A landscape of the Anthropocene : an overview of agricultural terracing in Malta

Abstract

Agricultural terracing, the flattening of sloping land to improve agricultural potential by the construction of walls and banks to retain soil, represents one of the most fundamental ways in which humans have shaped the planet. Vast swathes of land have been terraced, with those of the Mediterranean basin prominent among them. Terracing significantly increases agricultural production, and has other benefits as well, such as limiting soil erosion and aiding water retention. Despite this importance—which has both created the conditions for the modern world, and will in turn be a fundamental filter through which the impacts of future climate change will be felt—terracing remains poorly understood. Much remains unclear and debated, from when terracing began, to why people terrace in the first place, to how its abandonment leads to erosion and collapse. This paper is an overview of the terraced landscape of the Maltese Islands, which, as one of the most intensively terraced places in the world, with indications for both early onset and multiple cycles of construction and decay, offers a remarkable case study on the character and impacts of terracing.