Time, process and catastrophism in the study of Mediterranean alluvial history: A review

This article offers an update on the long-standing debate on the causes and effects of Holocene erosion and alluviation in the Mediterranean lands. The contribution of Vita-Finzi (1969) has continued to be a positive stimulus to research, and its punctuated-equilibrium perspective has survived more detailed regional studies, whereas its chronology has been significantly modified. The climate dominance of Vita-Finzi and the anthropogenic dominance of later researchers such as Van Andel and co-workers must now yield to more complex multi-causal explanations in which local interactions between environmental context, climate fluctuations and human impact are being envisaged as appropriate explanations for landscape change.