Understanding the relationship between climate variability, environmental change and human susceptibility is a central theme within modern geography and landscape archaeology. Central Italy is one of the few places on earth to have well-preserved written records and archaeological evidence extending back more than two millennia allowing for a detailed analysis of socioeconomic factors that contribute to land use decisions. However, there are surprisingly few high-resolution paleo-ecologic studies spanning the last 2,500 years from near the center of the Roman Empire, where environmental impacts might be expected to be most severe.

The goal of this workshop is to start a debate between scientists, archaeologists, and historians about the environmental history of landscape change in central Italy during the last 2,500 years and to explicitly examine the link between climate, society, and environment in order to gain a better understanding of the human response to past climate change.

Papers will be given in English and Italian.

The workshop organizers are Gianluca Piovesan and Gabriele Cifani. The sponsors include the National Science Foundation; the University of Nevada, Reno; Università degli studi della Tuscia, Viterbo; Istituto nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Roma; Università degli studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”; and the American Academy in Rome.