Abstract

Geoerchaeological Study in the site of Aghios Ioannis, Thasos The geoarchaeological research conduct at Aghios Ioannis give information to reconstruct the environmental changes in a small coastal plain since the Late Neolithic. Despite the human impact testified by the development of land use by cattle breeding and cultivation since this period and until the Antiquity period, they underline the lasting stability of the area. Intensive land use had begun really during the Late Antiquity period but the cultivation have not deeply altered the environment and enhanced the soil erosion. The development of cattle breeding and fires of the vegetation during the Byzantine and the early Ottoman periods have lastingly changed the environment responses. The geomorphic system become more sensitive and the direct or indirect consequences of the fire activity are more dramatic. This research reveals the high diversity of the environmental responses to human activities changes and demonstrates the impossibility to define a global model of environmental and landscape changes even at the scale of a small Aegean island.