Managing the Historical Agricultural Landscape in the Sicilian Anthropocene Context. The Landscape of the Valley of the Temples as a Time Capsule

Angela Alessandra Badami

doi:10.3390/su13084480

Abstract

The debate over whether we are entering the Anthropocene Epoch focuses on the unequal consumption of the Earth system’s resources at the expense of nature’s regenerative abilities. To find a new point of balance with nature, it is useful to look back in time to understand how the so-called “Great Acceleration”—the surge in the consumption of the planet’s resources—hastened the arrival of the Anthropocene. Some particular places—for various reasons—survived the Great Acceleration and, as time capsules, have preserved more or less intact some landscape features that have disappeared elsewhere. How can we enhance these living archives that have come down to us? Through the analysis of the case study of the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento (Sicily, Italy), the article presents several initiatives that have tried to answer this question. For example, the pre-Anthropocene landscape of the Valley of the Temples has preserved rare specimens of some plant species from which living gene banks have been built for the propagation of species, such as the Living Museum of the Almond Tree. In addition, the Kolymbethra, an ancient example of a Mediterranean garden, has been brought back to life revealing finds related to Greek and Arab cultivation and irrigation systems. The research perspectives opened by the “disappeared landscapes” show that the knowledge of the historical landscape, in particular the mechanisms behind its resilience, is indispensable for countering the unsustainable voracity of the Anthropocene and rediscover a renewed synergy between humankind and nature.

Highlights

The debate about the consequences of entering the Anthropocene Epoch [1] is at the centre of the reflections of many researchers who have dedicated themselves to analysing the dynamics of humankind’s use and consumption of resources at the expense of nature’s regenerative abilities, adopting lifestyles that have long proved unsustainable
According to Niles [73,74], traditional agriculture is usually considered a relic of the past, an inefficient way of farming the land
This is amply demonstrated by the case of the Valley of the Temples, traditional agriculture is one of the richest testimonies of human environmental experience, one of the most successful ways to establish a relationship of collaboration with the nature that is transmissible and sustainable [13]

Summary

Introduction

The debate about the consequences of entering the Anthropocene Epoch [1] is at the centre of the reflections of many researchers who have dedicated themselves to analysing the dynamics of humankind’s use and consumption of resources at the expense of nature’s regenerative abilities, adopting lifestyles that have long proved unsustainable. The analysis of human–landscape interactions in Anthropocene landscapes is an essential interpretative key for better understanding the evolution of our current environment and can provide useful information on the phenomena that gave rise to the Anthropocene. In this context, agriculture is at the centre of human interference in natural cycles; profound reforms in agriculture and food systems [6] will need to be achieved in the coming years if we want to live within the 4.0/).

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Conclusion