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GI_Forum 2021, Volume 9, Issue 2
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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GI_Forum 2021, Volume 9, Issue 2, pp. 108-121, 2021/12/28
The biocultural heritage of historical landscapes is an expression of intertwined ecological and socio-cultural dynamics at different temporal and spatial scales. Such a legacy is what confers high nature value on agricultural systems worldwide. Today there is an urgent need to develop approaches that may allow a more integrated study of biocultural heritage in order to better direct future endeavours for the sustainable management on such agricultural systems. Here, a methodological approach to unpack space-time complexity in the land-use dynamics of historic and current-day agrosystems is presented, based on the use of contextual and spatial-relational segmentation techniques within the research framework of historical ecology. With reference to work done in a case study area in Sicily, the authors first extract geographic contextual configurations and develop a spatial-relational ontology for their semantic interpretation, before using these spatial objects as temporal proxies to disentangle the spatial and temporal dynamics of land use. The result is a cross-disciplinary approach in which perspectives from historical ecology can be used to achieve a deeper understanding of evidence extracted from remotely sensed images. At the same time, advanced spatial analysis techniques may provide a further interpretative tool for scientific inquiry into biocultural heritage.
Keywords: historical ecology, contextual analysis, relational ontology, olive