Loredana Lancini - Université catholique de Louvain

Loredana Lancini - Université catholique de Louvain
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Loredana Lancini
Université catholique de Louvain
Institut des Civilisations, Arts et Lettres (INCAL)
Post-Doc
Universite du Maine
UMR 6566 CreAAH (Centre de recherches en archéologie, archéosciences, histoire)
ATER (Attaché temporaire de la recherche et de l'enseignement)
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Post-doc project: « DICE: DIvination Cultural Environment. Understanding cleromancy practices and their relationship with the environment. The case of ancient Latium (VIth BC-Ist AD) ».
Docteure en histoire ancienne.
Sujet : « Phénomènes volcaniques et traditions mythiques : du monde grec colonial aux sociétés de l'océan Pacifique (îles Fidji) »
INCA
Place Cardinal Mercier 31/L3.03.13
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
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Papers by Loredana Lancini
Earthquakes and Natural Hazards in the Pacific Islands: A Mythological Perspective
Geoheritage 17:143
, 2025
Earthquakes are a major threat in the Pacific Islands, where most people still live in traditiona...
more
Earthquakes are a major threat in the Pacific Islands, where most people still live in traditional villages. This is why stakeholders
are paying particular attention to disaster mitigation strategies that incorporate culturally rooted tools of resilience.
In particular, recent studies increasingly highlight the wealth of important environmental information conveyed through
indigenous knowledge. This knowledge is passed down orally and is often embedded in compelling narratives, which
may take the form of myth. Indeed, myth can sometimes serve as a narrative vehicle for codifying the memory of natural
disasters, as well as for processing and transmitting that experience. We will therefore explore the data provided by oral
tradition regarding earthquakes, focusing in particular on several significant myths. This will allow us to demonstrate that
even in the absence of a specialized vocabulary, populations affected by recurrent and devastating phenomena have developed
functional ways both to preserve the memory of these events and to provide an explanation for them. Through the
example of the Pacific, we can observe how myth functions as a tool for understanding how the observation of a natural
event leads to its emotional and cultural recovery, and to its narrative elaboration.
Enhancing Oral Tradition in Fiji for the Study of Archaeological Remains . The Case of the Hillforts in the Nadroga-Navosa Province
Studia MYTHOLOGICA Slavica
, 2025
The Fiji Islands offer a compelling case for cross-cultural research integrating archaeology and ...
more
The Fiji Islands offer a compelling case for cross-cultural research integrating archaeology and oral tradition. Fijian society still practices oral transmission, preserving diverse stories with cultural significance. Many legends and beliefs are tied to past settlements, consid-ered sacred due to their symbolic role. In June 2022, fieldwork in Nadroga-Navosa (Viti Levu)  as  part  of  the  Environmental  Changes  and  Heritage  in  the  Fijian  Islands  project,  explored hillforts and oral traditions through archaeological surveys. Findings from sites like Tabuqutu and Old Tau reveal that landscapes and remains are deeply embedded in local memory. Stories of origins, place names and beliefs about hillforts as ancestral homes highlight the enduring role of oral tradition in shaping historical knowledge. This paper presents these findings, emphasizing the value of oral tradition in interpreting archaeology within Fijian society.
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Interviews pinpointed ancient fortified site locations and their historical significance, enhancing archaeological understanding.
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Ritual offerings or divination tools? Objects for play from the Roman Republican sanctuary of Diana in Nemi
by
Loredana Lancini
Francesca Diosono
, and
Federica Grossi
Games in the Ancient World: Places, Spaces, Accessories
, 2024
Recent research conducted at the sanctuary of Diana at Nemi entailed both fieldwork and a re-exa...
more
Recent research conducted at the sanctuary of Diana at Nemi entailed  both fieldwork and a re-examination of finds from earlier excavations in the area. Diana protects women (especially in childbirth), slaves, children, and young people in times of status transition. Offerings of objects of play or human representations bearing toys in the sanctuary space should be viewed as relating to the latter, as is usual in other sanctuaries in ancient Latium. Among the thousands of objects found in Nemi, the objects of this type are relatively few, while real toys for small children are altogether absent. Figurines of dedicatees carrying games and children with animals are rare: it is also not clear whether they are simply replicas of widespread moulds or have a particular meaning. Depictions of children are also uncommon, though there is one statuette of a nursing mother. The games we have at the sanctuary of Nemi are above all counters and astragals, and their analysis within the context of the sanctuary provides new insights for the study of these items. Our working hypothesis is that there was a possible relationship between astragals (and maybe other gaming-related objects) and activities related to predicting the future in the sanctuary at Nemi (i.e. cleromancy). This contribution therefore explores the complexity of the data, aiming to analyse the materials found in the
sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis.
