Early impact of agropastoral activities and climate on the littoral landscape of Corsica since mid-Holocene.

Abstract

A multidisciplinary study (geomorphology, sedimentology and palynology) shows that the landscapes of the southwest coast of Corsica have been deeply modified by humans and the climate since 3000 BC. Significant and rapid landscape transformations are recorded between the Chalcolithic and the Middle Bronze Ages (3000-1300 BC). Several major (2.2 ka BC, 1.2 ka BC) and local (3000 BC) detrital events affected the Taravo Lower Valley in relation to global climatic changes and anthropic activities. The vegetation dynamics since 3000 BC show alternating phases of agriculture and abandonment until the complete disappearance of the original forest populations in the vicinity of the Canniccia Marshes. An early phase of Olea cultivation is recorded between 2900 and 2300 BC. Plant macro-remains indicate that cereals, vine and many species of Fabaceae were cultivated in the nearby of the archaeological sites during the middle to the late Chalcolithic Age. The event of 2.2 ka BC corresponds to an abandonment phase in the lower Taravo Valley. Pastoralism dominated agricultural activities between 2200 and 1700 BC. During Roman times, agriculture is characterized by olive and vine cultivation. A new peak of pastoralism and the cultivation of Castanea are noted during invasion times (500 to 1000 AD), showing that invasions didn't disturb agricultural activities in the Taravo Valley. During the Pisa Period (end of the 9th C. to then end of 13th C. AD), pastoralism declined and vine and cereals were cultivated in the very nearby of the Canniccia Marshes. During the Genoa Period upwards (end of the 13th C. to 1769 AD), a decline in agriculture and a recrudescence of the forest (maquis and pine) are recorded, leading to the settlement of a present-day vegetal landscape dominated by an Erica arborea maquis.