Blurb:

Upland population levels are strongly correlated to environmental dynamics such as morphology, exposure and climate. A temperature fall leads to a shortening of the plant growth season, which can lead to lower pasture productivity hence shorter periods spent by the livestock in the mountains. The aim of this research is to correlate natural climate constraints with variations in post-medieval human settlements of the Pasubio plateau, located between 1500 and 1800m, in the Italian southern Alps (Trento). A survey of a 630ha area has identified the remnants of 145 structures used for milk processing, which date from the 17th to the 19th century. A ‘building density curve’, grouped into fifty year intervals, shows oscillations over time. The high population density that characterises the first half of the 17th century is followed by an almost total abandonment of pastures in the second half of the century. Dairyman-shepherds returned to the high pastures only after the mid-18th century. The correlation of this trend with climatic oscillations in the same area derived from speleothems, reveals that the decrease in highland exploitation between 1650 and 1750 was linked to the Maunder temperature fall. The subsequent temperature rise corresponds to the resettlement of the highland pastures.