Changes in economy, technology, and culture have resulted in marked and contrasting changes in land use through history in the northern Troodos Foothills of Cyprus, and these changes are reflected by the surface geomorphological record. Our geomorphological studies are providing reconstructions and measurements of the physical impacts of cultural change. The history and timing of erosion and sedimentation cycles on pre-modern landscapes are reconstructed with detailed geomorphological, stratigraphic and geochronologic studies of colluvial, alluvial and soil sequences trapped behind check dams and hillside terraces. Intensive, high-resolution, siteless archaeological survey (Sydney Cyprus Survey Project) of this landscape provides us with a detailed history of land use change.
A late
Pleistocene to early Holocene alluvial terrace represents the last period of widespread
aggradation. Subsequently, the river valleys have been incising at a rapid rate and the
hillslopes have been effectively stripped of solum. Small areas of Holocene fill are
almost exclusively trapped behind checkdams or anthropogenic terraces.
Erosion cycles during the past millennium in a small eastern Mediterranean watershed are closely related to changes in land use and soil conservation efforts. Changes in land use and soil conservation are related to changes in economy, technology, and culture. The Argaki Kokkinobamboula, a small catchment located in the northern Troodos Mountains foothills of Cyprus, has been cultivated since at least the Roman era and most actively since the Byzantine era. Prior to this, the landscape underwent extensive changes related to a long history of deforestation and mining. As in other basins under our study on Cyprus, we are finding erosion rates well above those documented elsewhere in the Mediterranean.
Dallas Morning News (2000)
Scientific American (2000)
Shady Pines Webzine (2000)
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 9728841.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
This Site last revised 19/02/01 JSN