Legacy effects of selective coppicing on forest regeneration in Bronze Age Italy

Unambiguous evidence of sophisticated woodland and land-use management in Bronze Age southern Europe is presented from the Terramare culture in northern Italy. Archaeological layers dated to ~3,600 years ago reveal a society whose economy was structurally dependent on wood, used as both building material and fuel, defining what we term here a ‘Wood Age’ culture. High-resolution pollen sequences and stratigraphic data from key sites indicate that oak-dominated woodlands regenerated through long-term recurrent cycles of selective coppicing targeting specific broad-leaved trees (Quercus species, Carpinus betulus, Corylus avellana and Ostrya carpinifolia) and that these practices followed repeated cycles of cutting and regrowth under sustained human disturbance. The Terramare economy relied on a multifunctional agro-silvopastoral system integrating woodland management, crop rotation, animal husbandry and water control. Yet, selected woodland patches were maintained for fruit gathering and boundary marking, highlighting a conscious balance between exploitation and ecological awareness. This land-use strategy sustained the Terramare communities for centuries but also drove profound and partly irreversible transformations of soils and water systems, at times exceeding local sustainability thresholds. By revealing long-term, regeneration-driven forest management, our results challenge the assumption that many temperate lowland forests represent natural baselines, highlighting instead the deep ecological legacies of past human intervention.