Relic(t) ecologies. Exploring abandonment in the Apuan Alps.

In the last 80 years, the landscapes of the Versilia mountains, the slopes of the Apuan Alps in the north-west of Tuscany, have undergone profound changes. The strong depopulation of these mountain areas has led to the disappearance of a large part of the agro-sylvo-pastoral activities, with visible consequences in the contemporary landscape features. Since 2020, the historical and contemporary archaeological, anthropological, and environmental analysis of these highland areas has led to outlining the relationships between humans and non-humans, mapping their various relationships of co-existence, co-operation, and even friction. The data collected have led us to reflect on the concept of abandonment itself, its meaning, and the proxies we consider significant in defining the absence of human activity. The cessation of subsistence activities, forest management, roads, and slope stabilisation has led to the proliferation of certain species of flora and fauna. The mountain space is being re-occupied and resemantised with the construction of new interspecies relations, the result of new social ways of life in the villages, as well as the development of tourism. This paper examines the notion of abandonment as applied to the Versilia mountains, challenging the anthropocentric perspective within which archaeological analysis often operates to explore multi-species responses, ecological relics, and resurgences.