379
Land
and
Use
and
Historical
Soil
Erosion
in
Prehistoric
Greece
TjeerdH. vanAndel
Eberhard
Zangger
Universityof Cambridge
Cambridge,England
AnneDemitrack
Sumrnit,New Jersey
Soilerosionresultingfi^om
humanexploitation
ofthelandhasattractedmuchpublicand
scientiJiEc
interest.Beingregardedmainlyas a moderxphenomenon,
however,
itsprehistoric
andhistorical
extentremainlargelyunexplored.
Herewesummarizethreeregionalstudies
ofHoloceneerosionandalluviationin Greece,toyetherwithinformation
derivedfFom
the
literature,and conclude
thatmostrecorded
Holocene
soilerosion
eventsarespatiallyand
temporally
relatedto humaninteferencein thelandscape.
Wherever
adequateevidence
exists,a majorphaseofsoilerosionappearstofollowby500-l OOO
yearstheintroduction
of
farmingin Greece,itsagedepending
onwhenagriculture
wasintroduced
and ranging
fRomthelaterNeolithicto thelateEarlyBronzeAge.LaterBronzeAge
andhistorical
soil
erosioneventsaremorescatteredin timeandspace,butespecially
thethousand
yearsafter
themiddleofthe1st millenniumB. C. sawserious,intermittent
soilerosionin manyplaces.
Withtheexception
oftheearliestHolocene
erosion
phase,theevidence
is compatible
witha
modelofcontrolofthetimingand intensityoflandscape
destabilization
bylocaleconomic
andpoliticalconditions.
On thewhole,however,
periodsoflandscape
stabilityhavelasted
muchlongerthanthemostlybriefepisodes
ofsoilerosion
andstreama,gKgradation.
Introduction
sedimentload of the riversof the worldhas increased
nearly
threefold
sincethearrival
of humanbeingson earth.
Soilerosionhasbeenregarded
astheinevitable
outcome
In
the
Mediterranean,
Forbes
andKoster(1976) have
of humanlandexploitation
(Brown1981)eversincesuch
of farmingandovergrazing,
disasters
astheNorthAmerican
"dustbowl"of the 1930s pointedouttheconsequences
(Borchert1971)drewpublicattentionto the devastating Hughes (1983) and Thirgood(1981) those of timber
andWertime(1983) the effect
effectof soil erosionon agricultural
productivity
andthe cuttingfor shipbuilding,
charcoal-making.
environment.
Wolman(1967) haselegantlyillustrated
its of firewoodexploitationandindustrial
thatthe barrencharacter
of
consequences
in hisstudyof a woodlandareain Maryland It is thereforenot surprising
landscapehas been widely
which,in its originalstate,lost 0.2 cm of soil per 1000 muchof the Mediterranean
thusdating
years.The spreadof-farmingin the l9th centuryraised regardedas the resultof humancarelessness,
this fifty-foldbut when,in the earlyandmiddlel900s, the erosionto the Holocene.
partof the landwasreturnedto forest,the ratedropped To examinetheseissuesfurther,the seniorauthorin
1979begana seriesof studiesof prehistoric
andhistorical
backto 5 cm/1000yrs.
Clearinglandfor farming,farmingitself,deforestation soil erosionin Greece.The firstof these,a partof the
Projectof StanfordIJniversity
(FIG.
for timberand by grazing,and man-made
firesarethe ArgolidExploration
most importantcausesof accelerated
anthropogenic
soil 1),yieldeda modelthatrelatedsoilerosionandalluviation
to humanlanduse (PopeandvanAndel1984).
erosion(Butzer1982:123-145), buttherearemanyoth- primarily
dataweresubsequently
obtainedin the differers (Park1981).The resultant
lossof soil in the uplands Additional
ent
settings
of
the
Argive
plain
(Finke
1988) and the
and catastrophicsedimentation
in valleysand coastal
plainsare obvioustoday in manypartsof the world ThessalianLarissabasin(Demitrack1986) to test and
(Butzer1974).Judson(1968)hasestimated
thatthetotal refinethismodel.Belowwe present,aftera briefsynopsis
andDemitrack
Andel,Zan,g>ger,
380 LandUsein Greecelvan
of Vita-Finzi's(1969) schemefor the late Quaternary It thusseemsthatthe Vita-Finzimodelas it hasbeen
alluviation,a synthesisof the appliedto Greekprehistoric
historyof Mediterranean
andhistoriclanduse is too
soil
on
Greek
field
ThethreeStanford
Stanfordprojectandcompareit withdata
evenerroneous.
simpleor perhaps
thatours studiessummarized
Weemphasize
erosionclllledfromtheliterature.
belowweredesignedto examinethis
perspective issuein moredetail.At thesametime,otherarchaeological
not an archaeological,
is a geoarchaeological,
1987];Bocotia
Osborne surveysin Greece(e.g.,Aetolia[Bommelje
andthat,in contrastto theworkof, forexample,
(1987) or Alcott (1989), we touchonly in passingon [BintliffandSnodgrass1985];Melos[DavidsonandTasin
ker1982],Nemea[Cherryet al. 1988])andelsewhere
andruraleconomics.
mattersof landuse practices
(e.g., Barkeret al. 1986; Bruckner
the Mediterranean
Alluviation 1983, 1986; Delano Smith 1979, 1981; Gilmanand
PreviousConceptsof Mediterranean
usinga largebodyof evidencefrom Thornes1985) havebegunto includegeologicalstudies
In 1969,Vita-Finzi,
a simplehistory aswell.Clearly,
presented
ideas,althoughnowobsolete,
acrosstheentireMediterranean,
Vita-Finzi's
streamdepositionthathas provoked haveraisedmuchinterestin the historyof Mediterranean
of late Quaternary
influenceon ar- soilerosionandalluviation.
muchdebateand has had considerable
bookhe defined
thinking.In his stimulating
chaeological
nvo major phasesof alluviation,the Older and the a hree Case Histories
Thethreeareasof studythatformthecoreof thispaper
valleyfloors,
YoungerFill,eachsiltingupstreamchannels,
The Southern
1) havequitedistinctcharacteristics.
(FIG.
a
preceding
andcoastalplainsthathadbeenincisedduring
untilrepeninsula
a
small
is
1987)
Andel
(van
Argolid
erosionalphase.Becausethe OlderFilltendstowardred
by
sea.Its
except
Greece
of
tones,the Youngerone to brownsandgreys,theseunits centlyisolatedfromthe rest
the individualdrainevenfromafar.Renewedincision,con- climateis semiaridMediterranean,
canbe recognized
theYoungerFill. agesaresmall,andthe short,steepstreamsflow perhaps
tinuingtodayin mostvalleys,terminated
(ca. once every10-15 years.The coastalplainsarenarrow.
Vita-Finziplacedthe OlderFillin thelatePleistocene
datasuggested Relativeto Greeceas a whole farmingwas introduced
50,000-10,000B.P.), whilearchaeological
to himthatthe YoungerFillhadbeendepositedbetween earlyhere(Jacobsen1976), butuntilthe latestNeolithic
limitedto the vicinity
lateRoman(ca.A.C. 400) andearlymoderntimes.Both andEarlyBronzeAge it remained
vanAndelin press;
and
Runnelst
Jameson,
site
(
single
of
a
to climaticfactors.
eventswereattributed
modelhasbeenappliedin Greekarchaeol- RunnelsandvanAndel1987).
Vita-Finzi's
ogy by Bintliff(1976a,1976b,1977).Believingthatthe
OlderFill requiredmuchhigherrainfallthanoccursat
repluvialphaseof Figure1. Studyareasand othergeographiclocaiionsin GreeceLB:
it witha presumed
present,he correlated
ferredto in the text. SA: SouthernArgolid;AP: Argiveplain;
theearlyor middlepartof thelastglacial.LikeVita-Finzi Larissabasin,Thessaly.
theYoungerFillto climatechangesthought
he attributed
to havetakenplacebetweenthemiddleof thefirstmillenniumA.C. andlateMedievaltimes.
is largeanddiversein termsof huTheMediterranean
manhistory,bedrock,tectonicstate,climate,andvegetation. Thisrenderssucha simplemodelsuspectfromthe
start;criticismsoon emerged(Butzer1969), andalluviain age
tion eventsweredescribedthatdifferedregionally
and indicatedthe existenceof morethan
and character
two units (Davidson1971, 1980; Eisma1964, 1978;
1975; Kraft,AschenKraft,Rapp,and Aschenbrenner
brenner,and Rapp 1977; Raphael1968, 1973, 1978).
