Landscape capital and fragile communities on Antikythera, Greece

Project outline

Highly complex systems of fields, trackways and terraces are characteristic features of Mediterranean landscapes. Their relationship with the social context in which they emerge however is not clearly understood. Employing archaeological, environmental, geoarchaeological and ethnographic approaches, and focusing on the island of Antikythera, this project investigated the relationship between human decision-making, long-term demographic patterns and the development of such capital investments in the landscape. Specifically, it asked whether the construction of terraces was directly correlated with periods of dramatic population growth, or whether investment into the productivity of the landscape over a longer time period represented a causal factor for demographic growth rather than effect.

Achievements

Ongoing influence

Project members are actively developing a cross-cultural perspective on the topic through collaborations with others working on comparable systems of past landscape capital in eastern Africa, Belize, Peru and Thailand.

A DNA-based study of olive trees (a crop whose initial development and subsequent management makes it a clear example of inter-generational landscape capital) through which to identify the type and likely source of these cultivars in the south-west Aegean (by comparing samples collected as part of the Atikythera with samples to be taken on Crete, Kythera and the Peloponnese) is in progress.

A set of online tutorials in both commercial and Open Source software using data from the project have been developed for use in undergraduate teaching.