The onset of islandscapes in the Balearic Islands: A study-case of Addaia (northern Minorca, Spain)
Introduction
The Mediterranean Basin constitutes a good example of a “place of passage”, and the Balearic Islands are not an exception. Therefore, insularity cannot be considered as physical and environmental conditions that directly explain cultural evolution as have been formerly interpreted by determinist approaches (Knapp, 2007). Numerous island archaeological and paleoenvironmental studies have based their epistemological approaches on the idea of “islands as laboratories for the study of cultural evolution”, influenced by the seminal work of Evans (1973). Nevertheless, it seems clear that the history of islanders is one of movement and connectivity (Knapp, 2007), which led to the creation of islandscapes (Broodbank, 2000). This concept implies a more flexible paradigm that integrates island landscapes and seascapes which allow us to understand the complex human-nature interactions in the frame of connectivity with the mainland and other islands. To take even further the idea that islands allow an all-round connectivity (Horden and Purcell, 2012), the concept aquapelagos (Hayward, 2012; Dawson, 2012) puts the emphasis in the possibilities of connection that archipelagos allow. Such approach should be related to the notion of cultural landscape in which landscapes are lands transformed by human activities which replace natural ecosystems (Mercuri, 2014). Insularity should not be seen as a geographical isolation, but rather as a dynamic interaction between islanders and their physical environment, and their relationship with the outsiders (Rainbird, 1999; Knapp, 2008; Broodbank, 2000; Rainbird, 1999; Frieman, 2008). Nevertheless, Mediterranean islands constitute fragile environments prone to record the effects of human occupation and climate variability. Paleoenvironmental studies have proved to be a suitable approach to generate new scenarios for human arrival on islands, as has been proved in the Oceanic islands and the Azores archipelago (Rull et al., 2017; Prebble and Wilmshurst, 2010). In this context, it is necessary to understand the history of such environments and the causalities of landscape changes.
Paleoenvironmental and archaeological data have revealed that Mediterranean landscapes result from complex long-term socio-environmental interactions (Mercuri et al., 2011; Roberts et al., 2001, Roberts et al., 2011; Walsh, 2014), as environmental changes and social dynamics are co-evolutionary processes (Dearing et al., 2006). In the last decades, there have been several paleoenvironmental studies in the Mediterranean islands that have revealed long human-environment interactions during the Holocene (e.g., Beffa et al., 2015; Tinner et al., 2009, Tinner et al., 2016; Sadori et al., 2013; Burjachs et al., 2016a; Yll et al., 1997; Pérez-Obiol et al., 2000; Currás et al., 2017; Di Rita and Melis, 2013; Carroll et al., 2012; Djamali et al., 2013). Palynological studies carried out in the Gymnesics (Mallorca and Minorca) highlight an abrupt vegetation change at ca. 3200–3000 cal BCE in Mallorca (Burjachs et al., 2016a, Burjachs et al., 2016b) and between ca. 3650–2700 cal BCE in Minorca (Burjachs, 2006; Burjachs et al., 2016a, Burjachs et al., 2016b; Yll et al., 1997, Yll et al., 1999; Pérez-Obiol et al., 2000). During this change, the plant landscape dominated by Juniperus, Corylus, deciduous Quercus and Buxus was replaced by termophilous communities formed by Olea, Quercus ilex-t, Pistacia and Erica in a short lapse of time. These vegetal communities have prevailed in the Gymnesics during the last five/four millennia (Yll et al., 1999). Such environmental change has been explained by drier climate conditions and a trend towards low rainfall and seasonality (Pérez-Obiol et al., 2000; Burjachs et al., 2016a), while human impacts have barely been considered. However, the different chronologies in the studied sites of both Minorca and Mallorca islands suggests that this environmental change can be interpreted on the basis of a complex interaction between vegetation dynamics, climate and human impact. To disentangle the causality of such deep landscape change, reliable age-depth models, multi-proxy studies and multidisciplinary works are required from now on.
In this paper we propose the study of socioenvironmental interactions from prehistory to the present based on the study of a new sequence located in North-Eastern Minorca in order to determine the role of humans and climate forcing on landscape change since the mid-Holocene, paying attention to how newcomers could have generated new landscape forms.
