• Name: MEMOLA project (MEditerranean MOuntainous LAndscapes: an historical approach to cultural heritage based on traditional agrosystems)
  • Institution: Universidad de Granada (UGR), Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD), Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA), University of Sheffield (USHEFF), Eachtra Archaeological Projects Limited (EAP), Arqueoandalusí Arqueología y Patrimonio S.L., Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones científicas (CSIC), Centro UNESCO Andalucía - UNESCO-AND, The Centre for the Research and Promotion of Historical-Archaeological Albanian Landscapes (CeRPHAAL)
  • Address: http://memolaproject.eu
  • Contact: http://memolaproject.eu/contact
  • Sustainable initiative kick-off: 2014
  • Goals: Conduct a specific historical and archaeological study in the four Mediterranean mountain landscapes of: Sierra Nevada (Granada-Almería, Spain), Monti di Trapani (Trapani, Italy), Colli Euganei (Padova, Italy), Vjosa Valley (Albania). Quantitatively assess the long-term historical uses of water and soils in the study areas. Analysis of agrosystems (crops and livestock), via the collection and examination (archaeological fieldwork and ethnographic surveys) of the historical traces that remained fossilised in the landscape. Comparative study of the four sample-areas in order to unveil their commonalities and differences. Analysis of the productivity and resource use efficiency in the four historic sample-areas, through agronomic and hydrological resource-management models, taking into account the global climate change, and the EU policies and strategies (European Landscape Convention, European water policy, Common Agricultural Policy, Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) on Cultural Heritage and Global Change).
  • Features: The project is an interdisciplinary approach to cultural landscapes of Mediterranean mountainous areas, taking as a central axis the historical study of two natural resources essential to generate agro-systems: water and soil. The study focuses on four areas: Sierra Nevada (Spain), Monti di Trapani (Italy), Colli Euganei (Italy) and Vjosa Valley(Albania). Landscapes and their structure are strongly conditioned by the need to ensure the livelihood of rural communities over time. Essentially they are the spatial representation of production and reproduction strategies of societies over time. Understanding them necessarily requires knowledge of the historical processes that have led to specific relationships with nature: mainly extraction and use of resources. These uses have largely shaped the medium, generating not only its shape, but also the culture that makes possible its management and maintenance.

Country: Albania