Going through a lake of Darkness. The Nemi crater as a gateway to the Roman Underworld
by
Loredana Lancini
and
Francesca Diosono
Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 63
, 2023
The lake of Avernus and the lake of Nemi have played a very important role in Roman religion and ...
more
The lake of Avernus and the lake of Nemi have played a very important role in Roman religion and mythology. Both lay on collapsed volcanic craters along the Tyrrhenian coastline, and the peculiar nature of the landscape surrounding the two lakes is suggestive enough to feel a divine presence in these places. But connections between the two lakes are less superficial than it appears. In his Commentary on the Aeneid (VI 136), Servius establishes a strong parallelism between the lakes of Avernus and of Nemi. According to this author, Aeneas has to pluck a golden bough to enter the Underworld, whose gate is near the Avernus Lake, following the instruction of the Sybil: it was this very same sacred bough that played a central role in the life-or-death fight between the rex nemorensis (the "king of the wood" in charge) and the pretender in the cult founded by Orestes in Nemi, once he returned from Tauris. The centrality of a bough to be torn off to go below the lake in both myths seems to imply that the lake of Nemi itself can be linked to the Underworld. The Avernus in particular is known for being a gateway to the Underworld: Virgil presents the lake in this way, and he locates here Aeneas's katabasis, while Homer places here the Odysseus' necromancy. It appears therefore logic to explore the hypothesis that the lake of Nemi could have had similar relation to the Underworld. Finally, the paper also examines the possibility that the presence of a passage to the Underworld is also connected to divination activities.
Driva Qele / Stealing Earth: Oral Accounts of the Volcanic Eruption of Nabukelevu (Mt. Washington), Kadavu Island (Fiji), ~2,500 Years Ago
Oral Tradition
, 2023
Over the past two decades, it has become clear that culturally grounded stories, once uncriticall...
more
Over the past two decades, it has become clear that culturally grounded stories, once uncritically dismissed as myth or legend, often contain information suggesting that they are informed by observations of memorable events, such as coastal inundation, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and meteorite falls (Nunn and Reid 2016; Nunn 2014; Masse 2007; Piccardi and Masse 2007). The principal value for natural scientists of recognizing these stories for what they are lies in the potential extension of detail, beyond that possible from retrodictive scientific enquiry, about the manifestations of these events and their effects on landscapes and their inhabitants. Understanding the empirical basis of these stories also allows insights into the ways in which people once explained such memorable events and how these explanations were conveyed orally, often exaggerated and reworked, across many generations (Nunn 2018; Taggart 2018; Kelly 2015)—a process characterized as “memory crunch” (Barber and Barber 2004).
Stories about volcanic eruptions which are likely to have some empirical basis have been recognized from many parts of the world (Nunn et al. 2019; Nordvig 2019; Riede 2015; Vitaliano 1973).
[...]
The practice of using ancient, culturally filtered narratives to illuminate the nature of past geoscientific phenomena and their impacts is termed “geomythology.”
[...]
The volcano of Nabukelevu, which dominates the western extremity of elongate Kadavu Island in southern Fiji, erupted at least three times during the three millennia that this archipelago has been occupied by people (Cronin et al. 2004). Stories about an eruption of Nabukelevu, known as Mt. Washington during Fiji’s colonial era, were first written down in the early-twentieth century and remain well known as oral traditions among contemporary Kadavu residents. Analysis of these stories has the potential to explain what happened during this eruption, how people living at the time in different parts of Kadavu rationalized what they saw, and how such stories were encoded in oral tradition and have been sustained since. This study focuses on these questions to reach a deeper understanding of this eruption and its impacts, physical and cognitive, on the people of Kadavu.
