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I synthesize the anthracological data from archaeological sites located north of Mendoza, in central-western Argentina, to demonstrate the potential of anthracology for studying socio-environmental relationships. My methodology includes archaeological, historical, ethnographic, and environmental data from 1200 to 100 years BP - the pre-Hispanic, colonial, and modern periods. For each period, I discuss the characteristics of four interrelated factors: (1) ways of dwellings, (2) socio-environmental relationships, (3) archaeological records on firewood use, and (4) human-induced landscape modifications. My results allow the identification of problems and the generation of questions that enrich the social interpretation of the anthracological record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to scientifically allocate rural landscape resources, reasonably plan rural tourism space, and ensure that the local characteristics of the countryside are not homogenized when carrying out rural landscape design, this paper studies rural landscape design strategies based on deep learning models. The extreme learning machine algorithm, DBN-RBM algorithm model and the improved DBN-DELM algorithm are the main technical means to obtain research data and parameter calibration results for tourism planning and development work, and the rural planning direction and planning theme is determined through the rural landscape design pre-analysis work. The data show that the main motives of tourists’ rural experience tourism are close to nature 85.90% and leisure vacation 75%, followed by understanding culture 45.30%, novelty 30.70%, parent-child education 29.20%, health retreat 30.40%, and business meeting 5.90%. In this paper, the study of rural landscape planning and design can effectively alleviate the contradiction between people’s production and living and ecological environment and coordinate the benign development of rural and tourism elements in their respective spaces.

The aim of the study was to present the concepts of water reclamation and development of post-mining areas of the Adamów Lignite Mine following the termination of its excavating operation. Reclamation procedures will accelerate the process of restoring the devastated post-mining area to the natural environment and, above all, will contribute to the increase in local water resources. It was decided to create several water reservoirs with different surface areas and capacities within the final workings of opencasts. The reservoirs are used for water retention, recreation, melioration and flood control purposes, as well as for depositing overburden from other opencast workings. In total, the construction of 5 water reservoirs will include 4 weirs, 7 monks and 3 culverts with damming as well as a number of kilometres of inflow and outflow channels. The schedule of works and expenditures of the investment amounts to PLN 14.509.512 and is divided into 5 stages, not only covering the construction of the reservoirs, but also the water and drainage infrastructure necessary for their proper operation. All constructed and planned water reservoirs (Przykona, Janiszew, Koźmin, Głowy, Adamów, Koźmin Końcowy and Władysławów) will become new permanent elements of the landscape and the hydrographic network, coupled with the catchment system of the Warta River. They will allow for increase in the retention capacity of the Adamów Lignite Mine's area from previous 32,3 million m3 to 219.6 million m3 in the perspective of 2023. They will improve the microclimate of post-mining areas and have a positive impact on lands created as a result of reclamation. They will provide retention for irrigation of adjacent agricultural areas and help reduce economic and natural losses caused by flooding. They will open recreational opportunities for residents of surrounding areas characterised by water shortages. The post-mining reservoirs, formed during mining operations, perfectly fit into the Small Retention Program. The existing and planned water bodies are the best proof for the rightness of decisions taken in the field of reclamation for water purposes. Landscape shaping during the exploitation of lignite, as practice shows, is a great opportunity for the post-mining region to create reservoirs in places where they do not occur in nature.