Suchdiversityalso suggestscausesotherthan climatic
change,whichis likelyto havea moreuniformregional
(1981),aftera comprehenWagstaff
effect.Consequently,
siveanalysisof the evidencefor the complexhistoryand
concluded
of late Holocenealluviation,
localvariability
ratherthanclimaticfactorsmighthave
thatanthropogenic
for the YoungerFill.
beenresponsible
JournalofFieldArchaeolosgylVol.
17, 1990 381
Thesecondregion,theArgiveplain,is the heartland
of
Greekprehistory
andhasmaintained
an important
positionthroughout
historical
timesaswell.Extensive
human
exploitation
beganearlierherethanin the SouthernArgolid (Finke1988;Theocharis1973: 33-110) andcontinuedon a largerscalethroughoutthe followingmillennia (Dickinson1982; Hope Simpsonand Dickinson
1979;Kilian1984;Pullen1985). Its climate,vegetation
andgeologicalhistoryaresimilarto theSouthern
Argolid,
but its riversarelargerand its well-integrated
drainage
systemendsin a widecoastalplain(Finke1988).Thus,
despitetheirproximity,the Argiveplaincontrastswith
the SouthernArgolidin geomorphology,
settlement
patterns,andhistory.
TheLarissa
basinin easternThessaly(Demitrack
1986),
a largeinlandplaintraversed
by the PeneiosRiverand
remotefromthe influenceof the sea and changingsea
levels,is the thirdstudyarea.Althoughthe climateis
Mediterranean
with almostallprecipitation
in the winter
months,thesurrounding
mountains
aremuchwetterthan Figure2. Reliefand drainagesystemsof the SouthernArgolid.Area
above 100 m abovesea levelstippled;Holocenealluviumblack.Afier
in theothertwo regions(Philippson
1948;Furlan1977), van
Andel,Runnels,and Pope (1986: figs. 1 and 3).
and the mainriversflow all yearalthoughwith highly
variabledischarges.Most importantly
for our purpose,
depositionof overbankloamsin the lower
extensive
farmingbeganmuchearlierin theNeolithichere intermittent
courses
of
the
streams,virtually
ceased.Thesemiarid
soils
thanin the Peloponnese
(Halstead1984).
havea thin,rarelypreserved
upper(A)anda distinctlower
TheSouthernArgolid
(B) horizon.As the soil matures,the B horizonturns
This small,ruggedpeninsulalacksextensivelowlands darkerredin color,acquiresa higherclaycontentanda
anddevelopsa lowercalcareous
horizon
or coastalplains.The northernhalfis traversed
by steep blockystructure,
limestoneridgeswithlargeexposures
of bedrock,fringed (Bca)whichevolvesfromcarbonate
flecksandstringers
here and there by remnantsof red, semi-consolidated by way of well-developed
carbonate
nodulesto a thick,
Pleistocene
fans(FIG. 2). Theintervening
valleysarefilled hardcalcareous
bank.A fullymaturesoil profileof this
withalluvium.
ThesofterPliocenesediments
of thesouth- typetakesmanythousandsof yearsto form.
ernhalfaredeeplydissected,butthe uplandmarlslocally
The age-related
characteristics
of the soils (Birkeland
retainremnantsof once-extensive,
deepwoodlandsoils. 1984: 203-225; Harden1982) makeit possibleto corAn integratedarchaeological
and geologicalsurveywas relatedepositional
unitsfromonevalleyto another(Kraus
carriedout in thisregionbetween1979and1985;Jame- and Bown 1986), and to constructa compositestratison, Runnels,and van Andel(in press),Pope andvan graphicsection(FIG. 3). IntheSouthern
Argolid,theunits
Andel(1984),RunnelsandvanAndel(1987),vanAndel, of thissectionhavebeendatedwiththe aidof prehistoric
Runnels,andPope (1986), andvanAndelandRunnels andhistoricalsitesrestingon or buriedunderthem,sup(1987)providethedocumentation
forthefollowingsum- plementedby the use of imbeddedartifacts
and 14Cand
mary.
uranium/thorium
disequilibrium
dates(PopeandvanAnThe Late Quaternary
sedimentsequencein the area del 1984:table3).
(FIG. 3) comprises
sevendepositional
unitsseparated
by
In the smallvalleysof thisregion,wherethe sediments
soil horizons.Eachunitrepresents
an episodeof erosion arelaiddowncloseto theirsources,threesedimenttypes
of the headwaters
andslopesthatresultedin alluviation canbe recognized(FIG. 3): (1) chaotic,ill-sortedgravels
on the valleyfloorsand smallcoastalplains.Eachunit in whichthefinefractionsupportsthecoarsecomponents,
endswith a loamanda soil profilethatindicatesa long a featuretypicalof debrisflows(Innes1983); (2) stratiperiodof slopestabilityduringwhichtheslowprocessof fied,well-sorted
sandsandgravelslaiddownby streams;
soil formationtook place.At the sametime the stream and(3) sandyloamsformedbyoverbank
flooding.Debris
channelsbecameincisedandsedimentation,
exceptforthe flowsoccurmainlyin theupperreachesof a drainage
and
-
-
382 LandUseinGreecelvanAndel,Zan,gBer,andDemitrack
Ku 1984), whereasfourmarkthe last5000 yearsof the
Holocene.ThevoluminousPleistocene
unitscombineall
three
sediment
types,
but
the
thin
Holocene
onesconsist
Modern
either
of
debris
flows
(Pikrodhafni
and
Upper
Flamboura)
Frankish 8
E.
Byzantine
or
of
streamflood
deposits
(Lower
AC
Flamboura
andKranwI"!flflmRIttlffilSlll[f
idhi),alwaystoppedwithloam(FIG. 3).
Late Roman
. .
The Holocenealluvia,althoughthinnerandmorereL. Hellenistic
8 M. Roman
stricted
in extentthanthe Pleistocenealluvia,aremuch
B.C.
E. Hell.Class.
Archaic 8
more
closely
spacedin time,but all exceptthe youngest
Geometricffl
=
one havesoilprofilesindicative
of prolongedslopestabilLate
a,
ity betweenerosionevents.By comparison,
mosterosion
Middle
a,
events
were
brief.
The
Lower
Flamboura
event
is brackz
2000 Early 111
C
eted by datesthat allow a durationof at most a few
C
oEarly 1/11
centuries,andinspectionshowsthatseveralmetersof the
o
youngest(Kranidhi)
unithaveaccumulated
sinceproducts
IFinal
madeof plasticwereintroduced
in the region(Popeand
4000
vanAndel1984).
Late
DuringtheFinalNeolithicandEarlyBronzeAge(midMiddle
4th to mid-3rdmillennium
B.C.), thedeepwoodland
soils
of
the
hills
and some valleybottomsof the Southern
Ea rly
Argolidwerewidelysettledby farmers(Runnelsandvan
6000 Andel1987). Evidencefor soil erosion,however,is lack= 10 000 B.P.
8000 inguntiltheendof the3rdmillennium
whenPikrodhafni
debrisflows coveredthe valleysof thosedrainages
that
z 32 000 - 45.000
wereoccupiedby settlers.Theyarebroadlybracketed
to
between
ca.
