Abstract
In this study, we present a transparent and reproducible approach to model agricultural production with respect to environmental characteristics and available labour. Our research focuses on the city of Pergamon and its surroundings, with an emphasis on the transition between the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial Period, where widespread demographic changes took place. We investigated the degree of local self-sufficiency using different concepts of a city’s complementary region. Using simple topographic derivatives, we derive a measure of environmental suitability that we translate into a carrying capacity index. Our results show that workforce was not a limiting factor for local self-sufficiency. However, environmental carrying capacity may have been limiting in a scenario with a large population. An active investment into the environment, e.g., by the construction of terraces, could have helped to increase the degree of self-sufficiency. Future research should investigate the level of resilience of such a coupled socio-ecological system in relation to environmental and socio-cultural dynamics.
Highlights
We focus on the potential food production of Pergamon and its complementary region during the transition between the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial Period, where widespread demographic changes in the city and its complementary region are attested [1,2]
The concept of carrying capacity is defined in ecology as the maximum population density that can be sustained by an area without being degraded or destroyed [40]
We investigated the potential for local supply with cereals and leguminosae using different heuristics of the complementary region of Pergamon
Summary
We focus on the potential food production of Pergamon and its complementary region during the transition between the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial Period, where widespread demographic changes in the city and its complementary region are attested [1,2]. A cautious reconstruction of its potential extent by Sommerey [8] during the Roman Imperial Period includes the Kaikos (Bakırçay) valley approximately from the modern village Tekkedere in the west to Soma in the east and was framed by the slopes and mountains of the Pindasos (Kozak and Madra Dağı) in the north and Aspordenon (Yunt Dağı) in the south (Figure 1). The geographical extent of the Pergamon Micro-Region includes the lower valley of the Kaikos (Bakırçay) up to its delta (incorporating the cities of Pitane and Elaia), the adjacent mountains of Pindasos (Kozak and Madra Dağı) in the north, Aspordenon (Yunt Dağı) in the south, and the Kane Peninsula (Kara Dağ) in the west (Figure 1; see [9,10,11,12] for further information and details on the delineation and definition of the Micro-Region). The Micro-Region must not be considered as mono-hierarchy but as integrating different centres on different functional scales: The
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