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.