2300
and
1600
B.C.
by
the
enclosed
late
Early
o
60 000
HelladicII sherdsandsuperimposed
LateHelladicsites.
n
Thisdateeliminates
initialwoodlandclearingasthecause
of the impliedcatastrophic
sheeterosionof slopes,and
2 50.000
vanAndel,Runnels,andPope (1986) haveattributed
it
insteadto gradualintensification
of landusewithshorter
Figure3. Chronologyand stratigraphy
of LateQuaternaryalluviaand
fallow,expansiononto steeper,lessstableslopes,andthe
soils in the SouthernArgolid.Archaeological
timescaleafterRunnels
introduction
of the plow (ard).
andvan Andel (1987: table 3); shadingindicates"darkages."Date
and durationof each alluviationevent shownin columnlabeledA<ge
During the Late BronzeAge (Mycenaean),
which
(brokenbar:intermittentdeposition;wavyterminations:uncertainage
broughtmoreextensiveuseof thesamesoilsaftera sharp
boundaries).Note changein age scalebetween6000 and 8000 B.C.
decreasein site densityin the early2nd millennium,
soil
Blackcobbles:debrisflows; stringsof pebbles:streamflooddeposits;
erosionappearsto havebeenkeptin check.Thisdevelblank:loam. Lengthof wavyverticallines proportionalto soil maturity. Unit heightsroughlyproportionalto thickness.Aftervan Andel,
opmentmaybe attributed
to theintroduction
of soilconRunnels,and Pope (1986: fig. 4).
servationby meansof terracing
andgullycheckdams,
althoughno securely-dated
terracewallsof this periodare
areevidenceof catastrophic
sheeterosionof slopeswhen known.No soilerosionoccurred
duringthepost-Mycendecreasingprecipitation
or humanactivityreducesthe aean"darkage"of the llth-lOth centuriesB.C. either,
protectiveplantcover.Streamflood
becausethenatural
depositsformwhen probably
vegetation
is capable
of rapid
gullycuttingis enhancedbyincreased
in the absenceof tillageor grazing(e.g.,
runoffor asa result recuperation
of damageby livestockor humans.Theydominatein the NavehandDan 1973;Rackham1982, 1983).Recolonimiddlecourse.Overbankloamsarethe resultof floods zationbeganin the 8th andculminated
in thelate5th to
and aremost commonin the lowervalleysand on the early3rdcenturies
B.C. in a major
increase
in sitenumbers.
smallcoastalplains.
Thesitepatternresembles
thatof a classicmarket-oriented
Three alluvialunits date to the Pleistocene,at ca. central-place
distribution
(RunnelsandvanAndel1987),
272,000, 52,000 and 33,000 B.P. (Pope,Runnels,and andthe dry,stonyfansandalluviaapparently
utilizedfor
CHRONOLOGY
2000 -
uz
uz
o
o
a)
z
uz
uz
uz
cL
ALLUVIATIO
NS
AGE UNIT
JournatofFietdArchaeotogy/Vot.
17,1990
the firsttime arewell-suitedto oliveculture(andareso
usedtoday)butnot for cerealandpulsefarming.
Subsequently,
duringthe lastfewcenturiesB.C., extensive, well-sortedand stratifiedstrearnflooddeposits
(LowerFlamboura)
werelaiddownin thevalleys,simultaneouslywith a sharpdecreasein the numberof sites,
abandonment
of the cityof Halicis,anddecayof the city
of Hermion(Runnelsand van Andel1987). A similar
declinehasbeenobservedelsewhere
in Greeceatthistime
(Alcock1989), andthereis historicalevidencefor it as
well.Alcock(1989)hasanalyzed
thisevidenceon a much
broaderbaseandshowsthatit canbe interpreted
either
as a ruraleconomicdepression
or in termsof a different
exploitation
systemnot basedon single-family
farms.Providedthis lattermodeof landuse was to be of reduced
intensity,it too couldaccountforthe evidenceof serious
soilloss.
In responseto economicstressmodernGreekfarmers
withdrawto theirbestsoils,turningovermoredistantor
poorerfieldsto pasturage
(vanAndel,Runnels,andPope
1986).Withoutan incentiveto repairdamagecausedby
livestock,it takesbut a few decadesfor terracewallsto
tumbleandgullyerosionto stripthe storedsoil andlay
it downin thevalleybottomsasstreamflood
deposits.The
evidencefor an alternate
cause,a climatically-induced
increasein runoff,is weak.
Widespread
settlementon all usablelandsreappeared
in Late Romantimes (3rd through6th centuryA.C.),
apparently
withgood soil conservation
practices,
because
erosionandalluviation
didnot occur.Thelandscape
continuedto remainstable,presumably
becauseof rapidrecolonization
bytheMediterranean
shrubvegetation
called
maquis, duringthe next periodof depopulation
which
beganin the 7th century.Then,possiblyas earlyas the
9th centuryA.C., uplandandheadwater
areasawayfrom
theseawereresettled,
whileextensive
depositionof debris
flowstookplacein the valleysbelowthe newsettlements
(UpperFlamboura),
butstabilityreturned
eventually.
The
finalalluviation
episode(Kranidhi)
beganin earlymodern
times.It is localizedin extent,happened
at different
times
in differentpartsof the region,andcontinuestodayin
severalplaces.Its relationto localeconomicconditionsis
clear.landspeculationrelatedto a boomingtouristindustryis morerewarding
thanolivegroves,andthevalued
crops,suchas citrusandvegetables,canonly be grown
on the bestsoils.Henceterraces
areallowedto decayand
landis carelessly
clearedwith bulldozers(Popeandvan
Andel1984;Sutton1987).
Thuswe see a strongcasefor attributing
the frequent
but quantitatively
minoralluviations
of the middleand
383
late Holoceneto humanactivity.Oncethe Greeklandscapehadbeencontrolledby soil conservation
measures,
its equilibrium
becameprecarious,
the priceof maintainingtheequilibrium
washigh,andeconomicperturbations
wereonlytoo likelyto disturbit.
TheAtXive
Plain
TheArgiveplain(Lehmann1937)waschosento test,
in a differentsetting,conceptsdevelopedin the Southern
Argolid.Theinvestigation,
undertaken
between1984and
1987, was similarin approachto that of the Southern
Argolidexceptthat the existingarchaeological
database
wasusedinsteadof anarchaeological
survey.Finke(1988)
furnishesthe documentation
for the followingsummary.
Wenotethat,becausein thislowlandareariverloamsand
fine-grained
coastalsedimentspredominate,
the distinction betweendebrisflows and streamflood
deposits,so
usefulin the SouthernArgolid,is not applicable.
TheArgiveplain,243 sq kmin area,occupiesa subsidingcoastalbasinbordered
bythesteepslopesof 400-700
m-highmountainrangesandopento the Gulfof Argos.
Insteadof the smalldrainages
andshortstreamstypicalof
the SouthernArgolid,the regionhasanintegrated
drainage systemof 1167 sq km (FIG. 4). Sedimentseroded
fromthislargeregionaretransported
mainlyby the seasonalInachosRiverwhichskirtsthe westernmarginof
the plainanddepositedmainlynearthe presentcoast,at
timescausingrapidseawardprogradation
of the shore
(Kraft,Aschenbrenner,
andRapp1977).
Manylargealluvialfansof Middleto LatePleistocene
age(Koutsouveli-Nomikou
1980)fringethecentralplain;
Figure4. The Argiveplainand its drainagesystem.Withinthe plain,
streamcoursesarenot shown becausethey tend to be ill-definedor
havebeen canalized.AfterFinke(1988: fig. 9).
384 Land Usein GreecelvanAndel,
Zan,g>ger,
andDemitrack
ALLUVIATI
ONS
CHRONOLOGY
AGE:
Figure5. Stratigraphy
and chronologyof LateQuaternaryalluviations
of the ArgivePlain.Archaeological
time scalesimplifiedafterRunnels
andvan Andel (1987: table 3); shadingindicates"darkage."Date and
durationof alluviationeventsshown in columnlabeledAsge(broken
bar:intermittentdeposition;wavyterminations:uncertainboundary
age). Thirdcolumn:nameand thicknessof the alluvialunits.After
Finke(1988).
theirmaturesoilsindicatea long-lasting
surfacestability.