Façonné par le feu ou comment les phénomènes volcaniques construisent les récits mythologiques
Living with Seismic Phenomena in the Mediterranean and Beyond between Antiquity and the Middle Ages Proceedings of Cascia (2019) and Le Mans (2021). Edited by Rita Compatangelo-Soussignan, Francesca Diosono, Frédéric Le Blay Archaeopress Archaeology
, 2022
Catastrophic events have left scars not only in the environment, but also in collective memory. A...
more
Catastrophic events have left scars not only in the environment, but also in collective memory. As the Mediterranean basin
is a geographic area subject to relatively frequent volcanic activities, it is no surprise to find multiple explanations to these
phenomena in ancient cultural products. Myths have been among the tools used throughout history to preserve and transmit
knowledge about dangerous geological phenomena, allowing ancient populations to conceptualize and somehow analyse
catastrophic events. This paper proposes a discussion starting from the definition adopted by Vitaliano in 1973 of ‘geo-myths’ as
specific myths/tales that contain not only clear references to geological phenomena, but wherein memories of past catastrophic
events play a central role in the plot. Three case studies selected from Sicily and the from the Phlegrean Fields are analysed
through the words of Graeco-Roman historiographers and mythographers to highlight the geological core of those tales. The
contribution ultimately aims to develop a ground-based approach to the study of geo-myths as indispensable tools adopted by
ancient communities to explore and exploit the environment.
Un terrible et affreux combat. L’apport de l’approche géomythologique à la compréhension ancienne du volcanisme
HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific r...
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HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.
Miti di Diluvio in Grecia e in Australia e la resilienza in azione
Riparia
Storie di diluvio universale sono presenti nelle tradizioni culturali in tutto il mondo e sono st...
more
Storie di diluvio universale sono presenti nelle tradizioni culturali in tutto il mondo e sono state sempre tendenzialmente interpretate come fittizie. Tuttavia, è possibile collegare alcune di queste storie a un preciso evento geologico, soprattutto quando esse sono localizzate in zone che hanno subito durante l'Olocene l'innalzamento del livello del mare, come dimostrato da recenti studi geoarcheologici e geologici, il che ci informa sulla consapevolezza dei popoli antichi dei cambiamenti ambientali. Questa ricerca propone l'analisi di storie di diluvio dall'antica Grecia (il noto diluvio di Deucalione, così come storie di diluvi circoscritti geograficamente come quello di Dardano e di Cerambo) e un confronto con storie provenienti dagli antichi popoli aborigeni australiani. L'obiettivo è cercare di comprendere la capacità resiliente delle popolazioni costiere, il processo di conservazione nella memoria collettiva di eventi catastrofici e la loro codificazione in storie
Echoes of Ancient Volcanic Representations: A Geo-Mythological Approach
PHYSIS Rivista Internazionale di Storia della Scienza. Nuova Serie. Vol. LV, Fasc. 1-2
, 2020
Reflections, studies, and observations on volcanic phenomena, especially
about Etna, and their co...
more
Reflections, studies, and observations on volcanic phenomena, especially
about Etna, and their consequences on natural and human landscapes can be traced back to early moments of Greek colonization on Sicily. Hesiod (8th-7th c. BC) was the first to mention the myth of the battle between Zeus and Typhon, which conceals the memory  of an ancient volcanic eruption. This very same narrative motif is echoed in the production of later authors wherein a description of Etna’s volcanic eruptions is recognizable. The character of Typhon can be found in other volcanic contexts as well, thus becoming a topos alluding to volcanic activity. These considerations demonstrate an archaic aptitude in representing and explaining nature through myth, whose suggestive language permits to encode memories of real events. Defined as ‘geomythology,’ this methodological approach will be employed to analyse the figure of Typhon and its connection with Mount Etna, which will allow new insights into the analysis of ancient volcanic representations.
