The Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes: Human-Environment Interaction from the Neolithic to the Roman Period

This book marshals an impressive array of scientific and archaeological data to illustrate the diverse and complex nature of human-environment relationships in the Mediterranean, with a clear emphasis on how such relationships can differ through varying scales of space and time. Those looking for facile, linear explanations of human degradation of the Mediterranean environment in the 'catastophism' tradition of thought (e.g. read books by J.D. Hughes and Jared Diamond) may find themselves bewildered and perplexed by this book. In fact, one of the central points of this work is that microregional landscapes can at times go in and out of a state of marginality, based on the complex and recursive interplay of environmental (i.e. climatic cycles, geological processes) and human social factors (i.e. the predominance of localized forms of environmental knowledge versus imposed, centralized systems of landscape organisation).Speaking as a landscape archaeologist who has done research and fieldwork in the region, this book fills an extremely useful niche, offering nuanced and practical perspectives on how palaeoecological data can be teased out of the landscape and synthesized with archaeological data in order to augment our knowledge (and crucially, to make reasonable inferences) of how human societies interacted with the wider environments around them at variable scales of space and time. It should be noted also that the bibliography is very good, offering a useful gateway into the wider realm of Mediterranean landscape archaeology. This book stands as a useful supplement - and at times a refreshing counterpoint - to works such as Horden and Purcell's "The Corrupting Sea" and Hughes' "Pan's Travail", which rely mainly on historical sources to make arguments about the nature of human-environment relationships in the Mediterranean.

I usually do not write reviews of books that I don’t like, but this one is such a dozy that I feel compelled, particularly because I looked forward to reading this and actually lugged it all the way to Europe. I will not be lugging it home again!I had the mistaken impression that this was a book about the evolution of human civilizations around the Mediterranean, and since I research the marine Holocene record of the Mediterranean, I looked forward to seeing an archaeological perspective on the topic. However, after 367 pages of mostly empty generalities, the best I could find were some statements of evidence for increased erosion and landscape degradation due to Neolithic and later human cultures. Unfortunately, even this slight dipping of the toes into actual facts does not come easy since Walsh never really summarizes his review of the literature except in a frustratingly vague Table 5.1 and a figure (5.8). There, Walsh reports some generalizations (with dates) on erosion associated with human settlements. Unfortunately, even here he does not give us much interpretation or synthesis of what humans were doing to the landscape. One does not come away having any confidence in learning anything.Instead, he continually strays into vague but often painfully obvious conclusions that (in the end) provide no instruction. For example, he tells us (p. 89) in a section on alluvial archaeology: “The development of the Po plain, with its network of meanders is best appreciated from aerial photographs or satellite imagery. Even a cursory examination of these documents should convince anyone that this landscape has witnessed a complicated alluvial history that has influenced the distribution of settlements, the structure of field systems, and the day-to-day lives of ordinary people for millennia.” (Sort of obvious, no?)A bit later speaking of the spread of malaria (p. 113): “Even if malaria is not present, the continual discomfort caused by insects, especially mosquitos, is something that we should not make light of.” (Wow, I’m glad I heard that!)Many authors throw some stuff like this in their works, but sadly, Walsh’s whole book is like that. About half way through the book I started making notations when I found another meaningless bit of text. Such useless observations and statements cropped up on nearly every page, often for a paragraph or more.Although Walsh is a lost cause, I have also been reading Ferdinand Braudel’s volumes on “The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Phillip II” which is stuffed so full of interesting facts, quotes and figures as to be a polar opposite of Walsh’s emptiness. I also fortunately ran across the lovely second edition of Hughes (2014) “Environmental problems of the Greeks and Romans” which does what Walsh should have done. Therefore, let me recommend these two lovely works for all who really want to understand what the historical and archaeological records say about human relationships to the Mediterranean ecosystem. Do not even bother with Walsh if you find his book forlornly resting on a Remainders table…it is not worth your time!

This book marshals an impressive array of scientific and archaeological data to illustrate the diverse and complex nature of human-environment relationships in the Mediterranean, with a clear emphasis on how such relationships can differ through varying scales of space and time. Those looking for facile, linear explanations of human degradation of the Mediterranean environment in the 'catastophism' tradition of thought (e.g. read books by J.D. Hughes and Jared Diamond) may find themselves bewildered and perplexed by this book. In fact, one of the central points of this work is that microregional landscapes can at times go in and out of a state of marginality, based on the complex and recursive interplay of environmental (i.e. climatic cycles, geological processes) and human social factors (i.e. the predominance of localized forms of environmental knowledge versus imposed, centralized systems of landscape organisation).Speaking as a landscape archaeologist who has done research and fieldwork in the region, this book fills an extremely useful niche, offering nuanced and practical perspectives on how palaeoecological data can be teased out of the landscape and synthesized with archaeological data in order to augment our knowledge (and crucially, to make reasonable inferences) of how human societies interacted with the wider environments around them at variable scales of space and time. It should be noted also that the bibliography is very good, offering a useful gateway into the wider realm of Mediterranean landscape archaeology. This book stands as a useful supplement - and at times a refreshing counterpoint - to works such as Horden and Purcell's "The Corrupting Sea" and Hughes' "Pan's Travail", which rely mainly on historical sources to make arguments about the nature of human-environment relationships in the Mediterranean.