Ecological Modelling 222 (2011) 1303–1314 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Modelling journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolmodel Terraced fields and Mediterranean landscape structure: An analytical case study from Antikythera, Greece Andrew Bevan a,∗ , James Conolly b a The Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London WC1H 0PY, UK b Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario Canada K9J 7B8 article info Article history: Received 7 October 2010 Received in revised form 14 December 2010 Accepted 16 December 2010 Keywords: Logistic regression Monte Carlo simulation Spatial autocorrelation Demography Erosion USPED RUSLE abstract Terraces are important capital investments in a range of agricultural landscapes worldwide, typically enduring well beyond any single farming cycle and over many human generations. This paper begins by emphasising that, while human population growth may often be loosely linked to terrace construc- tion efforts, the association is by no means a straightforward one. We then argue that the choice of which parts of the landscape to terrace is driven by a range of cultural and environmental priorities that are most usefully explored by a combination of global, local and auto-correlative modelling, as well as via simulation-based methods. The results demonstrate that surficial geology, terrain slope, pre- existing terraces and pre-existing patterns of human habitation are all important structuring features. We also consider terraces as method for soil conservation, question the uncritical use of meso-scale erosion models and argue that patterns of catastrophic soil loss are often overstated in Mediterranean contexts. However, erosion modelling can, if deployed cautiously and comparatively, nonetheless be used to explore ways in which terraces do indeed manage localised soil movement in agriculturally favoured parts of the landscape, with our results suggesting that a substantial proportion of the erosion in this regions is indeed ameliorated by such measures. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Terraces are highly flexible forms of agricultural construction used by farmers in tropical to semi-arid environments to convert hillslopes into stepped linear units of relatively flat ground that are suitable for cultivation. Although they share the common func- tion of increasing available arable land, they vary considerably in shape, complexity and degree of labour investment, as well as in the environmental setting in which they are deployed. Their ubiquity, variability, and importance for agricultural productivity have moti- vated a range of studies designed to understand them better both as cultural and ecological features (e.g. Donkin, 1979; Evans, 1990; Lansing and Kremer, 1993; Dunning et al., 1994; Price and Nixon, 2005; Rodríguez, 2006, among many others). Terracing processes are often thought to involve increased exploitation of marginal landscapes by expanding local populations and/or by new colonists (e.g. Coote and Whitelam, 1987: 129; Donkin, 1979: 33, 133; Kunen, 2001), although it is far from clear whether this is the motivating factor in all situations in which terraces are found. ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: a.bevan@ucl.ac.uk (A. Bevan). Terraced agricultural fields are a defining feature of Mediter- ranean landscapes and their antiquity and socioecology has been the subject of considerable interest (e.g. in the Aegean, Whitelaw and French, 1999; Frederick and Krahtopoulou, 2000; Grove and Rackham, 2001; Price and Nixon, 2005). However, the socioecolog- ical contexts under which such built features emerge and persist remains poorly understood, despite their obvious relevance to modern concerns about sustainable land use, erosion control, water management and food production. This paper seeks to address this problem by exploiting an exhaustive mapping of terraces across the Greek island of Antikythera. There are three objectives. First, we aim briefly to address the demographic context in which ter- races emerge and demonstrate, at least for the more recent history of the island’s occupation, that there is no immediate link between population growth and terrace expansion. Second, we develop a spatial model to explore the aggregate human preferences behind the landscapes chosen for terraced agriculture in order to for- malise and develop further our understanding of their locational characteristics. Finally, we examine the role that terraces play in soil conservation via two kinds of meso-scale erosion model. In so doing, we also revisit some of the key methodological challenges associated with quantitative assessment of built structures at the landscape scale. 0304-3800/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2010.12.016