Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and Challenges
Agricultural terraces provide farmers in hilly landscapes with effective ways to increase the area available for crops. They mitigate the risks of soil erosion and promote crop productivity by slowing surface water runoff and retaining moisture. As in other parts of the world, terraces have been con...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Land |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/3/716 |
| _version_ | 1797610653956964352 |
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| author | Aayush Srivastava Tim Kinnaird Christopher Sevara Justin Allen Holcomb Sam Turner |
| author_facet | Aayush Srivastava Tim Kinnaird Christopher Sevara Justin Allen Holcomb Sam Turner |
| author_sort | Aayush Srivastava |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Agricultural terraces provide farmers in hilly landscapes with effective ways to increase the area available for crops. They mitigate the risks of soil erosion and promote crop productivity by slowing surface water runoff and retaining moisture. As in other parts of the world, terraces have been constructed and used in the Mediterranean for millennia. The availability of terraced agriculture had important socio-economic, ecological, and environmental implications for past societies. However, the chronology of construction, use, and abandonment of terraces in different regions remains uncertain. A more robust set of chronological data will allow better assessment of whether terrace agriculture was a resilient strategy in the face of past economic or ecological instability and, in turn, inform how terraces could be used to address future agricultural and environmental challenges. In this paper, we review the application of luminescence dating to terrace sediments, the key challenges involved, and the currently published data which include over 250 luminescence ages. We also discuss the use of a multidisciplinary approach involving other geoarchaeological tools (e.g., use of GIS analyses, field-based luminescence readers, and micromorphology) to enhance the ways that past terrace systems can be understood. Terrace systems are inextricably linked to sustainable land use across the Mediterranean. Luminescence dating methods, therefore, have a crucial role to play in understanding the complexities of past and future landscape change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:18:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6ed2b6ff04cf4d6683475686b5677a8c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-445X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:18:14Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Land |
| spelling | doaj.art-6ed2b6ff04cf4d6683475686b5677a8c2023-11-17T12:08:21ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2023-03-0112371610.3390/land12030716Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and ChallengesAayush Srivastava0Tim Kinnaird1Christopher Sevara2Justin Allen Holcomb3Sam Turner4School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9TS, UKSchool of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9TS, UKSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UKKansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66047, USASchool of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UKAgricultural terraces provide farmers in hilly landscapes with effective ways to increase the area available for crops. They mitigate the risks of soil erosion and promote crop productivity by slowing surface water runoff and retaining moisture. As in other parts of the world, terraces have been constructed and used in the Mediterranean for millennia. The availability of terraced agriculture had important socio-economic, ecological, and environmental implications for past societies. However, the chronology of construction, use, and abandonment of terraces in different regions remains uncertain. A more robust set of chronological data will allow better assessment of whether terrace agriculture was a resilient strategy in the face of past economic or ecological instability and, in turn, inform how terraces could be used to address future agricultural and environmental challenges. In this paper, we review the application of luminescence dating to terrace sediments, the key challenges involved, and the currently published data which include over 250 luminescence ages. We also discuss the use of a multidisciplinary approach involving other geoarchaeological tools (e.g., use of GIS analyses, field-based luminescence readers, and micromorphology) to enhance the ways that past terrace systems can be understood. Terrace systems are inextricably linked to sustainable land use across the Mediterranean. Luminescence dating methods, therefore, have a crucial role to play in understanding the complexities of past and future landscape change.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/3/716agricultural terracesMediterraneanluminescence datinglandscape archaeology |
| spellingShingle | Aayush Srivastava Tim Kinnaird Christopher Sevara Justin Allen Holcomb Sam Turner Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and Challenges Land agricultural terraces Mediterranean luminescence dating landscape archaeology |
| title | Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and Challenges |
| title_full | Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and Challenges |
| title_fullStr | Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and Challenges |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and Challenges |
| title_short | Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and Challenges |
| title_sort | dating agricultural terraces in the mediterranean using luminescence recent progress and challenges |
| topic | agricultural terraces Mediterranean luminescence dating landscape archaeology |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/3/716 |
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