The book is the result of a three-year investigation on the Aeolian Islands, a volcanic archipelago consisting of seven islands in north-eastern Sicily, Italy. The author provides new information on the use of vegetal resources and exploitation of the insular landscape by human communities between the end of the third and the end of the second millennium BC. Archaeological data from the widely explored Bronze Age hut villages of Filo Braccio, Filicudi and Acropolis, Lipari are examined through the lens of archaeobotanical and paleoenvironmental data, to produce carrying capacity evaluation and propose new paleodemographic estimations. In particular, the diachronic analysis of wood architectural features and agricultural techniques highlights the possible reliance of the archipelago on external resources during some chronological phases. This monograph adds to our broader understanding of island archaeology and demographics of prehistoric communities, offering a new method for interpreting and using archaeobotanical data.

AUTHOR
Claudia Speciale is an archaeobotanist with a particular interest in island archaeology and paleoecological studies. Her research focuses on prehistoric Sicily and the surrounding small volcanic islands. During her post-doctoral research she developed a new investigation of Ustica island and its early human colonization.

REVIEW
‘All scholars studying Mediterranean prehistory and ancient civilizations in general will be interested in this research.’ Dr Assunta Florenzano, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia