Abstract

In this paper, two different historical approaches applied in the characterization of the environmental heritage, rural landscapes and local foodways will be compared. Historical geography has been, and still is, often inspired by cultural history, of which main risks are the «dematerialization» of the heritage – through its reduction to a mere discourse/narrative – and the use of broad and uncontrolled generalizations. On the contrary, the applications of the British historical ecology highlight the need for analytical historiography in the identification of social and environmental material processes and objects, including the living component of landscapes and ecosystems. This paper stresses the importance of a geographical-historical microanalysis as applied in some multidisciplinary works at the site level by environmental and rural archaeologists.