Barbari ostili o pacifici interlocutori. Traci e Greci ad Apollonia Pontica
ARISTONOTHOS. Scritti per il Mediterraneo antico
, 2019
Apollonia Pontica è un’apoikia greca sulla costa bulgara del Mar
Nero che offre spunti interessan...
more
Apollonia Pontica è un’apoikia greca sulla costa bulgara del Mar
Nero che offre spunti interessanti per lo studio delle modalità e
finalità dell’intervento greco in area pontica. In questo contributo
verranno segnalati gli aspetti di maggior rilievo dell’azione dei Greci
colonizzatori nella baia di Burgas e delle relazioni instaurate con la
popolazione locale, alla luce dei dati storici e delle più recenti
scoperte archeologiche.
Miti di diluvio in Grecia e in Australia e la resilienza in azione. Uno studio comparativo sulle risposte delle società orali alle catastrofi naturali
RIPARIA
, 2019
There are drowning stories spread all over the world and they have always been regarded as fictio...
more
There are drowning stories spread all over the world and they have always been regarded as fictional. Anyway, there are some local flood myths that actually may have been inspired by a precise geological event. Recent geoarchaeological and geological studies have demonstrated that in certain regions during the Holocene there was sea-level rise and flood myths show us that people were aware of environmental and landscape changes. This research proposes the analysis of drowning stories from Ancient Greece (the well-known Deucalion flood, and other flood stories geographically confined like the Dardanus and Cerambos ones) compared to ancient aboriginal stories of coastal drowning in Australia, in order to understand the capacities of resilience of coastal populations and the process that makes them keep the memory of hazardous events and to encode the information in stories that are part of the traditional heritage of oral-based societies.
Nunn, P., Lancini, L., Franks, L., Compatangelo-Soussignan, R., & McCallum, A., Maar Stories: How Oral Traditions Aid Understanding of Maar Volcanism and Associated Phenomena during Preliterate Times.
by
Loredana Lancini
Leigh Franks
rita Compatangelo-Soussignan
, and
Adrian McCallum
Annals of the American Association of Geographers.
, 2019
Ancient stories recalling catastrophic events were developed, sometimes encoded in myth, and pass...
more
Ancient stories recalling catastrophic events were developed, sometimes encoded in myth, and passed down across several millennia in largely oral contexts. Volcanism is well suited to such stories and there are examples of extant stories recalling eruptions that occurred several millennia ago. This study focuses on a subset of these stories—those that recall the formation and subsequent (hazard-related) manifestations of maar volcanoes. Because these form as a result of the mixing of magma and groundwater, which produces explosive phreatomagmatic eruptions, they are among the most memorable catastrophic volcanic phenomena. Ancient stories recalling maar formation are known from Australia where cultural isolation for most of the past 65,000 years explains the extraordinary longevity and replication fidelity of such stories. Stories referring to the postformation developments of maars from Lake Albano in Italy are also described, together with less readily interpreted stories from elsewhere. Motif analysis suggests that preliterate peoples incorporated their observations of maar formation into stories as the shrieks of birds (escaping gas) and the approach of demons (eruptions), as well as narrative details such as the sky turning red and the ground surface twisting and cracking. Motifs referring to posteruption activity at maars include those that recall craters filling with water and ones that recall associated breaches of crater rims, lahars, and flooding downslope. The existence of maar stories of the kinds described and their demonstrable potential for adding detail and explanation to particular events several millennia ago should encourage geographers to treat such information sources with more respect than has been customary.
Key Words: lahar, local knowledge, maar, maar lake, oral traditions, volcanism.
Call for Papers and Posters by Loredana Lancini
Programme du colloque international "De la nature (et) et des dieux. Penser les relations entre environnement naturel et religions en Méditerranée ancienne".
by
Loredana Lancini
Francesca Diosono
Dario Monti
, and
Françoise Van Haeperen
Université catholique de Louvain, 27 février – 1er mars 2025.
Le colloque ambitionne d'interroger...
more
Université catholique de Louvain, 27 février – 1er mars 2025.
Le colloque ambitionne d'interroger les liens entre religion et environnement dans l'Antiquité méditerranéenne, et de jeter des ponts entre histoire des religions et histoire de l'environnement.
Il est ouvert à toutes et à tous, sans inscription, en présentiel comme à distance (merci d'écrire à
[email protected]
, pour obtenir les liens de visio-conférence).
