Panel 2.8 – Environmental factors on regional economies

Organiser/Chair:

• Andreas Vött (Universität Mainz)

Speakers:

• Charalambos Dokos
  Preliminary topographical and paleobiological data of the area Skales of the village Kato Pyrgos, Tyllirias district, Cyprus: implications about Cyprus coastline cartography
• Manolis Stefanakis (University of the Aegean)
  Some Remarks on the Economy of the Ancient Deme of Kymissaleis on Rhodes
• Michele Matteazzi (Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology)
  The Upper Adriatic littoral landscape between Atria and Altinum during Roman times: natural environment, road network and land use

1. Charalambos Dokos, Katerina Dokou, Paraskevi Liasidou, Despoina Manolopoulou, Nikolas Solomou and Kyriakoula Manaridou (University of Thessaloniki)

Preliminary topographical and paleobiological data of the area Skales of the village Kato Pyrgos, Tyllirias district, Cyprus: implications about Cyprus coastline cartography
Geographical and geomorphological characteristics of Cyprus changed the route of history of the island. One of the most important questions that “nettle” the interest of geologists, geographers, biologists, historians and archaeologists is the characteristic shape of the coastline. It believed that the current shape of the island was much different than the one in antiquity. Therefore we conducted a large scale survey starting from the area of Tylliria district, in order to estimate the primary coastlines of Cyprus by using topographical and paleobiological data. The area Skales was surveyed thoroughly for identifying marine bivalves preserved in their calcareous shells. Each station was topographically identified. The fossil as intact or fragments was carried carefully and cleaned gently for identification purposes. Each fossil was identified and characterized. Afterwards each specimen was catalogued in order to have the species for each station. Each station was double checked for the exact position of the station, the distance between them and the sea side. In this study twenty five pieces of marine bivalves fossils collected, twenty of them were fragments and five as whole pieces. The clarification of the primary coastline is essential for archaeological excavation purposes. Bivalves are an important paleobiological indicator of sea level changes. Therefore the location of these is essential in order to have a spectrum of the sea level and coastline in antiquity.

2. Manolis Stefanakis (University of the Aegean)

Some Remarks on the Economy of the Ancient Deme of Kymissaleis on Rhodes
The ancient Deme of the Kymissaleis, located on the south west coast of the island of Rhodes, has been explored since 2006, in the context of the Kymissala Archaeological Research Project (KARP). Up to date it remains the only case study of the demes of the Rhodian countryside.
The aim of this paper is to understand and better explain the way in which the Hellenistc inhabitants of the ancient Deme adapted to their natural environment and exploited it. The approach is based on the theory of watersheds, according to which an ancient community should have a specific productive space in order to emerge into a political organization with some status of autonomy and independence, and the political geographic boundaries of such a unit should therefore coincide with the natural boundaries of a specific geographical area. As decisive criteria for the delimitation of such a periphery one should consider farmland and pasturage, as well as precipitation (rain, snow etc), on which cultivation (and pasture) depends.
There is plenty of evidence to support that Kymissaleis were indeed adapting natural landscape features to fit the needs of residential communities. Moreover it becomes clear how the inhabitants at each site would have accessed resources through proximity to roads, sources of water, and arable land, as well as the flow of natural and cultural resources among sites and both in and out of the region.

3. Michele Matteazzi (Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology)

The Upper Adriatic littoral landscape between Atria and Altinum during Roman times: natural environment, road network and land us
Following a landscape archaeological approach and through an integrated reading of all the available archaeological, historical and paleoenvironmental data, the paper aims to investigate the complex relationship man-landscape, which was established over the Upper Adriatic littoral area between the centers of Altinum and Atria during Roman times (3rd cent. BC-6th cent. AD).
If today the relationship between landscape and water looks very tight (the area is in fact characterized by the presence of a complex hydrographic system and the Venice Lagoon basin), we know the quite same condition existed also during Roman times, when classical sources tell us that here there were the northernmost part of the great delta of the river Padus and, above all, a wide marshland called Septem Maria (i.e. "the seven seas"), the area where the river itself flowed to the sea with more branches. Furthermore, the delta area was exploited by a fluvial route going from Ravenna to Aquileia and at least by two important roadways: the via Popillia, and the route remembered by Tabula Peutingeriana that reached Altinum starting from Ravenna.
Therefore, the final goal we want to reach with this study is double: on the one hand, to identify the environmental factors that both favoured and conditioned the Roman occupation of the territory; on the other hand, to come to a better understanding of the forms this occupation took, and of its actual effects on the natural environment.