Human-environment interactions in the South Caucasus : quantifying land change over the Holocene

Abstract

This study estimates land use in the South Caucasus across four Holocene epochs, employing a Land Use Model with related Circle Diagrams for visualization. The Model is supported by detailed data extraction from archaeological literature, focusing on demography, diet, and energy consumption. Despite data challenges, my synthesis identifies several primary land use types from these periods, including settlements, lowland fields, intensive pasture, agroforestry, woodlots, extensive pasture, and hunting and gathering. The initial period (10-9 ka cal. BP) saw primarily hunting-gathering with an emerging pastoral component, while the second period (5.5-4.5 ka cal. BP) signified a shift to agro-pastoralism with advanced settlements and intensified agriculture. The third period (2.6-1.4 ka cal. BP) witnessed increased woodlots utilization from an iron industry and pastureland dominance due to horse domestication. The fourth period (0.5-0.2 ka cal. BP) reflected Persian-Ottoman influence towards profit-centric land use, with a focus on intensive lowland fields and agroforestry expansion encouraged by international trade. This integrated Model and its visualization contribute to an understanding of evolving land utilization in the South Caucasus, offering archaeologists a novel approach to synthesize and map interdisciplinary datasets. In turn, this can facilitate hypothesis construction about societal changes, and provide valuable insights into cultural transformations.