In the plainitself,these deep red paleosolsare buried
undera Holocenealluvium
thatreachesa maximum
thicknessof 8 m at the presentcoast.
The earlyandmiddleHolocenelandsurfaceconsisted
of Pleistocenestrataformedduringthe lastglacialwhen
sea levelwas ca. 100 m lowerthantoday.Thissurface,
markedby a dark-brown
organicsoilwithmanyrootsand
locallyabundantcharcoaland potterysherdsindicating
Neolithicor lateroccupation(Finke1988), is only preservedwhereit is buriedunderyoungeralluvium.
In the coastalzone, an earlyHolocenealluvium,consistingof coarse,poorlysortedsediments
likethoseof the
Pleistocene
fans,restson thislandsurface(FIG. 5), butits
extentinlandis not known.Sinceit hasburieda Middle
Neolithicsite, it mustbe laterthanca. 5000-4000 B.C.
but probablypredates3000 B.C. Afterthis alluviation
eventthe landscapestabilizedand a soil formedon the
deposits.At the sametime,the still-rising
postglacial
sea
continuedto pushthe coastlinelandward
untilit reached
its northernmost
positionaround2500 B.C. Coastaloutbuildingthen began,a processthathascontinuedintermittentlyto thepresentday(vanAndelandLianos1983,
1984).
The most pervasive
environmental
changesin the Argive plaincamelate in the 3rd millenniumB.C. (Early
HelladicII). Floodplaindeposits,the equivalentof the
overbank
loamsof theSouthern
Argolidand1-3 m thick,
spreadacrossthe earlyHoloceneplainwheretodaythey
form most of its surface(FIG. 6). This EarlyHelladic
alluvium,
easilyidentified
byitsreddishbrowncolor,good
consolidation,and ubiquitousEarly Helladic (Early
BronzeAge)pottery,is mostextensiveon the innerplain
and alongits streams,but thickestin the coastalzone.
Slopestabilitythen returnedandlasteduntilnearlythe
end of the LateBronzeAge (LateHelladicIIIB),long
enoughfor a soilto formon the EarlyHelladicalluvium.
ThisEarlyHelladicalluviation
phase,thelargestin the
areaduringthe Holocene,resultedfroma majorsoilerosioneventthatstrippedthePliocenemarlsandPleistocene
fansof the foothillsalongthe eastern,northern,andNW
marginsof the plainof most of theirbrownwoodland
soils.Bintliff(1976a,1977)hasclaimedthatthosemarls
weretheonlyonesexploited(andexploitable!)
duringthe
BronzeAge.Thereis no doubtthatthesesoils,as in the
SouthernArgolidand the Nemeabasin(Cherryet al.
1988),werepreferentially
usedandlaterseriously
eroded;
only remnantsarefoundtoday.Thaterosion,however,
tookplacewellbeforethebeginningof theMiddleBronze
Age, andits alluvialdepositsin the plainwouldby Mycenaean(LateBronzeAge)timeshavebeenmuchlikethe
old woodlandsoilsthemselves
in qualityor better.Moreover, the swampinessof the Argiveplainregardedby
Bintliff(1976a,1977)asaninsuperable
obstacleto itsuse
as cropland,was in realityverylimitedin area(FIG. 6;
Finke1988).Theeverincreasing
numberof LateBronze
Age, Classical,
Hellenistic,andRomansitesfoundin the
plainconfirmsthatthe alluviumtherewasindeedinhabitableandextensively
usedfromat leastMycenaean
times
on.
Sincethelate3rdmillennium
B.C., no alluviation
events
17) 1990 385
JournalofFieldArchaeolo,gylVol.
haveaffectedthe Argiveplainin its entirety,although
majorchangeshavetakenplacein thecoastalzone.At the
endof the EarlyBronzeAge (EarlyHelladicIII), immeand
diatelyafterthe peakof the marinetransgression
Early
Helladic
alluwith
the
approximately
simultaneous
vium,the rateof sedimentsupplyto the coastincreased
of the shorebegan.The outand a rapidprogradation
buildingof the coast,althoughslowerduringthe subsequentperiodof streamincision,hascontinuedintermitshiftingfromthe
tentlyeversince,its focusepisodically
easternto the westernsegmentof the coastandback.
Thisshouldnot be takento mean,however,thatthere
inlandon the
has been no erosionand sedimentation
Argiveplainfor4000 years.Latein theBronzeAge (Late
HelladicIIIB), torrentialflooding,possiblyassociated
Figure6. Late Quaternarydepositsof the Argiveplain.The Early
BronzeAge alluvium,derivedfromthe Pliocenemarlsand Pleistocene
alluviumof the surroundinghills,was depositedlate in the 3rd millennium B.C. A largelakeexistedsincethe BronzeAge in the plainsouth
of Argosbut is now reducedto a smallswamp.Flood depositsof the
InachosRiver,its tributaries,andvarioussmallephemeralstreamshave
been laid down intermittentlyover the pastfew thousandyears.After
Finke(1988: fig. 18).
soilerosionin thelargeinlandvalleys
withanthropogenic
on the east side of the plain,buriedpartsof the lower
town of Tirynsunderseveralmetersof alluvium(Finke
1988;Kilian1978).Theproblemwassolvedby the constructionof a largedamanda diversionchannelupstream
(Balcer1974), but this merelydisplacedthe deposition
areafartherto the SE.
fairlystable.The
hasremained
Otherwise,
thelandscape
and
Hellenistic,
andlatersettlements
remainsof Classical,
lielessthan1 m belowthesurisolatedbuildingsgenerally
sedimenthatforthelastfewmillennia
face,demonstrating
tationin theArgiveplainhasbeenlessthanin the SouthFill,"
ernArgolidandmuchlessthanthe thick"Younger
as assumedby Bintliff(1977). The only exceptionsare
agenearArgoswhich
black,unsorteddepositsof Classical
afterforestor brushfires.
maybe the resultof landslides
of the Argiveplainhas thus
The presentappearance
beenshapedby threeregionalsoilerosionandalluviation
events,which occurredin the Pleistocene,in the later
Exceptfor
Neolithic,andin EarlyHelladicII respectively.
episodicprogadationof the coast and the intermittent
loamsalongtheInachosRiverand
depositionof overbank
changessinceabout2000
itstributaries
(FIG. 6), landscape
B.C. have been of minorextent,althoughsome had a
significant
localeffect.
eventsbetween5000 and
The two regionalalluviation
with the
contemporaneous
2000 B.C. areapproximately
maximum
invasionof thesea.Of course,thetransgression
itselfdid not increasethe ratesof erosionandsediment
supply,its impactbeinglimitedto the coastalzone.The
of theArgiveplain
increasing
LateBronzeAgepopulation
(Dickinson1982;Kilian1984),on the otherhand,must
for
agriculture
or intensified
haverequiredlandclearance
subsistence.
Thiscouldnot failto produceslopesseasonof
by vegetation,soilerosion,alluviation
allyunprotected
the plainitself,andan increasedsedimentsupplyto the
coastalzoneas well.
Thisversionof theHolocenehistoryof theArgiveplain
(1977)which
withBintliff'sreconstruction
is at variance
of Vita-Finzi'sYoungerand
restson his interpretation
OlderFillscheme.BintliffsawtheArgiveplainasa swamp
of littleeconomicvalueuntilca. 1500yearsagowhenthe
YoungerFill, his only Holocenephaseof soil erosion,
beganto burythe wet lowlands.By his estimate,many
metersof alluviumweredepositedon the swampyplains
time.Onlywhenthisphaseendedabout
duringhistorical
200 yearsago did the soil existthat now supportsthe
of the region.
thrivingagriculture
muchearIn reality,themainerosionaleventoccurred
hasbeendeposlier,andonlya singlemeterof sediments
386 LandUsein GreecelvanAndet,
Zan,ger,andDemitrack
Figure7. The Peneiosdrainagesystemin Thessalyand the Trikalaand
Larissabasins(shaded).
itedin the last3000 yearsor more.Furthermore,
except
forLakeLernaandsomesmall,spring-fed
pondsandbogs
that existed locally prior to the overexploitation
of
groundwater
sincethe middleof this century,the plain
wasnevera swamp(Finke1988).Therefore,
thesoilsthat
arethesourceof thecurrentprosperity
of theArgiveplain
wereavailableto prehistoric
andearlyhistoricalfarmers
as wellandexploitedby themsincethe BronzeAge.
followingsummary
see Demitrack
(1986).Wenotethat,
as in the Argiveplain,we dealherewitha lowlandriver
plain where the distinctionbetweendebrisflows and
streamflood
depositsusedin the SouthernArgolidis not
applicable.
