Wetland Reclamation and the Development of Reclamation Landscapes: A Comparative Framework

ABSTRACT

Wetland reclamation has occurred under diverse geographic and socio-political conditions. A single reclamation event however, forms only one step in the evolution of what we refer to as reclamation landscapes. This paper assesses how interacting physical geographical, cultural and biological processes shape the landscape diachronically. Using a triangular model, we compare two wetland landscapes: the Pontine marshes in central Italy, reclaimed as part of Rome’s early Imperial expansion; and the Onlanden area in the northern Netherlands, reclaimed by emergent state societies in the Middle Ages. Reclamation turned out not fully resilient from a cultural perspective in both cases, as physical geographical and biological processes continued to raise challenges in both reclamation landscapes. It is argued that the triangular model offers potential to systematically explore the drivers behind landscape evolution comparatively. A better understanding of such drivers may in turn improve current landscape management policies, including rewilding efforts.

KEYWORDS:

• Human-environment interaction
• longue-durée
• resilience
• affordances
• landscape dynamics
• wetland reclamation
• Italy
• Netherlands

Acknowledgments

This paper has benefitted much from discussion during the EAA 2021 session ‘The Historical Ecology of Reclamation Landscapes: Towards a Cross-Cultural Comparative Perspective’ and with our fellow guest editors of the current Journal of Wetland Archaeology special issue. The comments and suggestions of two anonymous peer reviewers have greatly improved the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).