Transforming landscapes: the water-saving terraces of ancient cyprus

Share:
About the research

How did people in dry regions survive long periods without rain in the past? Instead of suffering through drought, they adapted! In Cyprus, people built stone terraces into hillsides. These terraces slowed down the flow of rainwater, helping the soil retain moisture and making farming possible in even the driest seasons. Today, archaeologist Ella Egberts (VUB) is uncovering the secrets of these ancient terraces. Using quartz-based dating and microscopic plant analysis, she’s exploring what people once grew, how they managed the land, and what we can learn from their techniques. Her research shows that long before modern technology, people were already building climate resilience. These ancient insights could offer new inspiration for sustainable land use in drought-prone regions today.

Heritage
History
Society
Ella Egberts
VUB

As a geo-archaeologist, Ella most enjoys reconstructing landscapes of distant places and past times using diverse types of evidence. This has brought her to far places and deep pasts, from studying the landscape of the first humans to arrive in England, to Mesopotamians creating canal cities in the lush floodplains of the Euphrates. For her current postdoctoral research at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, she investigates how people managed and used their water resources on terraced hillsides. Ella hopes that by understanding the past, we can make better choices for the future.

Contact Ella

https://amgc.paddlecms.net/dr-ella-egberts
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-egberts-76355864/

Related videos

Bruno
Vanderschelden
UAntwerpen
UGent

Climate change and historical heritage: friends or foes?

Everywhere in Flanders you can find beautiful historical buildings, such as belfries and castles. They have been there for hundreds of years, but keeping all this historical heritage healthy is no easy task. Think of moisture problems and mold growth. And what about climate change? Is our heritage protected against it? Bruno Vanderschelden finds out.
Read more
Alina
Cristea
KU Leuven

Bucharest: how to create an iconic image of the city?

When we say Paris, you probably have a vivid image of the city, and think of the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramid of the Louvre - even if you've never been there. "We remember cities and are fascinated by them, even before we visit them - through photography." But what image do you have of the lesser-known 'Little Paris', the city of Bucharest?
Read more
Elodie-Laure
Jimenez
Instituut Natuurwetenschappen

The large predators of the Ice Age
Meet Elodie-Laure Jimenez (RBINS - University of Aberdeen). As a zooarchaeologist, her job is to study prehistoric predators and their life during the last Ice Age. The only way to understand what happened to these extinct species is to study the fossils that have survived the test of time. In Belgium, this led Elodie-Laure to identify a den where hundreds of cave hyena cubs died shortly after birth. Find out more about her fascinating research in the video.  
Read more
All videos