Alluvialfansfringethe tectonically-active
northernrim
of the Larissabasin,but the basinitselfis coveredwith
riverdeposits(FIG. 8). As in the SouthernArgolidand
Argiveplain,depositionhasbeenepisodicthroughout
the
lateQuaternary)
eachunitendingwith a paleosolindicative of a long periodof slopestabilityduringwhichthe
streamsincisedtheirvalleys.
Eight fan units, separatedby paleosolsand ending
around54,000 B.P., constitutethe earliestdatedPleistocenesequence(Old Red fans:FIG. 9). Aftera periodof
tectonicactivityandstreamincision,fan building(New
Redfans)resumedduringthe lastglacialmaximum
until
streamincisiontookoveronceagainaround14,000B.P.
The mtnorRodiafan unit formeda few millennialater.
In the Holocenefan buildingwas reactivated
twice,between5000 and4000 B.C. andin historicaltimes(Old
andNew Deleriafans).
The floodplaindepositsformtwo groupsnow at differentelevations:1) an older,LatePleistocene
to Middle
Holoceneset calledthe Niederterrasse
(Schneider
1968),
Figure8. LateQuaternaryfloodplainand fan depositsof the Larissa
TheLarissaBasin in Thessaly
Basin,Thessaly.The Agia Sophia,Mikrolithos,and Girtonifloodplains
The PeneiosRiver,risingfar to the NWin the high areshown togetheras Niederterrasse.AfterDemitrack(1986: fig. 6).
Pindosrange,cressesthe Thessalian
plainbeforeit finds
its way, joined by severaltributaries,
throughnarrow
gorgesacrossthe Pelion-Ossa-Olympus
coastalmassifto
theAegeanSea(FIG. 7). Theplainitself,oneof thelargest
in Greece,is dividedintoaneastern(Larissa)
anda western (Trikala)basinby a low NW-SE trendingridgeof
Pliocenemarls(Schneider1968).Todaytreesarerarein
this region,but beforemajordeforestation
took place
duringthe lastfew millennia,the plainandsurrounding
hillswerecoveredwith an openwoodlandcharacterized
by Ost7ya andCattinus anddominated
by oaks(Bottema
1979;vanZeistandBottema1982).
TheLarissabasinwasoccupiedin theMiddleandearly
UpperPaleolithic,but appearsto have been (mostly?)
desertedduringthelaterUpperPaleolithic
andMesolithic
(Runnels1988). Settledagainearlyinthe Neolithic,the
poplllation
expanded
slowlythroughout
theNeolithicand
BronzeAge (Halstead1977, 1981).
Beginningin 1983, we undertooka detailedstudyof
thisbasinwithmethodssimilarto thoseemployedin the
SouthernArgolid,using the archaeological
background
compiledby Halstead(1984). Fordocumentation
of the
I
-
17, 1990 387
JournalofFielWArchaeolo,flylEol.
ALLUVIATIONS
CHRONOLOGY
2000 -
AGE
^
Modern
/1
Roman B
B.C .
Hellenistic
Classical
& Geometric
_'
Deleria
Byza nti ne
& Medieval
A.C .
FAXNALLUVIA
FLOODPLAIN
ALLUVIA AGE
Deleria'
j L.Peneios
Soil
EarlyPeneios
I?
l
Late
uJ
z
uJ
Girtoni Soil
Middle
2000 - o
GirtoniSoil
a)
<
Early 11
o
a)
I
s:
o
Early I
?I
4000 -
?/
|,
Late
Middle
Old Deleria
|
Girtoni
_
_
_
Early
_
\\\\\\\\\\
l
o
a)
z
Noncalcareous
Brown Soil
Gonnoi Soil
6000 -
11
8000
= 10 000 B.P.
!
Mikrolithos
-
Agia Sophia
Soil
LL
z
LL
30 000
k
o
=
New Red
-
/
Agia Sophia
cn
LL
RodiaSoil
50.000
CL
ll
|
r
120 000
21
2
Old Red
floodplainandfan alluviaand theirsoils
and chronologyof LateQuaternary
Figure9. Stratigraphy
chronologyafterHalstead(1984: section4.2). Date
in the Larissabasin,Thessaly.Archaeological
(brokenbars:multipleunits;wavy
anddurationof alluviationeventsshown in columnlabeledA<ge
terminations:uncertainboundaryage). Note changein age scalebetwen6000 and 8000 B.C. After
Demitrack(1986).
now well abovethe river;and2) a lower,historicalpair
Theearliest
floodplain.
(FIGS. 8, 9) thatformsthe present
(the Agia
andmost extensiveunit of the Niederterrasse
Sophiaalluvium)datesto the middleof the lastglacial
(ca. 40,000-27,000 B.P.), and is toppedby a mature
paleosol(AgiaSophiasoil).Depositionresumedbetween
on
alluvium
14,000and10,000B.P. withtheMikrolithos
Brownsoil formedduringan
whichthe Noncalcareous
Theconstrucstability.
landscape
of
period
Holocene
early
in themiddle
completed
was
floodplain
tionof thehigher
alluvium,
Girtoni
the
of
Holocenewith the deposition
toppedby the Girtonisoil.
The presentfloodplain,builtin two stagesthatcould
dated,lies 5-15 m belowthe Niebe archaeologically
388 LandUsein GreecelvanAndel,
Zan,g,ger,
andDemitrack
derterrasse.
The first episode(EarlyPeneiosalluvium)
seemsto haveRomanstructures
on it, andhasan immature (Deleria)soil, but withoutfurtherworkits precise
age cannotbe established.
The LatePeneiosalluviumis
fromthe lastfewcenturiesandtoo youngto havea welldevelopedsoil.
Numerous Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement
moundsreston the old floodplainsurfaces
of the Larissa
basin,of whicha subsetwascorrelated
withthe various
alluvialunits(Demitrack
1986: 33-39, table5). At least
someof the earliestNeolithicsettlements
werebuiltca.
6000 B.C. on the latePleistocene
AgiaSophiasoil,which
hadby thenbeenerodeddownto its calcareous
lowerB
horizon.Thereis, on theotherhand,no evidencethatthe
Mikrolithossurface,formedbetween12,000 and 8000
B.C. (Demitrack
1986:table3), wasoccupiedor exploited
untilthe MiddleNeolithic(5000-4500 B.C.).
In the BronzeAge manysiteswereestablished
on top
of the Girtonialluvium,thusdatingits depositionto ca.
4500-4000 B.C., about1000 yearsafterthe highThessalianfloodplainbegan to be farmed(the Thessalian
BronzeAge [Halstead1984] begins4000 B.C., being
partlysynchronous
withtheFinalNeolithicof FIGS. 3 and
5). At leastone Late Neolithicsite also occurson the
Girtonisurface.
Itsedgesarecoveredbymorethana meter
of Girtonialluvium,with a soil profilesuggestingthatit
was subjectto intermittentslow sedimentation
during
springfloods.
Thedepositional
historyof fanandfloodplain
sediments
in the Larissabasinis a functionof distanteventsin the
high Pindosandat the PeneiosRivermouth,as well as
of intrabasin
climatic,tectonic,andanthropogenic
factors.
Thecoincidentbeginningof the dry(Bottema1979;van
ZeistandBottema1982) glacialmaximum
andcessation
of Agia Sophiaaggradation
in the floodplain,and the
renewalof floodplaindeposition(Mikrolithos
alluvium)
duringthe shiftfromdrylateglacialto morehumidpostglacialconditions(van Zeist and Bottema1982) imply
climaticcontrol.Fan building,on the otherhand,did
occuralsoduringthedrylateglacial,responding
to intermittenttectonicactivityratherthanto climatealone.
