Beginning of a new farming system (mid-9th century AD): local fire events and vegetation changes in southwestern Tuscany

Soil charcoal analysis, combined with radiocarbon dating, was performed in the Pecora river plain (southwestern Tuscany) to investigate local fire events and changes in forestry conditions with a highly-detailed spatial resolution. From the mid-9th century AD, fire events occurred mainly in the mixed floodplain forest and riparian vegetation along the riverbed, wetlands, and alluvial plain of the Pecora river. Foothill areas, characterized by thermophilous deciduous forest, were fire-affected to a lesser extent and mainly during the mid-12th century AD. Comparing our results with previous paleoenvironmental data, fires were used mainly for clearing and reclaiming woodland for a new farming system characterized by the cultivation of cereals, olive and chestnut groves, starting the modern agroforestry landscapes of Tuscany.