Papers by Assunta Florenzano
Geoarchaeology, Jan 2013
This paper presents the study of parasite remains recovered in pollen samples collected from arch... more This paper presents the study of parasite remains recovered in pollen samples collected from archaeological layers. Laboratory treatment enabled us to ob- tain very high concentrations of both pollen and parasite eggs from the same samples. The case study of the site of Piazza Garibaldi in Parma, a town in the Po plain, is reported. The site was a sacred area in Roman times and a market square in Medieval times (10th–11th century A.D.). Pollen, seeds, and fruits from the latter phase were collected from four Medieval pits and one cesspit. After a palynological treatment including sieving, floating, and light acetolysis, abundant quantities of parasite eggs were extracted. Human and animal parasite eggs belonging to Trichuris, Ascaris, Taenia/Echinococcus, Capillaria, Dicrocoelium, and Diphyllobothrium were found. The analyses of an- imal and plant remains identified in the same samples suggested that the pit infillings consisted of waste, human and animal excrements, deteriorated plant food, and refuse of grapes. Therefore, parasite remains help the inter- pretation of archaeobotanical data in identifying human behaviors and site functions.
Annali di Botanica, 3 open access online, Apr 2013
Pollen data from twenty-six archaeological sites are reviewed to investigate the development of h... more Pollen data from twenty-six archaeological sites are reviewed to investigate the development of human-induced environments through the presence of selected Anthropogenic Pollen indicators (APi). the sites are located in six italian regions -veneto, emilia romagna, tuscany, Basilicata, calabria, and sicily -and in the republic of san Marino. their chronology spans from the Bronze to the renaissance ages, from approximately 4200 to 500 years BP. the APi which are common in these sites are properly considered important markers of human activity and anthropization in the Mediterranean area. the most frequent APi taxa in pollen spectra are seven: Artemisia, Centaurea, cichorieae and Plantago are ubiquitous and therefore they have the major relevance, followed by cereals and Urtica, and by Trifolium type. the spread of plants producing these pollen grains is sometimes marked by high percentage values in pollen spectra. Pollen records show that, as expected, cereals and wild synanthropic herbs were widespread near archaeological sites but local differences are evident. ecological and chrono-cultural reasons may be at the base of the observed differences. in general, the synanthropic plants well represent the xeric environments that developed as a result of the continuous human pressure and changes in soil compositions. these changes have occurred especially during the mid and late holocene.
sas.upenn.edu
The archaeobotanical research has the potential to reconstruct plant landscape and ethnobotanical... more The archaeobotanical research has the potential to reconstruct plant landscape and ethnobotanical--agricultural land exploitation based on the plant remains collected from archaeological sites Pearsall 2000;. Pollen, seeds/fruits and woods/charcoals are the most important records studied in this research field. NPPs (Non Pollen Palynomorphs), including fungal spores and algae, improve information on environment. The more interdisciplinary approach is used in these studies, the more detailed reconstructions of environmental and economic contexts of each sites is obtained.
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, Feb 2012
Integration of pollen data from both marine and terrestrial cores contributes to the understandin... more Integration of pollen data from both marine and terrestrial cores contributes to the understanding of the timing of the climatic and human forces that shaped the cultural landscapes in the Italian peninsula. This paper focuses on the relation between natural and human land- scapes, and the development of the cultural landscape from the Bronze Age to the medieval period and modern times. Two records were studied within independent projects, first the marine core RF93-30, from the central Adriatic, with a sediment source area including the Po valley and which spans the last 7,000 years, and secondly, material from the site of Terramara di Montale, a Bronze Age settlement on the Po plain, which was occupied from approximately 3550–3200 cal. B.P. The original chronology of the marine core was developed by using the magnetic inclination of the secular variation record and two 14C dates carried out on benthic and planktic foraminifera at depths of 527 and 599 cm. Its pollen record shows a gradual irreversible trend towards increasing aridity since 5700 cal. B.P. and, just after around 5100 cal. B.P., a Picea decline and a Quercus
ilex type increase indicate less cool conditions. Human impact introduces rapid changes, such as the decrease of Abies alba, thinned by the reduction of precipitation and further cleared before or during the Early Bronze Age, followed by the fall of oaks. The latter started after around 3900 cal. B.P., and became evident at around 3600 cal. B.P. The gradual increase in signs of open landscape and woodland clearance correspond to the onset of Middle Bronze Age settlements in the Po valley, and to the development of the cultural landscape in the region. The impact of the terramare people includes woodland man- agement by coppicing, and division of the territory into a patchwork of pastures and fields. Dry environments are indicated mainly by Cichorioideae, resulting from the continued human pressure, and these spread since the Recent Bronze Age. Of the possible causes for the decline of the terramare, we suggest that climate would have been less important in the decline than in the onset phases. The later cultural landscapes are mainly indicated by the trends of the Olea, Juglans and Castanea (OJC) records, besides those of cereals. At around 700 cal. B.P., the ‘‘chestnut landscape’’ spread while modern times are shown by the finds of Zea mays.