EAA 2025 Belgrade, Session #190
While archaeology provides material evidence through the excavation and analysis of artefacts, or...
more
While archaeology provides material evidence through the excavation and analysis of artefacts, oral tradition and toponomastics complement these discoveries by offering historical, cultural and symbolic contexts that are often inaccessible through physical remains alone. Oral tradition is a way to encapsulate the memory of typical features of places, landscape, building, cultural activities, a behaviour observed in all societies. One way to codify the memory in oral tradition is the toponomastics, but there are other ways, like myth, legends, novels, dance, songs, all part of the collective memory of a community. Place names in particular can preserve past symbolic meanings and conceptualisations of places, identity and geography. By integrating archaeology and oral tradition researchers can reinterpret archaeological sites in the light of local narratives. Even if oral tradition constantly changes and adapts to current collective memories, identities, and values through time, researchers have shown that some continuity in its meaning and symbolism can be detected. Furthermore, this multidisciplinary approach allows us to explore how contemporary communities give meaning to landscape and how they associate with past people(s) and ancestral territories, revealing how place names and oral tradition provide the basis for collective identities, even in contexts of change and displacement. Oral tradition is still part of living culture and therefore becomes a tool to manipulate the perception of the past, it is an unexplored field that can be useful as long as it is systematic and based on a strict documentary basis. The abuse of oral history in the context of archaeological monuments is therefore an important subject of research. The ‘new perspectives’ reflect a more holistic approach to the study of the past: this interaction contributes to a more complex and complete view of ancient societies and their connections with present and past landscapes.
Call for papers (deadline 30/09/2024) : "De la nature (et) des dieux. Penser les relations entre environnement naturel et religions en Méditerranée ancienne". UCLouvain, 27-28/02/2025
Si la religion a toujours été l’un des piliers des études consacrées à l’Antiquité, l’environneme...
more
Si la religion a toujours été l’un des piliers des études consacrées à l’Antiquité, l’environnement n’a acquis que récemment une place incontournable dans le débat scientifique, en écho notamment à l’actualité écologique et à la prise de conscience associée. Les recherches en la matière se sont employées à reconstruire les paysages anciens, à examiner des éléments naturels, faunistique ou floristique, et leurs évolutions, ou encore à analyser le rôle de facteurs environnementaux perturbateurs comme les épidémies, les crises de subsistance, les catastrophes naturelles, etc.
En faire l’histoire implique aussi de faire celle de ses relations avec l’homme, qui agit sur cet environnement, s’en sert et donc dépend de lui, et qui le met souvent en lien avec le sacré. Pourtant, religion et environnement ont peu fait l’objet de réflexions historiques communes. L’examen de leur relation intrinsèque et la place de l’un dans la conception, théorisation et appréhension de l’autre ont été peu abordés encore. Pourtant il apparaît dès la première lecture que certains rituels visaient au contrôle des éléments naturels les plus imprévisibles, ou que les caractéristiques de l’environnement naturel ont été déterminantes dans le choix de l’emplacement de sanctuaires ou dans la formation de certains récits mythiques.
Cette relation entre l’environnement et la religion, entre le naturel et le divin, devrait faire l’objet de réflexions plus larges et plus ambitieuses. C’est pourquoi nous proposons, avec ce colloque, d’aborder cette relation sous trois angles de recherche principaux :
Axe 1 : INTERPRÉTER l’environnement naturel par le religieux, ou APPRÉHENDER le religieux par l’environnement naturel. Ce premier axe interrogera cette lecture ancienne de l’environnement par la religion (et réciproquement), pour en proposer des exemples, en préciser les contextes et les modalités, mais aussi les limites.
Axe 2 : AGIR sur l’environnement naturel par le recours au religieux, ou AGIR sur le divin par le recours au naturel. Cet axe et ses exemples interrogeront les spécificités, les différences ou les similitudes des modalités d’action du religieux sur l’environnemental et de leurs réciproques.
Axe 3 : COMPRENDRE l’environnement naturel par le biais des dieux, ou THÉORISER les dieux par l’observation de la nature. Les éléments de cet axe soulèveront la question du degré de séparation, ou de superposition, des notions de divin et de « nature », dans la philosophie, dans les mythes et dans les mentalités des Anciens.