Minorca is the northernmost island of the Mediterranean Balearic Archipelago (Fig. 1). It is a small island with a surface of 716 km2. In Minorca, the northern region (Tramuntana) is formed by limestone and siliceous bedrocks from Palaeozoic and Mesozoic while the southern part (Mitjorn) region is a platform formed by Tertiary limestone bedrock eroded by deep ravines (Bourrouilh, 1983; Fornós and Segura, 2003). The Port d'Addaia constitutes a contact zone between these two geological regions (Pons and Gómez-Pujol, 2003). Minorca has a Mediterranean climate, characterized by seasonal and windy regime with a four-month-long summer drought (Gil and Olcina, 2001; Pons and Gómez-Pujol, 2003). The mean annual temperature ranges from 16 to 18 °C and the mean annual precipitation near the coring site is 570 mm, but rainfall distribution is rather irregular throughout the year, recording most of the precipitation during autumn and winter, including convection rainfall in late summer (Franquesa i Balcells et al., 2011; Guijarro, 1986).
Holm-oak woods of Quercus ilex L. (Cyclamini balearici-Quercetum ilicis O. Bolòs) constitute the potential vegetation in the deeper soils and the inner part of the island recording higher precipitations. Human activities have perturbed and even destroyed part of these woods, promoting degradation and the penetration of heliophilous species such as Erica and Cistus species, Ampelodesmos mauritanicus (Poir.) T. Durand and Schinz and Pinus halepensis Mill., leading to mixed woods. Currently, the main forest formation of the island is the wild-olive maquis (Prasio maioris-Oleetum sylvestris O. Bolòs), a commonly dense community characterized by Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris (Mill.) Lehr and presence of Phillyrea species and Pistacia lentiscus L. Other mixed formations also cover perturbed and open areas with pine woods, other maquis formations with Erica species, and garrigues (Bolòs et al., 1970; Bolòs, 1996; Fraga et al., 2015; Pons and Gómez-Pujol, 2003).
The vegetation of the Addaia area is representative of the northern Minorca landscape, characterized by a mosaic structure with crop fields and pastures alternating with dense silicicolous maquis (Oleo sylvestris-Ceratonion siliquae Br.–Bl. alliance) and pine woodlands. Close to the coast, cushy spiny shrubs expand including Limonietum caprariensis O. Bolòs and Molinier and Launaeetum cervicornis O. Bolòs and Molinier, and the coastal maquis of Aro picti-Phillyreetum rodriguezii O. Bolòs, Molinier and P. Montserrat. Inland, a high maquis of the Prasio-Oleetum have a major coverage of wild olive and pine trees. The vegetation of the saltmarsh is mainly formed by communities of Salicornion fruticosae Br.-Bl. and Arthronecmion glauci Rivas-Martínez and Costa, with small woodlands of saltcedar (Tamaricion africanae Br.-Bl.) and patches dominated by sea-lavenders included in the Limonion confusi (Br.-Bl.) Rivas-Martínez and Costa.
Archaeological evidences of first human arrival to the Balearic Islands occurred relatively latter compared to other Mediterranean insular territories such as Corsica or Sardinia where Neolithic human occupation is recorded, and earlier frequentations/occupations seem probable (Dawson, 2014), while the archaeological records of the Balearics lack of clear evidences from the Neolithic period (Micó, 2005, Micó, 2006). Nevertheless, the human colonization of the Balearic Islands is a slippery question in the archaeological literature. Although the timing of the first stable settlements is still debated, available dates from archaeological sites suggest their arrival to the island between 2900/2500 cal BCE (Guerrero et al., 2007; Guerrero and Calvo, 2008) and 2350/2150 cal BCE (Alcover, 2008; Lull et al., 2004; Sintes, 2015). An extended overview of the early colonization of the archipelago is out of the scope of this article, but we would like to remark that some sparse archaeological data could suggest sporadic frequentations of the island (e.g., Calvo et al., 2001; Gornés, 2016). In the case of Minorca, evidence of pre-Chalcolithic human presence can be deduced from isolated findings of lithic industry of presumably pre-Neolithic tradition (Fullola et al., 2005; Guerrero and Calvo, 2008; Guerrero et al., 2007) and from a stabling sequence of the rock-shelter of Cova dels Morts (Guerrero and Calvo, 2008; Mestres and de Nicolás, 1997; Guerrero et al., 2007; Bergadà and de Nicolàs, 2005). Later on, Chalcolithic settlements are developed in all the islands, but the remains of this period are still rare, with the exception of Biniai Nou and Ses Roques Llises archaeological sites (Sintes, 2015; Gornés, 2016).