Quaternary International, 2013
Available online xxx
1. Introduction
Plants are basic elements of cultural evolution. Both thei... more Available online xxx
1. Introduction
Plants are basic elements of cultural evolution. Both their past and present uses and the development of human environments support this simple assumption. The effects of human action range from low influence to high impact on vegetation, depending on the scale (space) and duration (time) of its presence in a given territory (Mercuri et al., 2010a). The transformation of natural into cultural landscapes is the result of millennia of human activities. These have had direct and indirect effects on the environment that led, and still lead, to clear changes in vegetation cover (Fægri and Iversen, 1989). The life sciences firstly investigate these changes by exploring the morphological and genetic diversity of flora, and
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: annamaria.mercuri@unimore.it (A.M. Mercuri).
1040-6182/$ e see front matter ! 2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.01.005
Pollen data from three off-site records and twenty-six on-site (archaeological) sites are reviewed to investigate the development of cultural landscapes through the history of the olive, walnut and chestnut trees in the Italian peninsula from the Late Glacial to late Holocene. The spread of these trees, which have been gathered or cultivated since ancient times, though not marked by high values in pollen diagrams, is an important indicator of increasing human activity and anthropization in the Mediterranean area.
The sum of Olea, Juglans and Castanea percentages in pollen spectra constitutes the OJC curve. The off-site records discussed are core RF93-30 from the Adriatic Sea (last 7000 years), and cores PALB94-1E of Lago Albano and PNEM94-1B of Lago di Nemi, two lakes in the Latium region (last 13,000 years). The on-site records are located in several regions (Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicily) and in the Republic of San Marino. Their chronology spans approximately from the Bronze to the Renais- sance ages, from 4200 to 500 BP. The simultaneous presence of OJC in the off-sites and in all the archaeo- logical sites confirms that these trees were widespread in the Italian peninsula during the last four millennia. The OJC pollen sum shows low values but Olea, Castanea and Juglans are common in Bronze age sites from northern Italy, when their percentages increase in the off-site records. In Hellenistic and Roman times, there are sharp increments of their curves in the off-sites, and values of Olea are especially high in archaeological sites of southern Italy. The highest values of OJC, especially due to Castanea, are found in records of the Middle ages. Juglans is significant but less frequent in both the archaeological sites and the off-sites.
The cultivation of walnut and chestnut trees in pre-Roman times may have included local stands. The nurturing for wood may have had negative effects on pollen fallout while the flowering of plants was favoured to obtain fruits.
As humans exploited the natural resources they interfered with the distribution of useful plants. The development of human environments in a modern sense, however, is a relatively recent phenomenon. It has largely caused the expansion of complex agrarian landscapes, including fields, pastures and groves.
Educational activities proposed for the pan-European exhibition "PaCE - Plants and Culture in the history of Europe
This paper presents the main educational activities proposed for the trans-european exhibition Pa... more This paper presents the main educational activities proposed for the trans-european exhibition PaCE (Plants and Culture in the History of Europe), held in Modena and Reggio Emilia (Emilia Romagna, Italy) between November 2008 and February 2009. The PaCE exhibition, housed in more than twenty locations up to now, was created as a synthesis of an European project financed within the Culture Programme (2007-2013), which has taken up a network of researchers coming from 11 European countries (www.plants-culture.unimore.it). The didactical activities proposed are based on the idea of a travel into a Europe made of plants, archaeology, culture and popular traditions, trying to stirring up emotions through the use of all senses and through an approach to archaeobotany based on experience.
2013 RESEARCH DAY: Plants and man
Riassunto -Cichorioideae-Cichorieae quale indicatore di pascolo in spettri pollinici dell'Italia ... more Riassunto -Cichorioideae-Cichorieae quale indicatore di pascolo in spettri pollinici dell'Italia meridionale. Il polline di Cichorioideae, generalmente inteso con esina fenestrata, è considerato tra i più importanti indicatori di pratiche di allevamento e presenza di pascoli nell'ambito di ricerche paleoeconomico-ambientali. In realtà, il tipo pollinico fenestrato è riferibile solo ad alcuni generi delle Cichorioideae, e solo la tribù delle Cichorieae ha una distribuzione che include la penisola italiana. Pertanto, il nome Cichorieae risulta più appropriato alla individuazione di questo morfotipo.