Le colloque se tiendra à l’UCLouvain à Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgique) le 27-28 Février 2025
Programme du 2e Colloque International “Vivre avec les phénomènes sismiques en Méditerranée antique et au-delà : mythe, histoire et archéologie de l’antiquité au moyen-âge” Le Mans 2-3 Juin 2021
by
Loredana Lancini
rita Compatangelo-Soussignan
, and
Francesca Diosono
L’espace méditerranéen est caractérisé par une forte acti...
more
L’espace méditerranéen est caractérisé par une forte activité sismique : dans la seule péninsule italienne, par exemple, on a pu comptabiliser quelque 900 tremblements de terre à forte intensité entre le Ve s. av. n. è. et la fin du XXe siècle[1]. Aujourd’hui, grâce à la contribution de disciplines telles que la géologie et l’archéologie, les études de paléo-sismologie et de sismologie historique permettent de reconstituer la fréquence et les conséquences des séismes du passé. Plus rares dans ce même secteur, les éruptions volcaniques ont également laissé des traces dans les archives sédimentaires et dans les restes de certains sites archéologiques mémorables (Pompéi, Théra…). Sans avoir les connaissances scientifiques dont nous disposons aujourd’hui, les auteurs anciens nous renseignent aussi sur ces catastrophes naturelles en fournissant des tentatives d’explication diverses, à caractère mythique et religieux ou scientifique : pour certains les responsables sont les dieux (comme le Poseidon Ennosigaios et Ennosichthon grec ou le Neptune latin) et les tremblements de terre sont des prodiges à interpréter pour changer l’avenir ; tandis qu’Aristote ou Sénèque fournissent d’autres explications, conformément aux théories de la philosophie naturelle.
Afin d’analyser les relations entre sociétés humaines, territoires et perceptions des risques de l’antiquité au moyen-âge, deux colloques sont organisés autour de la problématique générale des caractéristiques récurrentes de la résilience aux catastrophes consécutives aux séismes et aux éruptions volcaniques. Le premier a eu lieu les 25 et 26 octobre 2019 à Cascia (Italie, Ombrie), un site dont le patrimoine archéologique et historique a été marqué de façon sensible par l’activité sismique passée et présente. Le second se tiendra les 2-3 Juin 2021 à Le Mans Université (France).
Conference Presentations by Loredana Lancini
MARGINAL MEMORIES. SOME REFLECTIONS ON MYTHS AND PERCEPTIONS OF GEOTHERMAL AND VOLCANIC LANDSCAPES IN THE ITALIAN PENINSULA
by
Valentina Limina
and
Loredana Lancini
Session 1155, 30th European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting, Rome, 28 31 August, 2024
, 2024
Studies investigating the relationship between landscape and memory within a combined anthropolog...
more
Studies investigating the relationship between landscape and memory within a combined anthropological and archaeological framework are still rare. Yet, this promising approach can shed new light on the perception of a given landscape not only as the sum of physical factors but as a space of shared experiences. Particular landforms can activate models of representations and peculiar narrative patterns to deal with environments merging in the collective memory. The paper focuses on two case studies (Sicily and Northern Tuscany) to reflect on the impact of landscapes featured by geothermal and volcanic phenomena in building local memory. Due to their peculiarities, these landscapes were considered marginal. Through a diachronic perspective, integrating literary sources, toponyms, archaeology, geomorphology, etc., the aim is to demonstrate these areas' centrality to the territory's historical development. In the territory of Volterra, which fascinated authors from antiquity to the contemporary era because of its peculiar landscapes, the toponyms in the areas of Larderello, Bagno a Morba, Bagno della Leccia, and the archaeological remains led us to reassess the importance of these 'fragile' and 'marginal' zones where myths and religion blurred with political control and management of resources. In Sicily, ancient authors recorded stories related to the volcanic landscape and the perception of its danger; later, Christian legends, tales of travelers of the Grand Tour, and contemporary folklore pick up on similar narrative patterns. These case studies will enhance our understanding of how oral histories constitute a common ground, strengthening the sense of territorial rootedness and contributing to the reaffirmation of identities. Moreover, by approaching the case studies with a flexible anthropological approach and considering modern oral sources, it would be possible to reflect on the recurrent topoi in perceiving those 'marginal' and still inhabited landscapes often central to local economies and identity.
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