At 1700/1600 cal BCE, a sedentary population and a demographic continuity throughout the archipelago was established, which corresponds to the Middle and Late Bronze Age (naviform period). From this moment onwards, megalithic monumental architecture appears in domestic structures (the so-called navetiforms). Around 1000–850 cal BCE Bronze Age societies experienced structural changes that culminate in the birth of the Early Iron Age Talayotic Culture characterized by megalithic buildings (Lull et al., 2008). From 550 cal BCE the destruction of some Talayotic villages is detected as well as the diversification of funeral rituals and the emergence of new religious monuments. These changes lead to the birth of Postalayotic Culture (Late Iron Age), which extended until the Roman conquest of the Balearic Islands at 123 BCE (Guerrero et al., 2007). In the case of Minorca, the three main urban foundations are Iamo, Mago and Sanisera, the three located in the main anchorages of the island (Zucca, 1998; Riera Rullan, 2003). Roman domination lasted until 455 CE, when the Vandal conquest opened a period of instability with the domination and/or the relationship with Byzantium. This period ends with the conquest and domination of the archipelago by Muslims at 903 CE and later (1229 CE in Majorca and 1287 CE in Minorca) with the Christian conquest, which annexed the Balearic archipelago to the Catalano-Aragonese Crown. During the 18th century Minorca was annexed to Great Britain sovereignty, to be incorporated anew to the Spanish crown in the 19th century.
Section snippets
Material and methods
In September 2008, a 286-cm-long core was obtained with a 50 cm × 5 cm hand-operated Russian corer. The studied core was extracted from the central part of the Addaia lagoon (north of Minorca island, 39°59′23.4″N–4°12′21.6″E), where the highest sedimentary accumulation above the bedrock was achieved.
The methodology lies on a multi-proxy study combining off-site data including pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP), stomata, lithostratigraphy, charcoal particles, radiocarbon analyses and juniper
Lithology and age-depth model
The 286 cm sedimentary sequence of Addaia is formed by six lithozones, presented in Table 3 and Fig. 2. Radiocarbon and calibrated dates are shown in Table 1. The age–depth model relies on four 14C AMS measurements. The model incorporates the date 2008 CE for the modern surface of the sequence. Radiocarbon dates indicate that lagoon sedimentation started at the end of the 5th millennium cal BCE and have supported a continuous sedimentation over the last 6100 years (Fig. 2).
Pollen, NPP, and charcoal particles zones
Cluster analysis
Vegetation dynamics before clear human impact (ca. 4100–3500 cal BCE)
Mesophytic vegetation was rather important during the mid-Holocene in the Addaia area (Fig. 4). The Addaia palaeobotanical (ADD1a) data concerning this period reflects the dominance of apparently closed forests in a context of low or absent human activity. Furthermore, the positive values of samples from this zone in axis 1 and 2 in the PCA (Fig. 5) indicate the prevalence of a woody environment with dominance of natural coastal plant communities and a rather mesophytic tree cover. The relevant
Conclusions
The multi-proxy study of the sequence of Addaia reveals the complex history of human-climate-vegetation interactions during the mid- and late-Holocene in a Mediterranean island environment, reflecting how newcomers induce new landscapes under changing climate conditions. Addaia sequence agrees with other paleoenvironmental studies carried out in the Gymnesics, indicating that a forested environment prevails during the mid-Holocene with widespread mesic communities favoured by moister-than-today
Acknowledgments
Gabriel Servera-Vives was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spanish Government (Juan de La Cierva Program: FJCI-2014-22498) and the “Programa Vicenç Mut d'Incorporació de Personal R + D + I (Pla de Ciència, Tecnologia, Innovació i Emprenedoria 2013-2017) de la Vicepresidència i Conselleria d'Innovació, Recerca i Turisme del Govern de les Illes Balears i el Fons Social Europeu (PD-018-2017)”. The work of Llorenç Picornell-Gelabert has been funded by a Beatriu de Pinós
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