Panel 2.1 – The Ancient City and Nature's Economy in Magna Graecia and Sicily

Organisation/Vorsitz:

• Johannes Bergemann (Universität Göttingen)
• Mario Rempe (Universität Göttingen)

Vortragende:

• Anna Maria Mercuri (University of Modena and Reggio)
  Palynological Approach to Economy and Human Impact Reconstruction. Examples from the Greek Colonial System (Metaponto Area) and Roman Agrarian Settlements (Central Sicily)
• Johannes Bergemann (Universität Göttingen)
  Culture and Nature in Landscape
• Mario Rempe (Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen)
  The Chora of Kamarina from Archaic to Roman Times. A Sustainable Cultural Landscape?
• Elena Mango (Universität Bern)
  Himera, Piano del Tamburino. Infrastructure of the Sacred, Topographical and Urbanistic Considerations
• Oscar Belvedere und Aurelio Burgio (University of Palermo)
  Ancient Landscapes and Economy in the District of the Northern Imera River (Sicily), from Prehistory to Early Medieval Times. An Analytic Comparison with the Cignana Hinterland (Agrigento, South Sicily)
• Massimo Cultraro
  Living around Lava Flows and Volcanic Mud Lakes. Settlement and Landscape Transformations at the Western Slopes of the Etna from Early Iron Age to Classical Times
• Roksana Chowaniec (University of Warsaw)
  Faunal and Botanical Assemblages in Akrai (South-Eastern Sicily) from Late Hellenism to Late Antiquity
• Annapaola Mosca (Università di Roma "La Sapienza")
  Natural Environmental Factors and Human Settlement in Western Sicily. The Case of Lilybaeum

The proposed panel focuses on the interaction of ancient cities with their environmental surroundings. Reconstructions of landscapes and paleoenvironments shall be presented in order to shed light on this processes. Landscape Archaeology, especially in cooperation with Natural Sciences offers a wide repertoire of methods for the reconstruction of ancient environments and changing patterns of human-environment interaction. Sites can be contrasted with these reconstructions of their natural environment and be further investigated. A connection of environmental and socioeconomic changes visualizes cultural landscapes, which emerge within the territories of ancient cities in Magna Graecia. Environmental studies are thereby creating a more detailed vision of an area's historical development. Magna Graecia and sicily are of high interest for this question as the coming together of different cultures may have had a chancing impact even on the environment. Unfortunately, comprehensive studies, which consider environment and landscape change in South Italy and Sicily are still rather an exception. The speakers of the panel will present their approaches and results in various case studies in South Italy and Sicily, demonstrating the potential of an interdisciplinary approach to an ancient city and its territory. Thus, the survey projects in Agrigento and Kamarina of the University of Göttingen shall be presented with regard to their insights into settlement patterns and socio-economic processes, but also in connection to their paleoenvironmental reconstructions. The interdependence between landscapes and humans and potential patterns of sustainable actions by the ancient settlers shall receive special attention.

1. Anna Maria Mercuri

Palynological approach to economy and human impact reconstruction. Examples from the Greek colonial system (Metaponto area) and Roman agrarian settlements (central Sicily)
Archaeopalynology and archaeobotany are among the key disciplines in the understanding both present-day landscapes and past human-environment relationships.
In archaeological contexts, plant remains help to recognize different types of land use: a) exploitation of plant resources; b) cultivation, i.e. the planting and care of useful plants; c) breeding carrying out the increase of pastures and selection of unpalatable plants by animal browsing; d) settlements with spreading of ruderal and nithrophilous plants. Pollen and Non Pollen Palynomorphs (a set of other microscopical records of biological origin, mainly including fungi and algae) are especially useful to discriminate these types of actions.
In the Metaponto area, the palynological research has been carried out on samples collected from archaeological contexts, mainly farmhouses and rural settlements of the Greek colonization. This allowed to improve the knowledge of plant species present and/or used in the sites, and environmental and land-use changes during the Greek phase of occupation.
In central Sicily, pollen analyses on Roman farmhouse and rural settlements have been particularly worthwhile for palaeo–environmental/economical local reconstructions. Our data bring evidence and details about the intense land exploitation that contributed to transform the natural environment of this island into the cultural landscape at the origin of the modern agrarian landscape in central Mediterranean.