Herethe humanfactoris of greatestinterest.TheGirtonialluviation,
comingabout1000yearsaftertheLarissa
basinwasfirstsettled,pointsto a causalrelationship
betweenlanduse and the resumption
of soil erosionand
floodplainaggradation
in the middleHolocene.During
those1000yearsthenumberof sites,andpresumably
the
poplllation,increasedsteadily(Halstead1977, 1984)
withoutseriousloss of soil. Therefore,as in the Argive
plainandSouthernArgolid,theinitiallandclearance
cannot be heldresponsible
for the erosion.
Eventually,
however,soil erosiondid takeplace.Halstead(1981, 1987, 1989)hasarguedthat,giventhe low
populationdensityof NeolithicThessalyand the good
fertilityof its virginsoil, the continuoususe of a small
areaof cultivation
adjacent
to eachsettlement
wouldhave
sufficedto providethe cerealsandpulsesneededfor the
slowlygrowingpopulation.He visualized
tiny,self-sufficient villages,isolatedin woodlandclearings,that exploitedrain-fed,animal-fertilized
fields(Halstead1987,
1989). At the sametime,an increasing
proportion(and
number?)
of goatsandcattlerelativeto sheepwerebeing
grazedin the woodlandsbetweenthe settlements,
producing progressivewoodland degradation(Halstead
1981). He did not, on the otherhand,see evidencethat
theslopesof theLarissabasinwereexploitedto anygreat
degree.
The pollenrecordfor Thessaly,admittedly
difficultto
interpret
in termsof humaninterference
(Bottema1982),
failsto providesolidevidenceforextensiveforestclearing
duringthe ThessalianNeolithic(Bottema1979); the
trendtowardsa moreopenanddrierwoodlandseenafter
ca. 8000 B.P. can be explainedadequately
by climatic
change,but could indicateprogressivedegradation
by
grazingas well.
Halstead's
conceptof littlevillagesfailsto accountfor
the recordof Neolithicerosion.First,the overlapof Girtoni alluviumonto the feet of severalmoundsindicates
thatsomesiteswerelocatedin, andtheirinhabitants
presumablyexploited,landsthatfloodedwhenthe riverwas
highestin the spring,with the greatadvantage
thatthe
renewable
fertilityof suchfieldslesseneddependence
on
rainaswellason animalfertilization.
Second,theconsiderablesoil erosionproducingthe depositsof the Girtoni
alluviumappearsto havestrippedthe Agia Sophiaand
Mikrolithos
(Noncalcareous
Brown)surfacesof the Niederterrasse,
as truncatedsoil profilesunderthe earliest
Neolithicsettlementson the Agia Sophiasurfaceattest
(Demitrack
1986). Becausethe Niederterrasse
hasa low
relief,the erosionproducingthe Girtonidepositsmust
havebeenextensive
andnotlikelyto comemainlyfromdegradedwoodland,no matterhowdegraded
thismayhave
been.Detailedstudyof soil typesand patternsaround
settlementmounds,in the mannerof the archaeological
mapof the Netherlands
(vanEs, Sarfatij,
andWoltering
1988: 101-108), wouldhelpto addresstheseissues.
Discussion: Land Use and Soil Erosion in
Ancient Greece
Ourthreestudiescastlittlelighton Pleistocene
slope
erosionand streamaggradation,
becausedetailedstratigraphicsectionsanda chronologyof sufficientreliability
z | a a z z z w* * > * * J * > > z > > > z z z
z
*
>
zw
w
*w>
s
>>>s>
+>z *
**> *w * s > *>* > * >* + + ob
> > > + b> > + w
> s s >os >b *ew
b
> >>
>
*b>
w
JournalofFieldArchaeolo,gylVol.
17, 1990 389
andresolutionarenot available.
TheThessalian
sequence positionaland postdepositional
processesin continental
showshow complexthe dependence
of late Quaternary settings,andtheresolvingpowerof ourchronological
and
alluviation
had beenon changesin neotectonicactivity, environmental
methodshas muchincreased.
The straticlimate,sealevel,runoff,slopestability,andvegetation:
a graphicuse of paleosolshas addeda new dimensionto
conclusionnot unexpected
for thistimeof majortecton- correlation
andchronology,andintegration
witharchaeismandclimaticchange.NeithertheArgivenortheThes- ologicalsurveysalso has provedto be a powerfillapsaliansequencecorrelates
with globalglacial-interglacialproach.
or stadial-interstadial
climaticchanges,suggestingthata
The Holocenehistoriesof soil erosionandvalleydesw European
senseof thegeomorphological
effectof the positionof the SouthernArgolid,the Argiveplain,and
Pleistocene
uponthelandscape
needsto be adjusted
when the Larissabasinagreeonlyin part,evenif we allowfor
we dealwiththe easternMediterranean.
largeuncertainties
in dating(FIG. 10). SomewhatsurprisThisis regrettable,
becausethereis the suggestionthat ingly,in viewof themajorclimaticchangeinvolved,which
thesewerethe timesthat,in essence,shapedthe present includesthe postglacialwarmingand greatlyincreased
Greeklandscape
andthatit wasstrippedby naturemuch precipitation
(van Zeist and Bottema1982), the landmorethanby man,as Hutchinson(1969) hassuggested scapesof all threeregionsseemto haveremainedstable
forEpirosandRohdenburg
andSabelberg
(1973)forthe from the late Pleistocenethroughthe earlyHolocene.
westernMediterranean.
Majorslopedestabilization
andalluviation
did not come
The Holocenealluviation
history(FIG. 10) presentsan untilmuchlater,about1000yearsafterthefirstspreadof
altogetherdifferentcase.The lasttwo decadeshaveseen settlement
andfarming.In theArgiveplainandThessaly,
a considerable
deepeningof ourunderstanding
of thede- theseearlyalluviations
werealsothe mostextensiveand
Figure10. Chronologyof Holocenealluviationeventsin Greeceandthe Aegean.Brokenbarsare
dateduncertainlyor representintermittentdeposition.Dates takenfromthe originalpublicaiions:
(1) L. Faugeresin Delibrias(1978); (2) Demitrack(1986); (3) Cherryet al. (1988); (4) Genre
(1988) and Rust (1978); (5) Finke(1988); (6) Pope andvanAndel (1984); (7) Raphael(1968,
1973, 1978); (8) Dufaure(1967) and Budel (1965); (9) Hempel(1982, 1984); (10) Hempel
(1982, 1984); (11) DavidsonandTasker(1982); (12) Renault-Miskowsky
(1983).
Euboea
S. Argolid Olympia
Crete
Larissa
Argive
southern
Naxos
Macedonia
Nemea
Plain
Elis
Peloponnese
Melos
.
.
.
.
s
1
*
.
1
*
.
A.C.
onnn
ZuUu
w
X
X
g
,
,
>
b
o w> > > -@ s > * + >t
@>a**z@
.ath**@
>
>
>
>
a
z
z
w
z
w
* z > w@-@
* bb w
O***w@>§§**>w@S@>
@bosetoo***>>****>t
*
a".
?
-
390 LaxdUseixGreecetvaxAxdel,Zax,g>er,axdDemitrack
voluminousones;theirregionalextentandinfluenceon 146-154), and majordeforestationcame much later
the landscapeexceedthat of all laterepisodes.In the (Wijmstra
1969). On Euboca,Genre(1988) has noted
SouthernArgolidtheearlyphase,althoughquitemarked, alluviation
wellbefore2000 B.C., andin theNemeabasin
is smallerthan,andmostlyburiedunder,the depositsof brownwoodlandsoilslikethosepreferred
in theSouthern
the laterHellenistic-Early
Romanerosionalevent.
Argolidwereextensively
occupiedin theMiddleNeolithic
Subsequently,
the historiesof the individualareasdi- (Cherryet al. 1988). The soilshavebeenwashedaway,
verge.The torrential
floodsof the LateBronzeAge that butthetimeof erosionhasnot yet beendetermined.
