Long-term social development on a Mediterranean island

This book iIIustrates the research design and the final results of the PhD project „Long-term Social Development on a Mediterranean Island: Menorca between 1600 BCE and 1900 CE“, begun in April 2010 within the framework of the Graduate School „Human Development in Landscapes“ in Kiel. The major aim of this project was to create a model of long-term demographie and territorial processes for prehistoric Menorca beginning at ca. 1600 calBCE and extending to the 19th century CE. In particular, the interaction between past communities and territory on Menorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) over the last 3500 years was analysed through a multidisciplinary approach based on landscape archaeology, landscape geography and stable isotopes analyses. This Mediterranean island symbolises an extraordinary territorial laboratory, characterized by a large array of archaeological, ecological, historical, and ethnographic data. The contents of this investigation concern the reconstruction of settlement patterns, location preferences, and occupation dynamics of past inhabitants of the Menorcan territory. Moreover, the features of the subsistence pattern and the palaeo-agrarian trajectory of dry-land farming were delineated. A further focus of the analysis investigated the impact of demography and the processes that allowed humans to carry out the appropriation of natural resources. The major results highlight an interesting long-term social development, where communities appear to be inclined to combine their socio-economic sphere with sustainable intentions. This research represents a methodological approach of eco-historical significance within a Mediterranean socio-natural context from which environmental policymaking can profit.