The event horizon in landscape development: when economy makes the landscape cultural

In: Posluschny, A. ; Lambers, K. ; Herzog, I. (Hrsgg.): Layers of Perception. Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Berlin, 2.-6. April, 2007 (Koll. Vor- u. Frühgesch. 10). Bonn 2008 374 (Abstract)

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Abstract

Agricultural activity is economic activity and the development of the cultural landscape can be understood as the accumulation of economic processes. A macroeconomic index derived from pollen-analytical data is presented here. The scores on the first axis of a canonical correspondence analysis are used to show the intensity of land use through time. These scores correlate with the cultural indicator curves when the vegetational development is dominated by agriculture involving grassland, arable fields and ruderal patches. In the Lake Constance area and the Rhineland, this point is first reached in the Bronze Age, when there is no primordial forest left. The cultural landscape can be seen as a capital resource and the development of the cultural landscape as capital formation. This development is an irreversible and directed process. Further research will show whether the human impact curve can serve as a long-term economic index analogous to cereal prices.