The
affectedthe importantbut smallareaof the Argiveplain samewoodlandsoilsappearto havebeenpreferred
elsenearTirynsare absentin the SouthernArgolid.There, where,too (e.g., DelanoSmith1972).
however,veryextensivealluviations
tookplacein the late
Therearefew reportsof alluviation
in the laterBronze
firstmillenniumB.C., andagainin earlymedievaltimes. Age (2ndmillennium
B.C.). Otherthanourown datafor
Othererosion/alluviation
events,smallerand moredis- TirynsandthesuggestionbyDavidsonandTasker(1982)
persedin spaceand time, have intermittently
troubled thatsoil erosionbeganon Melosin the late2nd millenvariousArgolidvalleyssincethe 17thcentury.
Theseearly niumB.C., no reasonably
documented
casesareknownto
medievaland more recentalluviationepisodesof the us.Apparently,
soilerosionandalluviation
werenot trouSouthernArgolidprobablycorrespondto those of the blesomein Mycenaeantimes,exceptlocally;given the
low Peneiosfloodplainin Thessaly,althoughthe dating considerable
densityof settlement,
effectivesoil manageof the latteris uncertain.
The Argiveplain,on the other ment,suchastheuseof terracing,
seemstheonlyplausible
hand,hasremained
essentially
stablesincetheBronzeAge. explanation.
Somealluviaaredatedclosely,forexamplebythecomTurningto historical
times,onefindsa gooddealmore,
mon occurrence
of datablepotteryfragmentsin Argive althoughthe dataare sometimespoorlyconstrained
in
plainsedimentsor by the accurate
positioningof sitesof time or geologicallyweak.It is also difficultto decide
knownage on or underalluvialunits in the Southern whetherthe relativewealthof information
derivesfroma
Argolid,to showshortdurations
andrapidsedimentation. greaterinterestin the periodor is evidencefor a real
NearTiryns,4.8 m of LateBronzeAge (LateHelladic increase
in soilerosionandsedimentation.
Thealluviation
IIIB2)sedimentsweredepositedin as littleas 50 years, of laterHellenistic
andEarlyRomantimesintheSouthern
andtheLateHellenisticEarlyRomaneventin theSouth- Argolidseemsto havebeenquitewidespread.
Besidesits
ern Argolid(LowerFlamboura)
did not lastmorethan occurrence
in Thessaly,
it hasbeennotedin Elisbetween
two or threecenturies.The ageof manyalluviais not as ca.350 B.C. andA.C. 300 (Raphael1968,1978).Dufaure
wellconstrained,
but manyof themalsohavebeenquite (1976)hasplacedanextensivealluviation
of theAlpheios
brief.In contrast,the degreeof maturity
of thelatePleis- valleyaboveOlympiain the 2nd-6th centuries
A.C., but
toceneandallbutthelatestHolocenesoilsshowsthatthe the datingof thisearliestof his two alluviation
phasesis
episodesof stabilityandsoil formationhavelastedthou- not robust.Anecdotalreferences
to the burialunderalsandsto tensof thousandsof years.Overall,stabilityap- luviumof Classical,Hellenistic,and Romanstructures
pearsto havebeenthe prevailing
stateof the Greekland- abound(Vita-Finzi
1969),butonceagainthedatingtends
scapeduringthelast100,000yearsor more(seeThornes to be lessthanexact.
and Gilman[1983] for a similarconclusionconcerning Rapidcoastalprogradation,
suchasoccurred
after3000
the Iberianpeninsula),destabilization
B.C.
nearPylosin the Bayof Navarino(Kraft,Rapp,and
being a rareand
oftenbriefevent.
Aschenbrenner
1980),mayindicatea periodof enhanced
Thesamespatialandtemporal
diversity
of theHolocene soil erosioninland.On theAegeancoastof Turkey(FIG.
alluviation
historycanbeinferred
forotherpartsof Greece 1),Eisma(1964, 1978)founda majorphaseof filldating
fromthe literature(FIG. 10). Unfortunately,
few dataare 500-100 B.C. in theKucukMenderes
valleynearEphesus,
available
for the NeolithicandEarlyBronzeAge, surely andAksu,Piper,andKonuk(1987)placedthemaindelta
in partbecausethe earliestHolocenealluviaresemblethe advancetherebetween900 B.C. andA.C. 100. In thenext
"OlderFill"in color,andareeasilybutwronglyassigned valleyto the south,the maindepositional
activityof the
BuyKik
to the Pleistocene.
Menderescameslightlylater,ca. 100-300 A.C.
A loamdepositpostdating5500 B.C.
andwidespread
in Macedonia(L. Faugeresin Delibrias (Eisma1978) or, morebroadly,between500 B.C. and
1978)maybe a caseof soilerosionassociated
withNeo- A.C. 500 (Aksu,Pipe,andKonuk1987). Cautionis adlithiclanduse, althoughearlysettlementwas less dense visable,however,whendeducingsoilerosionfromcoastal
therethanin Thessaly( Jarman,
Bailey,andJarman
1982: accretion,becauselong-shoredrift bringingsediment
17, 1990 391
JournalofFieldArchaeolo,gytFol.
fromelsewhere,andsmallchangesin the riseandfallof Bruckner(1986), on the otherhand,concludedaftera
of otherpotentialcausesthatneisea levelcan be easilymistakenfor changesin sediment thoroughconsideration
therclimatenorchangesin the relativelevelsof landand
supplyandhencein inlanderosionrates(Curray1964).
events.
Evenleavingthisclassof dataaside,thereseemsto be sea couldhaveinducedthe observedalluviation
Instead,theytoo optedforthe humanfactor.
B.C.
sufficient
reasonto suggestthatthelastfewcenturies
but
Thisis not to saythatclimaticandsealevelchangesof
andthe firstfewof ourerawerea timeof widespread
of theGreekland- tectonicor eustaticoriginarenot potentiallyimportant
destabilization
byno meansubiquitous
(Hassan1985; Nir
scape(FIG. 10). This does not mean,however,thatthe factorsin Holocenegeomorphology
periodsenjoyedcomplete 1983; Thornes1987), and they shouldnot be casually
preceding
ArchaicandClassical
freedomfromsoil erosionproblems.Genre(1988) and dismissed.Forthe timebeing,however,we regardthese
in the Holocene
events naturalfactorsas of minorimportance
Rust(1978) documenttwo briefbuttroublesome
of alluviationin centralEubocabetween720 and 680 alluviation
historyof Greece.First,changesof sea level
of and/orstreambaselevelhavebeensmall(a few meters)
B.C., andanotherat the endof the 5th andbeginning
in theupper duringthe periodconsidered
the4th centuryB.C. Theyholddeforestation
here,exceptfor a few areas
for both.As at whereneotectonicupliftand subsidencearewell docupartsof the drainagebasinresponsible
Tirynsin the Argiveplain,the remedywasfoundin so- mented,as in the Gulfof Corinth.Climaticchanges,on
works.Localizedsoilerosionalso the otherhand,areusuallyinvokedmerelyby reference
phisticated
engineering
took placebetween700 and 200 B.C. in the southern to the Holoceneclimatichistoryof NWEurope,an inapPeloponneseand on Crete(Hempel1982, 1984). On propriateanalogue,andhardlocalevidencefor theirexmay istencehasnotyetbeenpresented.
Melosa historicalphaseof erosionand alluviation
Inourview,theburden
B.C.,
of the 1stmillennium
havebegunin thefirstquarter
of proofrestsfor the time beingon thosewho propose
reachingits peakaroundA.C. 500 (DavidsonandTasker climatic,tectonic,or sealevelchangesas causesof land1982).
in theAegean.
scapedestabilization
Alluvialdepositsof medievalto moderntimesarecomthathaveproduced
Thecomplexnatureof theprocesses
of the Greek
mon. Budel(1965) and laterDufaure(1976) havede- the alternating
stabilityanddestabilization
at Olympiabetweenthe 7thand landscape
scribedmajoralluviation
overandencourages
is somewhatbewildering
(1983) saysthat simplification.
