Farming medieval Sardinia: geoarchaeology in the historic landscape of Marmilla

Food production is intrinsically linked to landscape conditions, society, culture and economy. However, while cultural, social and economic aspects of food production in medieval times are increasingly refined to a high-resolution detail, local landscapes at the core of medieval farming remain poorly understood. To bring research forward, this paper develops an historical ecology agenda and illustrates its application within ongoing research on Marmilla’s historical landscape. By combining multiple scales of enquire and environmental records, preliminary research results indicate that Marmilla’s landscape has been farmed almost continuously since Roman times, and there is some indication of intensification over time. The new records also show that local landscape settings are conducive to soil development, with localised erosion processes of hard geology providing nutrients for soils – these nutrients are vital for crop growing. Throughout such a long period of time, Marmilla’s farmers and landscape had to negotiate changing climatic, social and political changes. Yet, local environmental records do point to a relatively stable, dynamic and continuously farmed landscape, where resource management as much as flexibility of resource uses may have played a key role in ensuring food production over time.