Biological and temporal diversity in archaeological landscapes

Starting from the concept of biodiversity and re-reading it according to a different research dimension, we can venture to speak of temporal diversity as the variability of historical phases and chronological documentation present in a given site. Analogously to biological diversity that tends to increase the complexity, and consequently the resistance, of an ecological system, temporal diversity evidently contributes to an increase in the cultural complexity of an archaeological landscape, definable as a combination of various time frames. When temporal diversity combines with biological diversity, as generally happens in places characterized by archaeological remains, the environmental and cultural systems (and therefore the landscape) greatly increase their level of complexity and historical-identity ecological-environmental value, introducing particularly tough challenges for project designers and maintenance supervisors. Potentially richly endowed with biodiversity, archaeological areas are by definition deposits of temporal diversity.