Past Landscapes for the Reconstruction of Roman Land Use: Eco-history Tourism in the Algarve

Over the last 50 years, land use has dramatically changed. Over the past two decades, Remote Sensing imagery and its capacity to observe detailed land use patterns has facilitated a deeper understanding of historical land development patterns. Hence, the goal of this paper is to shed some light on the possibilities of recovering ancient landscapes, by using spatial analysis combined with statistical methodologies applied to archaeological Roman sites in Portugal. The investigation of Roman land use patterns in the Algarve is carried out using density patterns of site propensity based on geographic and topological characteristics. Such a methodology allows a more accurate assessment of what might have been past land use during the Roman period in the Algarve. This experiment is also useful to better comprehend and make a more appropriate interpretation of predictive modelling scenarios. In particular, in our casestudy area, to have a share in the Algarve’s archaeological legacy value may be very interesting to the tourist industry because of the possibility to explore more sustainable tourism options rather than the ‘sun and beach’ mass tourism offered traditionally in that region. This may lead to the development of an eco-history tourism product, by recycling existing built environments and creating an opportunity to