Woodland and deforestation in the ancient Mediterranean

The rapid accretion of scientific evidence has made the long-term history of deforestation more accessible. This article considers the case of the Mediterranean world, circa 800 BC to 600 AD. Neither historians nor scientists can do without each other here. Textual and scientific, especially palynological, evidence combine to show that, thanks in part to human management of timber resources, severe deforestation leading to shortages of fuel wood were relatively localized. The evidence about long timber suggests, however, that the tax in question were often severely depleted in regions that constructed numerous ships and large buildings. At present, neither a catastrophist nor a highly optimistic reading the evidence as a whole carries conviction. But new evidence continues to accumulate, and serious problems of definition remain. Adapted from the source document.