2. Johannes Bergemann (Universität Göttingen)

Culture and nature in landscape
Three survey projects in Sicily, in Gela, Agrigento and Camarina have lead to the result, that ancient econimic live must be regarded as a complex system. The impact of nature and natural factors like moving coastlines or depleted soil on human live got clear. The paper will introduce to the problem of the panel and show the settlement systems of three naturally different zones of Sicily and the natural impact on human live.

3. Mario Rempe (Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen)

The Chora of Kamarina from Archaic to Roman Times. A sustainable Cultural Landscape?
Within the scope of the Göttingen Survey of the Kamarina Chora (Southeast Sicily), manifest changes in the settlement patterns are demonstrable, especially between the Greek and Roman era. The Greek colonists did plainly use other places and pockets within the landscape and environment. Several palaeo-environmental approaches were carried out to check if the change of settlement patterns coincides with changes within the cultural landscape and/or natural disaster. The talk will focus on physical changes on the landscape, as the development of the fluvial terraces and the effects of land use and erosion are considered. In connection with these changes the results of a pollen core, which was taken in the middle of the Greek Chora, will be presented and discussed with regard to its implications for economic and ecological changes.
After contrasting geomorphological and ecological changes with settlement patterns in Kamarina, the talk will offer further considerations on some contexts in the Hinterland of Agrigento, another area surveyed by the Göttingen Institute in recent years.

4. Elena Mango (Universität Bern)

Factors affecting health-related quality of life in classical contexts: bioarchaeological evidence from the Athenian Asty and the region of Laurion in SE Attica
This paper treats work carried out by the University of Berne in collaboration with the Archaeological Park of Himera since 2012. Our research has thrown new light and importance on the area of the colony of Himera referred to as the Piano del Tamburino, an area that has received little attention in the more than 50 years of research at Himera.
Following initial extensive study of the morphology and topography of the Piano del Tamburino with investigations employing remote sensing, surveys and various geophysical methods (geomagnetic, geoelectric, electric tomography, georadar), excavations commenced in 2012. The results to date from this multidisciplinary approach have provided new insights about the environment and development of the Piano del Tamburino, especially regarding the aspects of the interactions between the natural surroundings and the ancient polis, between different urban spaces and social activity zones, all of which contribute to a new understanding of the cultural landscape of the city. This is of special significance given Himera's unique geographic location on the northern shore of Sicily with its orientation toward the Tyrrhenian Sea and its trade with the Phoenicians and the Etruscans, as well as given its ethnic and cultural context – situated at the crossroads of various spheres of interest – in an indigenous Sican territory near the Phoenician cities of Soluntum and Palermo.

5. Oscar Belvedere und  Aurelio Burgio (University of Palermo)

Ancient Landscapes and Economy in the district of Northern Imera river (Sicily), from Prehistory to Early Medieval Times. A comparative analysis with the Cignana hinterland (Agrigento, South Sicily)
The aim of this paper is to present the palaeo-environmental approaches and preliminary results in the district of Northern Imera river, corresponding to the territory of the ancient cities of Himera (destroyed in 409 BC) and Thermae Himeraeae (founded in 407 BC). The area is located in the North-West of Sicily, and it is mainly characterized by hilly landscape crossed by rivers facing the Thyrrenian Sea, and by a mountainous landscape (the Madonie) on the eastern side.
Comparing the results of the archaeological excavations (in the city of Himera, and in the rock-shelter of Vallone Inferno), with topographical and palaeo-environmental analysis (both in the Northern Imera river and in the Madonie), we have taken into consideration relevant aspects regarding the ancient habitat and human activities in the coastal area, and in the hilly and mountain contexts South and East of Himera, from Prehistory to Late Antiquity.
Strong erosion is well recognizable inside the city of Himera and in the surroundings. It is possible that it has originated in Late-Archaic and Classical Ages, maybe connected to anthropic activities. Furthermore, transformations of the territory have occured during Late Antiquity and Early Medieval Age.
In addition, a preliminary comparative analysis can be made with the area of Cignana, in southern Sicily, East of Agrigento. Cignana is a hilly context near the coast, crossed by the road system connecting the East and West of the island.

