TY - JOUR
T1 - The Twentieth Century Invention of Ancient Mountains
T2 - The Archaeology of Highland Aspromonte
AU - Robb, John
AU - Chesson, Meredith S.
AU - Forbes, Hamish
AU - Foxhall, Lin
AU - Foxhall-Forbes, Helen
AU - Lazrus, Paula Kay
AU - Michelaki, Kostalena
AU - Chiodo, Alfonso Picone
AU - Yoon, David
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - The high mountains of the Mediterranean are often considered as refuges of ancient traditions, particularly of pastoralism and brigandage. Is this image true? This paper reports the first systematic archaeological research on Aspromonte, Southern Calabria. Archaeological, cartographic and air photo evidence suggests that people used the high mountains in all periods from the Neolithic onwards. However, early usage was low-intensity and probably for special purposes such as iron-smelting, charcoal-burning and logging; only in the Classical Greek period was there sustained effort at inhabiting higher areas. The real development of the mountains came in the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the 1920s onwards, there were large-scale, state-fostered projects for economic exploitation of forests, political control of territory, and creation of a recreational landscape. These endeavors tied into modernist ideas of the state, as well as period concepts such as Alpinism and healthy outdoor recreation for city dwellers. Ironically, as soon as these modern efforts made the high mountains accessible, they were assigned a chronotope, and were reimagined as the exemplification of an ancient way of life.
AB - The high mountains of the Mediterranean are often considered as refuges of ancient traditions, particularly of pastoralism and brigandage. Is this image true? This paper reports the first systematic archaeological research on Aspromonte, Southern Calabria. Archaeological, cartographic and air photo evidence suggests that people used the high mountains in all periods from the Neolithic onwards. However, early usage was low-intensity and probably for special purposes such as iron-smelting, charcoal-burning and logging; only in the Classical Greek period was there sustained effort at inhabiting higher areas. The real development of the mountains came in the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the 1920s onwards, there were large-scale, state-fostered projects for economic exploitation of forests, political control of territory, and creation of a recreational landscape. These endeavors tied into modernist ideas of the state, as well as period concepts such as Alpinism and healthy outdoor recreation for city dwellers. Ironically, as soon as these modern efforts made the high mountains accessible, they were assigned a chronotope, and were reimagined as the exemplification of an ancient way of life.
KW - Development
KW - Field survey
KW - Forests
KW - Mountains
KW - Pastoralism
KW - Twentieth century
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U2 - 10.1007/s10761-020-00543-x
DO - 10.1007/s10761-020-00543-x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85084645703
SN - 1092-7697
VL - 25
SP - 14
EP - 44
JO - International Journal of Historical Archaeology
JF - International Journal of Historical Archaeology
IS - 1
ER -