Socio environmental Dynamics

Roma 30-31 marzo, 1 aprile 2011 edizioni QuaSar e s t r a t t o miniStero per i Beni e Le attività cuLturaLi Soprintendenza per i Beni archeoLogici deL Lazio a cura di Giuseppina Ghini e Zaccaria Mari Coordinamento Giuseppina Ghini L'editore si dichiara pienamente disponibile a soddisfare eventuali oneri derivanti da diritti di riproduzione. È vietata la riproduzione con qualsiasi procedimento della presente opera o di parti di essa. © 2012 Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Lazio © Roma 2012, Edizioni Quasar di Severino Tognon srl via Ajaccio 43 -00198 Roma, tel. 0685358444 fax 0685833591 e-mail: [email protected] www.edizioniquasar.it ISBN 978-88-7140-476-9

Upland population levels are strongly correlated to environmental dynamics such as morphology, exposure and climate. A temperature fall leads to a shortening of the plant growth season, which can lead to lower pasture productivity and thus livestock can spend shorter periods in the mountains. The aim of this research is to correlate natural climate constraints with variation in the grasslands value in a selection of pastures located between 1100 and 1800 m in the Pasubio Massif (Italian Southern Alps, Trento). The correlation of this trend (derived from historical documents) with climatic oscillations in the same area derived from speleothems reveals that the variation in upland value was strictly linked to temperature and climate variations.

the focus of this paper is the role of the domesticated reindeer in the hunter-gatherer economy of the Evenk in the Jerbogachen area of Katanga County in the northern Irkutsk province of Siberia. One main objective is to demonstrate that their resource utilisation is so complex and flexible in relation to the models normally employed in hunter-gatherer archaeology that the term 'resource-management system' would appear more correct. A second aim is to provide an example of dynamic wealth-related
variation in the economic strategies and settlement patterns employed by neighbouring clans belonging to the same cultural group. A third point is to underline that even though some Evenk groups are able to accumulate wealth to a degree that does not correspond to our ideas of mobile hunter-gatherers, such strategies may be directly rooted in the management strategies
they apply to their hunting resources.

Multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental studies are very important for the development of sustainable management strategies for ecosystems and modern landscapes. Analysing the relationship between societies, climate and environments through time, these studies contribute to define adequate policies and strategies for socio-environmental management, protection and legacy. Two complementary case studies– Aydat lake and Espinasse fen - from the south of the Chaîne des Puys (Auvergne, Massif Central, France) are presented. The analysis of these sedimentological records (both lacustrine and peat) follows a multi-proxy approach combining abiotic and biotic palaeoindicators (density, magnetic susceptibility, X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry, Rock-Eval, pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, molecular biomarkers). Aydat lake and Espinasse fen analyses were performed following a high spatio-temporal resolution. Results underline that long-term models of detrital input and eutrophication correspond to complex patterns with early and recurrent phases of human-induced ecological disturbances. They also evidence the existence of diversified long-term land use systems (deforestation, grazing, agriculture, hemp culture and retting) that provide fresh insights into the understanding of present-day mountain environments. This history between diversified human activities and hydrosystems responses must be taken into account for the construction of accurate retrospective and prospective model simulations of hydrosystem functioning.