Summer Farms: Seasonal Exploitation of the Uplands from Prehistory to the Present

by John Collis (Editor), Franco Nicolis (Editor), Mark Pearce (Editor)

Overview

Summer farms occur throughout the world where there are rich pastures that can only be utilised for part of the year, mainly because they are under snow and ice during the winter. In Europe transhumance is often a major event when the cattle and other livestock leave their home villages and move up into the mountains, and likewise on their return. The best known sites in Europe are perhaps those found in the Alpine areas, but they occur everywhere where there are suitable highland areas to exploit. Traditionally they have been the subject of the studies of ethnographers and anthropologists, especially in the second half of the 20th century when technological and economic changes led to the gradual abandonment of the farms and to other ways of exploiting the highlands. The last of these farmers are gradually disappearing and with them the oral records and memories. Now it is archaeologists who are leading the recording of this material and also looking at the history of such farming from prehistory and from the Bronze Age with the rise in importance of 'Secondary Products' such as cheese which could be stored for use over winter. Much of the evidence can only be gathered by surface survey and by excavation, though in some cases there are good written sources which have yet to be fully exploited. This volume provides case studies, as well as brief summaries of other projects in Europe, extending from the Black Sea in the east to northern Spain and Iceland in the west, though with a concentration on the Alpine area. One thing that emerges is the very varied nature of these sites in terms of their chronology, who went to the farms, the distances travelled, and the other activities associated with transhumance such as mining. In some cases the products were primarily for the subsistence of the agricultural population, but in other cases they were traded and could produce a large amount of profit. This is the first overview of these sites in Europe written from an archaeological point of view.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780906090565
Publisher:	Equinox Publishing
Publication date:	08/01/2017
Series:	Sheffield Archaeological Monographs
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	7.95(w) x 10.83(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Collis is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield. Mark Pearce is Professor of Mediterranean Prehistory, University of Nottingham. Franco Nicolis is Director of the Office of Archaeological Heritage in Trentino, northern Italy.

Table of Contents

Prelims List of Figures John R. Collis List of Tables John R. Collis List of Contributors John R. Collis Chapter 1 Introduction John R. Collis Chapter 2 Pastoral Exploitation of the Caspian and Don Steppes and the North Caucasus during the Bronze Age: seasonality and isotopes Natalia Shishlina, Yuri Larionova Chapter 3 'Sala': summer farming and transhumance in the Czech Republic from a (pre)historic and environmental perspective Dagmar Dreslerova Chapter 4 Hard cheese: upland pastoralism in the Italian Bronze and Iron Ages Mark Pearce Chapter 5 Shepherds and miners through time in the Veneto highlands: ethnoarchaeology and archaeology Mara Migliavacca Chapter 6 Seasonal settlements and husbandry resources in the Ligurian Apennines (17th-20th centuries) Anna Maria Stagno Chapter 7 The 'invisible' shepherd and the 'visible' dairyman: ethnoarchaeology of alpine pastoral sites in the Val di Fiemme (eastern Italian Alps) Francesco Carrer Chapter 8 Going up the mountain! Exploitation of the Trentino highlands as summer farms during the Bronze Age: the Dosso Rotondo site at Storo (northern Italy) Franco Nicolis, Elisabetta Mottes, Michele Bassetti, Elisabetta Castiglioni, Mauro Rottoli, Sara Ziggiotti Chapter 9 Pastoral land use and climate between the 17th and 19th century in the Italian Southern Alps (Pasubio massif, Trento): a preliminary report John R. Collis, Marco Avanzini, Isabella Salvador Chapter 10 Alpine huts, livestock and cheese in the Oberhasli region (Switzerland): medieval and early modern building remains and their historical context Brigitte Andres Chapter 11 An historical ecology of the Neolithic to Medieval Periods in the southern French Alps: a reassessment of 'driving forces' Kevin Walsh, Florence Mocci Chapter 12 An Archaeological Approach to the branas: summer farms in the pastures of the Cantabrian Mountains (northern Spain) David Gonzalez Alvarez, Margarita Fernandez Mier, Pablo Lopez Gomez Chapter 13 Elusive sel sites: the geoarchaeological quest for Icelandic shielings and the case of þ orvaldsstadasel, in northeast Iceland Patrycja Kupiec, Karen Milek, Gudrun Alda Gisladottir, James Woollett End Matter Index John R. Colli

Editorial Reviews

"Overall, Summer Farms is an interesting volume that contributes new data on under-studied upland economies and demonstrates the success of applying interdisciplinary methods to the challenges posed by less archaeologically visible lifeways. The volume will be a valuable resource for scholars studying seasonal, and especially upland, agropastoral strategies in any time period." —Emily Holt, American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 122, No. 3 (July 2018)

From the Publisher