Not the End of the World? Post-Classical Decline and Recovery in Rural Anatolia

Between the foundation of Constantinople as capital of the eastern half of the Roman Empire in 330 CE and its sack by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 CE, the Byzantine Empire underwent a full cycle from political-economic stability, through rural insecurity and agrarian decline, and back to renewed prosperity. These stages plausibly correspond to the phases of over-extension (K), subsequent release (Ω) and recovery (α) of the Adaptive Cycle in Socio-Ecological Systems. Here we track and partly quantify the consequences of those changes in different regions of Anatolia, firstly for rural settlement (via regional archaeological surveys) and secondly for land cover (via pollen analysis). We also examine the impact of climate changes on the agrarian system. While individual histories vary, the archaeological record shows a major demographic decline between ca .650 and ca. 900 CE in central and southwestern Anatolia, which was then a frontier zone between Byzantine and Arab armies. In these regions, and also in northwest Anatolia, century-scale trends in pollen indicate a substantial decline in the production of cereal and tree crops, and a smaller decline in pastoral activity. During the subsequent recovery (α) phase after 900 CE there was strong regional differentiation, with central Anatolia moving to a new economic system based on agro-pastoralism, while lowland areas of northern and western Anatolia returned to the cultivation of commercial crops such as olive trees. The extent of recovery in the agrarian economy was broadly predictable by the magnitude of its preceding decline, but the trajectories of recovery varied between different regions

Palynological evidence for late-Holocene human occupation recorded in two wetlands in SW Turkey

Pollen diagrams from mountain lakes and marshes in SW Turkey show evidence of intensive anthropogenic influence in the landscape between 3500 and 1300 BP. Three cores from within the territory of the classical city Sagalassos (Western Taurus, Pisidia) were palynologically analysed to make a reconstruction of the past vegetation in the territory of Sagalassos and to estimate the impact of its inhabitants on the landscape in Pisidia. Two cores originate from an intramontane marsh (Gravgaz; elevation 1215 m) and one from a seasonal intramontane lake (Canakh; elevation 1030 m). Human acitivity is apparent from c. 2530 BP in the pollen diagrams. A deforestation phase/'disturbance' phase (from c. 2530 BP/c. 2480 BP till c. 2280 BP/c. 2270 BP), anthropogenically or climatologically driven, precedes a cultivation period (arboricultural phase) (from c. 2280 BP/2270 BP till c. 1480 BP/c. 1270 BP). The results of the pollen analyses of the three cores are compared and show many similarities. There are also similarities with other cores from SW Turkey, although the arboricultural phase (mainly olive cultivation) occurs later in the cores from the Sagalassos territory than in other cores from SW Turkey.status: publishe