14th centuriesA.C. Renault-Miskovsky
It is, forexample,widelybelievedthatvalalluvialloamswereemplacedon Naxosbetweenthe 3rd leyaggradation
tendto be unrelated
andcoastalaccretion
in the and are seldomconcurrent.
and 7th centuriesA.C. Majorstreamaggradation
This is rarelytrue.The reto androughlysyn- sponseof a streamsystemto a changein conditionsis
9th-12thcenturiesA.C., comparable
of the Southern complexanda singlecause,e.g., increased
chronouswith the Upper Flamboura
slopeerosion,
Argolid,hasbeendescribedby Genre(1988) for central can set off a chain of down-valleyconsequences
that
and northernEuboca.L. Faugeres(in Delibrias1978) evokesdifferentresponsesin differentpartsof the system
in Macedonia
fromthe 9th century (Schumm1977, 1981; Schumm,Harvey,and Watson
mentionsalluviation
A.C. onward.Manyother cases,rangingfrom the 9th
ac1984; Pattonand Schumm1983). The aggradation
century(MiddleByzantine)throughthe Turkishperiod, companying
in the upperreachesof
slopedestabilization
of a drainage
havebeencompiledby Wagstaff(1981)in his analysis
often,althoughnot always,beginsattheshore
Fill."Fromthis he concluded(as and proceedsup-valleywith time, accompaniedby
Vita-Finzi's
"Younger
we do) that,overthe last1500years,streamaggradation changesin sedimenttype (Pattonand Schumm1983;
wasepisodicandlocalizedin the easternMediterranean, PopeandvanAndel1984; Schumm1981). Nondeposiwithintensitiesanddatesthatvariedfromplaceto place. tion,erosion,andthe formationof variousdifferentsedhumaninterference
withslopeequilibrium imenttypesmay thus simultaneously
Thisimplicates
takeplacein the
as the principalcause,ratherthanclimaticchangessuch samedrainage.
as the Little Ice Age (15th throughmid-19thcentury
Conclusions
A.C.) .
Thisviewcontrastswiththatof Vita-Finzi(1969) and
analAlternations
betweenstabilityanddestabilization
Bintliff(1976a, 1977), who attributedboth the Older ogousto thosecitedabovehaveoccurred
elsewhere
in the
changes.Hassan(1985), Mediterranean
andthe YoungerFillto clirnatic
as wellandappearto supportourconcluin semiaridandarid sionsas, for example,the workof DelanoSmith(1979,
in his reviewof streamaggradation
regions,alsostressedclimaticfactors.Genre(1988) and 1981)shows.Alsoin southernItaly,theearliestvalleyfill,
392 LandUsein Greecelvan
Andel)Zan,gsgeb
andDemitrack
assignedby Bruckner(1983) to the late Pleistoceneor 1986) the consequencesof anthropogenicsoil erosionin
earlyHolocene,is weaklydatedandmightwellbe Neo- the Holocene have reallybeen. A reasonablysecureestilithicin age.A subsequent
stableperiodlastedfor much mate for the SouthernArgolid (Jameson,Runnels, and
of thelasttwo millenniaB.C.; it wasfollowedbyextensive van Andel in press)suggeststhat on averageless than 40
depositionbetweenthe 5th and the 3rd centuryB.C.,
cm were strippedfrom that area.This is insignificantin
attributed
to landclearingandlanduseduringthe Greek geomorphic terms and confirmsthe view expressedby
colonization(Bruckner1983, 1986). A more poorly- Rohdenburgand Sabelberg(1973) andThornesand Gildatedearlymedievalerosionphasecausedbyresettlement man (1983: 75) that the presentMediterranean
landscape
andby cultivationof hill landsendedin the llth-12th, was shapedmainlyduringthe Pleistocene.These solitary
or alternatively
the 14th-15thcentury.Finally,large-scale examples,of course,need to be augmentedbeforewe can
l9th to early20th centuryalluviation
wascausedby the put a fingeron the dominantcauseof the barrenstateof
extensive
deforestation
(Bruckner
1986)thataccompanied so manyGreekslopes.
the opening-upof woodedhinterlands
by roadsandrailAcknowledgments
ways.
Two of the regional studies summarizedhere, the
Overall,thisandotherMediterranean
depositional
historiescompiledby Bruckner(1986: fig. 7) demonstrate SouthernArgolid and Thessaly,were supportedby the
the samelocaland temporalvariability
thatis foundin NationalScienceFoundation,the Argiveplain investigation by the DeutschesArchaologischesInstitutin Athens,
GreeceandtheAegean.
Thusthe evidencethatcanbe broughtto bearon the and all threeby donationsfrom privateStanfordsupportproblemof naturalversushuman-induced
landscape
de- ers who sharedour interests.We thankthese sponsorsfor
stabilization
in theAegean,althoughstilllimited,appears their confidenceand the Director and staff membersof
to us to pointfirstandforemostto the dominantroleof the Instituteof GeologyandMineralExploration(IGME)
humanactivity.Thechronologyremainslesscertainthan in Athensfor permissionto do the fieldworkandfor other
onemightwish,andthisis alsotrueforourunderstanding valuableassistance.Otherstoo numerousto acknowledge
of how the processesof soilerosionandalluviation
relate except as a group have been essentialeach in their own
to land use practicesand ruraleconomics(see Alcott way, but we do owe specialthanksto MichaelJameson,
1989).A few inferences
regarding
the roleof cultivation KlausKilian,and CurtisRunnelsfor theirencouragement
techniques
comefromthesmalldrainages
of theSouthern and support.The seniorauthorhas been inspiredby Karl
Argolid(vanAndel,Runnels,andPope1986),butmuch W. Butzer in ways best illustratedby the lattertssmall,
thoughtfulpaperon the dating and correlationof Holomoreresearch
is needed.
Wesuspectthatthe soil preferences
of the earlyGreek cene alluvialsequences(1980).
farmers
werenot strongandplayedonlya secondary
role
in landuse patterns.The brownwoodlandsoilsthathad
in theDepartformedin lateandpostglacial
timeson Pliocenemarlsand TjeerdH. vanAndelis an HonoraryProfessor
mentsofEarthSciences
andArchaeolo,gy
and
the
Sub-Departshalesand late Quaternary
alluvialloamsseemto have
mentofQuaternaryResearch
oftheUniversity
ofCambrid,ge
beenpreferred
for cerealsandpulses,as theystillareto whereEberhardZan,g,ger
(formerly
Eberhard
Finke)is a Resome extent.The coarserdepositsof alluvialfans and searchAssociate
in theDepartment
ofEarthSciences.
Their
slopeswerenot widelyexploiteduntiltheintroduction
of interestsin archaeolo,gical
scienceandenvironmental
archaeollarge-scaleolive culture,probablynot beforethe Late o,gyfocus
onproblems
ofprehistoric
coastal,geo,graphy)
settleBronzeAge (Runnelsand Hansen1986). Beyondthis ment)and marineresource
ensploitation)
as wellas on thecobroadgeneralization,
and while we recognizethat the evolutionofancientlandscapes
andprehistoric
andhistorical
propertiesof a soil measuredtodaycannottell us very landuseandsettlement.Theirmailin,gaddressis:Departmuchabouttheirqualitywhentheywerefarmedin the mentofEarthSciences)
Cambrid,ge
University)
Downin,g
distantpast,we see littlethatpointsto a largeinfluence Street)Cambrid,ge
CB23EQ,En,gland.
AnneDemitrackis a
of soilqualityon pastlanduse.Onthewhole,watermore firee-lance,geolo,gist
involvedin various,geo-archaeolo,gical
studthansoil appearsto havedetermined
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mentpatternsin Greecefromthe earlyNeolithicto the 14 DunnderDrive)Summit)w 07901.
l9th century,as faras the currentdatashow.
Manyproblemsremain,suchas ourlackof knowledge
of the time of introduction
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