THE SHEPHERD'S WRITINGS ON "HUMAN ECOLOGY"
Martedì, 13 Settembre 2016
The thousands of shepherds' inscriptions, which can be found on the slopes of Mount Cornón in the Fiemme Valley are at the basis of the article published on HUMAN ECOLOGY last 1st September.
The rock inscriptions produced by shepherds in the Fiemme Valley of the Italian Alps document mountain agro-pastoral activity and also shed light on both the recent and distant past. In this paper the climate factors that influenced the frequency of the shepherds’ writing activity are analysed throughout a dendroclimatological survey on the trees living in the same area. The comparison between writings frequency and tree-ring series shows periods of correlation with spruce and Scots pine, while no connection appears with stone pine and larch. The influence of climate on abundance of writings is interspersed with periods where the driving factors are others. The correlation of the inscription frequency with the four mean tree ring chronologies, obtained from the same area, made it therefore possible to clearly define the ecological context and identify the climatic factors that influenced this activity in certain periods. The mean temperature of summer and autumn (i.e., until November) was the most important climatic factor influencing inscription frequency in particular and local pastoral activity in general.
The article is available electronically:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10745-016-9849-2