Anthropological approach to agricultural landscape history in Sardinia

In southern Europe the link between agricultural activities and changes in the landscape is greatly evident. An investigation of the past landscape is necessary to understand why these changes occurred and what they mean. In Sardinia the plains, once covered by the Mediterranean forest, have been used for agricultural purposes since Roman times. Notable landscape variation, however, occurred between the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries when Sardinia was under the domain of the House of Savoy. Following the Second World War, the agricultural landscape has been modified not only in land use, but also in the pattern of the fields, which have been subdivided as a result of land inheritance. In recent years, the spread of urbanisation and quarry activity, as well as damage from agricultural mechanisation and excessive use of pesticides, have led to the deterioration of the Sardinian agricultural landscapes. This study shows that there is a clear correlation between society, land use and site development. The methodology used in landscape history, therefore, has moved from a biological and physical focus to include a human focus. Special attention has been paid to past land use policies, with the aim of understanding the reasons for positive and negative impacts on landscape.