediterranean crops and fodder-plants from vines to figs. Collectively the sites reveal how cultivation terraces are archives of both macro and molecular evidence of agricultural, landscape, and cultural history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38746.0