6. Massimo Cultraro

Living around lava flows and volcanic mud lakes: Settlement and Landscape transformations in the western slopes of Etna from the Early Iron Age to the Classical Times
The western slopes of the Etna represent an area of interest for investigating the interaction of settlements and environmental in a long term perspective. Intensive survey activities carried out in the latest thirty years have provided a reliable source of data for examining settlement dynamics from prehistory onwards. The main interest is related to the long-term activity of Etna and its impact on the ancient landscape, either natural and human. Although a large scientific literature on the volcanic evidence of this area has been produced, comprehensive studies on the relationships between human settlement and environmental transformations are rare.
The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the different levels of interaction between human communities and their environmental surroundings. The research, which is based on selected examples, is organized in the following points.
The first one is the influence of climatic changes, which can be reconstructed focusing on the evidence of Gurrida Lake (Randazzo), located at 835 m. above sea level; based on a multiproxy investigations, a reconstruction of palaeoenvironmental dynamics indicate that the Early Iron Age (1100-800 cal. BCE) was more arid than the preceding Bronze Age.
The second research line is to reconstruct some changes in the human landscape related to the volcanic events.
The third and last focus is on the role played by specific volcanic phenomena on the religious system of the local communities.

7. Roksana Chowaniec (University of Warsaw)

Late Hellenistic to Later Roman/Byzantine periods faunal and flora assemblage in the ancient Akrai (south–eastern Sicily). Paleoenvironmental and food circulation reconstruction
This presentation examine data regarding the paleoenvironmental reconstruction and food circulation during the Late Hellenistic to Later Roman/Byzantine periods in ancient Akrai (Greek colony and Roman town), SW Sicily. It presents a new bioarchaeological, archaeobotanical, geological data and archaeological artifacts. It is first considerations which apply only to the data from recent studies of the town (2010-2017). The results of archaeometric studies (lipid analysis, isotopic analysis, the osteological and botanical remains) will be present and it provides a cohesive image of changes in environment and food sources over the mentioned periods. Materials show that Greek, and later Roman occupations caused significant environmental changes. Since the 6th c. BC various forms of human activities were present and then intensified here. The intensive human occupation and growing population damaged the natural landscape, but also allowed it to foster breeding and cultivation. The Greeks and the Romans, just as their predecessors, degraded the local natural environment by hunting, fishing, removal of forests by cutting timber, obtaining ground water, planting; and was further exacerbated by deeper and more intensive plowing, use of queries, and clay digging. The Akrai's land became drier and depleted of natural sources. The studies in ancient town are possible thanks to the cooperation between Polo Regionale di Siracusa per i siti e i muse archeologici and University of Warsaw.

8. Annapaola Mosca (Università di Roma "La Sapienza")

Natural environmental factors and human settlement in Western Sicily: the example of Lilybaeum
The paper focuses on relationship between environmental factors and human settlement in Western Sicily from the V century BC until Late Antiquity in the area around the main center of Lilybaeum. The interdependence between cultural landscape and natural environmental factors has been analyzed during archaeological surveys we undertook to understand the changes in settlement pattern.
Coastal lagoons and ponds, wells of drinkable water, quarries, fertile soil and the peculiar vegetation have characterized the organization of ancient settlement in the area between Lilybaeum and Mazara del Vallo. Particular cultures, like small palms growing on rocky soil, but also wheat, olive trees and vineyards may have played an important role in the inland economy. The opportunity to practice herding due to the proximity of the mountain pastures of Erice has also contributed to the formation of ancient settlement.
But, above all, the presence of the ports of Lilybaum and the Mazaro river that was used as a haven for boats and the the possibility of trade with North Africa due to the proximity to the African coasts probably influenced the wealthy owners in choosing this Sicilian area to build their houses. Through archaeological data we can understand settlment changes over the centuries, until the apparent loss of importance in the settlement after the Vandalic period.