Special Issue "Phoenician, Greek and Roman Colonization of the Mediterranean Basin and the Origin of Commercial Agriculture"

Dear Colleagues,

The establishment of a global space of exchange relations between the kingdoms of the East, Egypt, Syria-Palestine, Cyprus, Crete, Greece, and the Hittite Empire, was projected towards the West. This occurred mainly during the late Bronze Age and was completed at the beginning of the Iron Age with the historical phenomenon known as Phoenician colonization. This in turn implied the establishment of new and extended limits to the then-known Mediterranean world, until they were surpassed a millennium later by the Roman Empire. It is well known that a series of technical advances, soon assimilated by the local populations, began to arrive from the Eastern Mediterranean through colonization. Among them was the generalized use of iron, which was of great importance for agriculture since the fabrication of new tools allowed for a different use of the soil and a different approach to agriculture. This in turn allowed the population to grow and led to the emergence of surpluses that, for commercial purposes, gave rise to commercial agriculture and later to specialization in certain crops in the areas with the highest yields. Since there are not many written sources of the period, much of this information must be inferred through archaeological excavations. In the latter, through appropriate techniques such as the study of pollen or carbon 14, the presence of certain foods in different geographical locations and periods can be determined. So far, the relationship of land use change with the colonization of the Phoenician, Greek and Roman civilizations has not been addressed in a Special Issue, especially considering agriculture as an economic activity for commercial purposes once it had been superseded as a means of subsistence.

This Special Issue aims to focus on the impact that the Phoenician, Greek and Roman civilizations have had on the possible change of land use in the Mediterranean based on their colonization processes.

Prof. Dr. Francisco Manzano Agugliaro
Prof. Dr. Jose Luis López Castro
Guest Editors

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• agriculture
• anthracology
• arboriculture
• archaeobotany
• archaeology
• colonization
• commercial city-states
• crops in the antiquity
• first farmers
• forest management
• fruit cultivation
• Greek colonization
• human impact
• land tenure
• land use
• Mediterranean basin
• Mediterranean connectivity
• migration
• mobility
• Phoenician colonization
• plant food
• Roman colonization
• seed and fruit remains
• western mediterranean