Archaeogenetics and Landscape Dynamics in Sicily during the Holocene: A Review

Valentino Romano,Francesco Calì,Giuseppe Bazan,Luca Sineo,Giulio Catalano

doi:10.3390/su13179469

Valentino Romano, Francesco Calì + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179469

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Abstract

The Mediterranean islands and their population history are of considerable importance to the interpretation of the population history of Europe as a whole. In this context, Sicily, because of its geographic position, represents a bridge between Africa, the Near East, and Europe that led to the stratification of settlements and admixture events. The genetic analysis of extant and ancient human samples has tried to reconstruct the population dynamics associated with the cultural and demographic changes that took place during the prehistory and history of Sicily. In turn, genetic, demographic and cultural changes need to be understood in the context of the environmental changes that took place over the Holocene. Based on this framework, this paper aims to discuss the cultural and demographic dimension of the island by reviewing archaeogenetic studies, and lastly, we discuss the ecological constraints related to human peopling in times of change in landscapes that occurred on the island in various periods. Finally, possible directions for future archaeogenetic studies of Sicily are discussed. Despite its long human history, Sicily is still one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. The lessons we learn from the past use of landscape provide models for sustainable future management of the Mediterranean’s landscapes.

Highlights

The emergence and spread of human populations in Italy have been reconstructed over the course of many years via archaeological and paleontological data
This paper aims to discuss the cultural and demographic dimension of the island by reviewing past archaeogenetic studies, and we discuss the ecological constraints imposed by the peopling of the island in relation to changes in landscape that took place in Sicily in various prehistorical and historical periods by reviewing past paleobotanical studies
The extensive survey of the archaeogenetic studies of Sicily since the Troina meeting presented in this paper verifies that many of the predictions and plans made at that meeting have been realized

Summary

Introduction

The emergence and spread of human populations in Italy have been reconstructed over the course of many years via archaeological and paleontological data. Has been settled by Neolithic peoples, Italics, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, and Normans [3] These complex demographic and cultural dynamics must have affected the genomic structure of the Sicilian population to different extents at different times, but the actual relative genetic impact of these migrations remains largely unknown. This is not to say that at the present time our understanding of the genetic history of Sicily is a tabula rasa; on the contrary, as this article documents, in the past 40 years, Sicily has been the focus of many important archaeogenetic studies. It is precisely by capitalizing on these past efforts, as well as on the

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