The book edited by Silvio Laddomada guides us to discover a contemporary archaeological heritage and its connections with historical climate changes
The issue of climate change is now at the center of the political, economic and industrial decisions of all nations.
However, not everyone knows that Europe has already faced a recent climate change, known as the Little Ice Age (PEC), which lasted from 1500 until the second half of the 1800s.
In Puglia, in particular, the Murgia neviere are a concrete testimony of this period.
Located in the territory of the South-Eastern Murgia, these deep cisterns, used for the conservation of ice, would not have been so numerous (almost 100) if it had not been for the PEC.
The book “Neviere della Murgia and historical snowfalls in the Itria Valley – Photographic review of the early twentieth century”, edited by Silvio Laddomada, guides us to discover this contemporary archaeological heritage and its connections with historical climate changes.
The industry’s abandonment of ice made and stored in these tanks was the result of two factors: climate change and the advent of artificial ice produced by electric current.
The research and study of these “snow preserves” could not ignore the precious documentation on snow precipitation in Puglia and, in particular, in the Itria Valley during the PEC.
Furthermore, the book presents a photographic review of the historical snowfalls that occurred in the Itria Valley from the 1920s to the 1960s, with a particular focus on the most famous snowfall in living memory: that of 1956.
The speleological stacking activity allowed Laddomada to investigate and survey as many as 90 snow pits in the Murgia dei Trulli territory.
The few surviving examples of this heritage should be preserved, protected and valorised, also as a perfect location to dialogue with young people about historical climate changes.
Knowing the climate changes of the past is in fact fundamental to better understand those currently taking place.
Laddomada’s book therefore proves to be a valuable tool not only for the conservation of contemporary archaeological heritage, but also for raising awareness on the issues of climate change.
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