Archaeological Landscape and Settlement II

Dear Colleagues,

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) which provide insights about the exploitation of the world's highland zones.

During the last few decades, problems regarding the exploitation of the highland zones have been analysed in better detail by many archaeologists worldwide. People have started to interpret mountain chains not exclusively as natural barriers, but also like territories which were systematically exploited and crossed during prehistory and history, not only when the ice melted and passes became accessible to move throughout different landscapes, but also for settling in different periods of the year, for different reasons.

It is well known that mountaineers in general show many affinities and habits independent from the country where they live, the language they speak and the dress they wear. Ongoing archaeological research has shown how important highland zones are for the study of human behaviour, human impact on the landscape and the exploitation of new territories and resources, among which are different varieties of functional and precious stone, as well as metal ores. When did people start to move across mountains and why? Why they were attracted by highland zones, and why do some mountains hide indelible iconographic traces of people’s beliefs, settling and living? How can we interpret traces of transhumance and pastoralism, the somewhat ephemeral traces of the way shepherds built their seasonal camps made of tents or stone-walled and wooden dwellings? Some mountain chains around the world show traces of the passage of Palaeolithic groups and the first modern humans during their spread across Africa, Eurasia, and the New Continent. What do we know at present about all of these events, how do we study them and how can we improve the level of our research in the highland zones in the world?

Prof. Dr. Paolo Biagi
Prof. Dr. Elisabetta Starnini
Guest Editors

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• human impact on the landscape
• coastal changes and sea-level rise
• settlement pattern and site complementarity
• radiocarbon dating
• the exploitation of the highland zones

• Archaeological Landscape and Settlement in Land (15 articles)