Transhumance landscapes in the southwestern Italian Alps: the contribution of Palynology in environmental and cultural heritage

Past environmental management systems and land use are important factors determining the current environmental setting and changes in ecosystem structure and function over time. One such practice, transhumance, played a key role in forming and managing rural Mediterranean landscapes. Despite its inclusion in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2019, transhumance is disappearing, negatively affecting biodiversity and increasing hydrogeological and wildfire risks. Understanding transhumance-influenced landscapes and biodiversity responses to pastoralism is vital to re-promote it as a virtuous management system. Its environmental impact over time can be fruitfully assessed through palynological investigations applied to biostratigraphical records from human-influenced contexts or to archaeological deposits. This contribution presents palynological data obtained from two test-pits (T1S2, 1579 m a.s.l.; T1S3, 1742 m a.s.l.) excavated in the area of Pian Rosso-Monte Mongioie (SW Italian Alps), a historically documented transhumance area. As part of an environmental archaeological project on past transhumance practices, this work aimed to reconstruct the late Holocene plant landscape of the area, focusing on pasture indicators (pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs). In T1S2, pollen of herbs linked to pastoral practices, such as Cichorieae and other Asteraceae, and soil erosion-associated fungal spores suggest the local presence of pasture/grazing activities. Pollen deterioration typical of animal digestion was observed, further supporting this hypothesis. In T1S3, Poaceae and cereal pollen and coprophilous fungal spores were frequent, indicating local animal stalling with straw. The cross-checking of these records with radiocarbon, soil chemistry and documentary research will be discussed to untangle the complexity of past agro-sylvo-pastoral practices and their effects over time. The first results of this research notably remark that, in interdisciplinary frameworks, palynological investigations provide high-resolution information on environmental changes linked to human activities. In reconstructing such a detailed environmental history, Palynology allows an assessment of historical sustainability, significantly enhancing our knowledge of past virtuous environmental management.