Multi-Scalar analysis of Terrace use and Abandonment in Soave, northern Italy.

Agricultural terraces preserve evidence of human action and subsistence strategies from the smallest scales of soil chemistry to the scale of their geographic extent, often hectares. These soils are subject to processes of reworking, both through their construction, use and maintenance by humans and by natural slope processes and pedogenesis. Changes in use, either through abandonment or re-purposing, affect the pedogical and sedimentological processes on the slope, often resulting in partial or toal collapse of the terrase walls. Recent research into soil organic carbon storage makes the understanding of terrace anthrosols an important aspect of modern environmental monitoring and Anthropocene landscape transformations.

Here, we attempt to demonstrate the integration of chemical, micromorphological, stratigraphic, and topographic data for construction, use and abandonment of terraces into three study areas (Soave Castle, Fornace Michelon and Belloca )in Veneto, northern Italy (45.420198°N, 11.255179°E). Soil geochemical data, microbotanical evidence (including phytoliths and soil DNA), luminescence data (both pOSL and OSL dating, radiocarbon, and topographical information are integrated to produce a socio-environmental synthesis which is compared to the known archaeological, historical and environmental records for the region during the past 3000 years. In particular, erosion risk and soil volumes calculated from surface models and test pits aid in understanding how the slope has been modified over time, and how intensity of human activity has impacted soil development and loss. This integrated data provides us a robust platform for assessing the understanding actions taken by farmers to alter the slope and make it more suitable for cultivation, as well as the effects of abandonment and reuse.