Charcoal Hearth Remains as Environmental Archives
An Interdisciplinary Study at Poggio di Montieri, Italy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6422780 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Valentina Pescini (0000-0001-7008-6178, Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), corresponding author), Giacomo Certini (0000-0003-3171-8595, University of Florence), Giovanni Mastrolonardo (0000-0002-2257-0237, University of Florence) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 303-322 |
| Publication date | 2023-05-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1461-4103 • E-ISSN: 1749-6314 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14614103.2023.2217016 |
| OpenAlex | W4381282624 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 53 |
This contribution presents interdisciplinary research on charcoal hearth remains carried out at Poggio di Montieri, Central Italy, a hill heavily exploited in the Middle Ages for the extraction of silver-bearing ore, and then managed until the nineteenth century with a multiple land use system based on pasture. Linking together pedological and archaeological surveys with anthracological, dendro-anthracological and chemical analyses, as well as with information from historical texts and maps, this research outlines the environmental dynamics that occurred in this area in the last few centuries. Although ore processing undoubtedly required large quantities of charcoal as fuel, no evidence of charcoal hearth remains from the Middle Ages have been found, while at least two charcoal production phases, starting from the seventeenth century, were individuated. Despite an increase in charcoal production at the end of the last phase, in the eighteenth–nineteenth centuries, no over-exploitation of the forest resources at Poggio di Montieri was documented. The lack of such an expected over-exploitation could be due to the use of wood from pruning and shredding, which allowed the sustainable management of the forest resource and was the legacy of the multiple land use systems of previous centuries
Archaeology · Charcoal · Geography · Hearth · Middle Ages · Resource (disambiguation · Archaeological Research and Protection · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis · Forestry
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| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |