- chapter i: Etruscan environments –
A number of probing cores have been taken from the maar lakes and coastal areas
discussed above to acquire the tools to investigate this matter. One of the most famous
investigations, published in 1970, was an account of the history and development of
the Lago di Monterosi (hereafter cited as LdM). This small lake is almost invisible
on the map but, according to Prof. G. Evelyn Hutchinson you will fi nd it “on the
north-eastern side of the Sabatinian volcanic complex, the centre of which is occupied
by Lago di Bracciano.”^19 Hutchinson invented ecology as a scientifi c discipline. His
overall scientifi c contribution by the probing of LdM was the detection of the drastic
system-wide change taking place in the waters of the lake as witnessed by the sediment
archives. Since its creation around 26,000 years BP (Before Present) it had been in
an oligotrophic state, i.e. poor in nutrition and biotic life. This changed almost
overnight when the Romans built the via Cassia, linking Rome with central Etruria,
near the southern shores of the lake. In fact, Roman road engineering was a process
of civilization not confi ned to the road construction proper. It involved massive tree
felling and clearance to achieve arable land. Before the arrival of the Romans, this area
was primeval forestland, part of the Silva Ciminia, the fearful barrier to Sutri, “...the
key and gateway to Etruria” (Livy 6.9.4). The via Cassia was a construction of strategic
importance conducted by Lucius Cassius Longinus, consul in 171 bc, in order to gain
easier access to the Roman colonies established on the territory of the conquered Veii
(396 bc).^20 The debris from the cleared lands found their way into the lake along with
nutritious sediments that rapidly converted the lake’s ecological system to a eutrophic
state, rich in biotic organisms and metabolism. This road, in fact, and its simultaneous
clearance made possible the gradual subjugation of the central Etruscan cities by the
Roman forces.
HERBSWhat was learned by the innovative study of the LdM was that humans affect nature in
various ways and can do so very rapidly. For periods when sediments were rich in the
pollen of nettles, the scientists drew the conclusion that the area was heavily populated,
since nettles thrive on the phosphoric soils caused by human garbage. Nettle, urtica
dioica, is thus an indicator of human presence. Pollen from other species, for example,
vine or cultivated olive,^21 which are not endogenic in Italy, indicate agricultural activity
as does pollen from triticum, or wheat, a grass originating on the Anatolian high
plateaus. Times of increased grazing can be traced by a cumulative amount of pollen
from plantain, Plantago major or, especially, Plantago lanceolata, ribwort plantain. These
species are perennial and hardy and thrive in trampled soils. Their growth is especially
favored when the animals eat their concurrent grasses and other edible fl owers of the
meadows. Obviously plantain does not overly please the bovine or ovine palate. Other
species, such as Artemisia (sagebrush and wormwood) or heathers (ericaceae) are indicative
of the climate of the region in question. Sagebrush is characteristic of cold steppes and
heathers of moorland. Rising frequencies of poaceae, wild grasses of various kinds and
rumex, sorrels, indicate an increase in the distribution of open areas and human impact
in the form of meadows and grasslands. Sorrels were appreciated for their sour taste and
wormwood was a treasured ingredient in many liquids and medicinal remedies, therefore,
people encouraged their growth. Man is always able to interfere in natural processes thus
masking events of concern to, for instance, climatologists.