Landscape Capital and Fragile Communities on Antikythera, Greece

A characteristic feature of many Mediterranean landscapes is their often complex and extensive systems of fields, trackways and terraces, but the relationship between these agricultural structures and the social context in which they emerge is not clearly understood. The main question that will be addressed is whether the construction of terraces and associated structures is directly correlated with periods of dramatic population growth which makes it necessary to invest more intensively in less-productive parts of landscape, or whether terraces emerge over a longer time-span, more organically and represent a potential causal factor of demographic growth rather than an effect. The investigation involved geo-chemical profiling and infiltration testing of soil deposits; a botanical survey, archival work including the use of wartime arial photographs and data on population, land use strategies etc and interviews with inhabitants about terracing strategies. Digital outputs available online include: A complete, high resolution mapping of the ca.12,000 terraces on the island; digital datasets for further statistical analysis of terrace locations and the reation of a photo archive and species list of plants on both Antikythera and neighbouring Kythera for comparative purposes.