Ol' man river

Rivers and river plains are elements of the landscape where the presence of man throughout history is the most visible. It is, therefore, evident that the plains and deltas of rivers are excellent meeting grounds for a confrontation and for multidisciplinary collaboration between history and ecology. On 22-24 September 2006 an international colloquium was organised in Gent (Belgium), which stimulated looking at landscape evolution from the times of early human involvement in nature to much more recent historical developments. Its aim was also to further strengthen the mutual interests of both Geography and Archaeology. The colloquium attracted the active participation of researchers from some 30 countries, bringing more than 70 presentations and case studies. The geographical variety and methodological diversity of the papers and posters presented in Gent was a guarantee for a broad approach to the evolution of humanized river landscapes and for meaningful multi-disciplinarity and synergy. With the present publication of the proceedings of the Gent meeting the organizers are pleased to be able to contribute to the debate on the role of man in a river plain environment through time, within a wide array of geographic and cultural environments in Europe and beyond.