The aim of the study was to present the concepts of water reclamation and development of post-mining areas of the Adamów Lignite Mine following the termination of its excavating operation. The reclamation procedures will accelerate the process of restoring the devastated post-mining area to the natural environment and, above all, will contribute to the increase in local water resources. Several water reservoirs with different surface areas and capacities within the final excavations of opencasts were created. The reservoirs are used for water retention, recreation, melioration and flood control purposes, as well as for depositing overburden from other opencast excavations. In total, the construction of 5 water reservoirs will include 4 weirs, 7 monks and 3 culverts with damming as well as a number of kilometres of inflow and outflow channels. The schedule of works and expenditures of the investment amounts to PLN 14,509,512 and is divided into 5 stages, not only covering the construction of the reservoirs, but also the water and drainage infrastructure necessary for their proper operation. All constructed and planned water reservoirs (Przykona, Janiszew, Koźmin, Głowy, Adamów, Koźmin Końcowy and Władysławów) will become new permanent elements of the landscape and the hydrographic network, coupled with the catchment system of the Warta River. They will allow for an increase in the retention capacity of the Adamów Lignite Mine area from the previous 32.3 million m3 to 219.6 million m3 in the perspective of 2023. They will improve the microclimate of postmining areas and have a positive impact on the lands created as a result of reclamation. They will provide retention for the irrigation of adjacent agricultural areas and help reduce the economic and natural losses caused by flooding. They will open recreational opportunities for the residents of the surrounding areas, characterized by water shortages. The post-mining reservoirs, formed during mining operations, fit perfectly into the Small Retention Program. The existing and planned water bodies are the best proof confirming that the decisions taken in the field of reclamation for water purposes were right. As practice shows, the landscape shaping during the exploitation of lignite is a great opportunity for the post-mining region to create reservoirs in the places where they do not occur in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use palynological and historical records to reconstruct the evolution of agricultural practices and their consequences on landscape development in a mid-elevation Pyrenean small lake catchment during the last millennium. A total of ten cultivated plants and eight weed taxa were recognised and their changes in time recorded in detail. Two main phases of agricultural development were identified, A1 (9th-14th centuries ad) and A2 (16th-19th centuries ad). A1 coincided with the medieval climate anomaly and began after a widespread loss of woodland by fire, as manifested in a decline of arboreal pollen from ~60 to ~30 %, which affected mainly the pine woods (~40 to ~10 %). This phase was characterised by cultivation of the cereals Secale and Triticum/Avena, with Plantago as the main weed, alternating with pastures dominated by Artemisia, in a ca. 60 year land-use rotation scheme. A1 also coincided with a feudal socio-economic system that replaced the shifting cultivation practices of the earlier inhabitants with intensive agriculture. This type of land use was interrupted by the onset of the Little Ice Age, coinciding with a great social crisis with wars and plagues, leading to the depopulation of the zone and the recovery of woodlands. The onset of A2 coincided with the Spanish monarchy of the modern age and was characterised by Cannabis cultivation, which attained a maximum in the post-modern age, at the transition between feudalism and capitalism. Hemp was mainly used to supply fibre to the Spanish navy and the cultivation of this plant was mandatory until the disestablishment of this navy in ad 1834. After this date, a second socio-economic crisis took place as a consequence of massive emigration to large cities, promoted by the growing industrialisation. The combination of fossil and historical evidence significantly improves palaeoecological reconstructions in areas under heavy human impact, which is useful to enhance historical soundness, to understand how modern landscapes have been shaped and also to disentangle natural causes of ecological change from human ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last millennia, the land between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea, characterized by extraordinary habitat diversity, has seen an outstanding cross-cultural development. For the first time, this paper reports on the census of the Holocene archaeological sites that have been studied as part of archaeobotany in Italy (continental Italy, the Italian peninsula and islands) over the last quarter in a century. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, seeds and fruits, woods/charcoals and other plant remains have all been analysed in multidisciplinary researches. A list of 630 sites has been provided by more than 15 archaeobotanical teams. The sites are located across the 20 regions of Italy, and in the Republic of San Marino (356 sites in northern Italy, 118 in central Italy, 156 in southern Italy and on the islands). They belong to several cultural phases: 321 sites are only pre-Roman, 264 are Roman/post-Roman, and 45 sites cover a broader range of time, present in both time spans. Site distribution is plotted in maps of site density according to geographical districts and the main chronological phases. The reference list helps to find analytical data referring to the descriptive papers that may be scattered throughout monographs and specific books on the matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study area is located in the region with the highest risk of erosion and landslides in Romania; the land degradation processes are favored by the natural environment. We studied a ravine, having dry valley aspects that evolve after improvement. Research followed to determine the intensity of erosion and the manifestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land management has made a strong impact on the landscapes, especially in arid environments. Based on historical data, this paper evaluates the role of Catholic churches in the shaping of the Sanshenggong area in western China in the 1870s. Sanshenggong, an arid/semi-arid region located in western Inner Mongolia, was an important Catholic region in the west Ordos Plateau after the 1870s. After the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae) (CICM) obtained land from the Maharajah of Alashan Banner, the Belgian priests converted local Chinese (Hans) to Catholicism by lending land, houses and farm implements. By 1949 most people living there had been converted. As a result of intensive land management by the Catholic mission, the arid/semiarid landscape, formerly used as grazing lands, was changed to more intensive agricultural use. This case study exemplifies the practices and the important role an authoritarian religious organisation played in shaping oasis landscapes in arid and semiarid areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]