ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the applicability of both environmental and sociocultural explanations of abandonment to Mediterranean islands. It exposes the functionalist emphasis prevalent in abandonment studies. Understanding abandonment ultimately clarifies aspects of colonisation, and vice versa, as both are fundamental components of a cyclical process. Schiffer pointed out that the ethnographic literature explains abandonment consists of scattered observations: such information remains to be synthesized, systematized and tested', and Wobst cautioned us about the tyranny of the ethnographic record'. Bowdler explains initial abandonment by insularisation, and subsequent abandonment by cultural and environmental factors: increased physical isolation from the mainland, the abandonment' of watercraft technology, and decreased reliance on marine resources. Factors of a contingent nature can complicate matters even further, as shown vividly by the abandonment of many Mediterranean islands in the historic period, often as a result of both pirates and parasites.