Saharan anthropic deposits from archaeological sites, located along wadis or close to lakes, and
... more Saharan anthropic deposits from archaeological sites, located along wadis or close to lakes, and
sedimentary sequences from permanent and dried basins demonstrate that water has always been
an attractive environmental feature, especially during periods of drought. This paper reports on two
very different examples of Holocene sites where “humans and water” coexisted during dry periods,
as observed by stratigraphic, archaeological and palynological evidence. Independent research was
carried out on the Jefara Plain (Libya, 32°N) and the Gobero area (Niger, 17°N), at the extreme
northern and southern limits of the Sahara, respectively.
The histories of the Jefara and Gobero areas, as revealed by the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental
reconstructions, suggest that these areas were likely to have been visited and exploited for a long
time, acting as anthropic refugia, and therefore they have been profoundly transformed. Human presence
and actions have conditioned the local growing of plants and selected a more or less synanthropic
flora. Today, modern conservation strategies should take into consideration that water reservoirs, which
are crucial for the long-term conservation of biodiversity, have provided refugia in the past just as they
presently do under global warming conditions.
Palynological evidence of cultural and environmental connections in Sudanese Nubia during the Early and Middle Holocene
Pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs have been studied from three archaeological sites (8-B-10C, 8-... more Pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs have been studied from three archaeological sites (8-B-10C, 8-B-76, and 8-B-81) on Sai Island, in the River Nile, and one (2-R-66) from the Amara West district, in northern Upper Nubia of the present Sudan. The research aimed at obtaining information on the environmental conditions and changes occurring in the area during the Early and Middle Holocene. Archaeologically, this is a crucial period as it saw one of the most relevant economic transitions from hunting-fishing-gathering to animal herding. The archaeopalynological analyses are useful to reconstruct the environment and plant landscapes that supported human plant selection in this part of North Africa, between about 8700 and 4300 cal BC. However, pollen was not present everywhere because the sediments were very poor in organic content, or damaged by the repeated hydrationedehydration cycles determined by
the Nile river floodings. The data obtained, the most consistent from any archaeological site in this area, are coherent with the regional and interregional palaeoenvironmental data. The interdisciplinary studies that allowed the correct interpretation of the pollen records presented in this paper included the archaeological features, and the faunal (mainly gastropod) and algal remains from the same sites. The state of preservation of most pollen, showing thinned exine, and the remarkable records of the terrestrial alga Fritschiella outline the seasonality of the area that has been evident in the past as in the present.
Pollen samples included prevailing amounts of grasses and sedges that, with some hygro-hydrophilous taxa, largely represent the riverine and wetland vegetation of the Nile Valley. They suggest that the land use was not intensive and was not able to substantially modify the natural cover and cyclic renewal of the soils and the vegetation. The interdisciplinary evidence from the Sai Island, showing that site 8-B-76 has been continuatively occupied during the 8.2 ka BP dry phase, proves the key role played by the great river on attracting humans and supplying resources even, and especially, during the arid oscillations of the Holocene.
Chapter 7. Archaeobotany at Fattoria Fabrizio. In: E. Lanza Catti, K. Swift, J.C. Carter (Eds.), The Chora of Metaponto 5: A Greek Farmhouse at Ponte Fabrizio, pp. 113-138. University of Texas Press, Austin. ISBN: 9780292758643.
La pastorizia nell’economia e nel modellamento del paesaggio mediterraneo. Esempi da siti archeologici del sud Italia. In: Cambi F., De Venuto G., Goffredo R. (Eds.), Storia e Archeologia Globale 2. I pascoli, i campi, il mare, pp. 245-252. Edipuglia, Bari
Interdisciplinary researches including archaeological, historical and palynological investigation... more Interdisciplinary researches including archaeological, historical and palynological investigations allow detailed reconstruction of the Holocene environmental changes linked to human activities . Microscopic plant remains (pollen and non-pollenpalynomorphs-NPPs: algal and fungal spores and cysts, and other microfossils of biological origin) play key roles in palaeoecological reconstruction. The combined evidence of pollen and NPPs from archaeological records is especially useful in discriminating land uses and pastoral/breeding activities.
In pollen diagrams, the clearest signal for pastoralism is given by the abundance of plants reflecting animal breeding and grazing areas, such as daisy-family (Cichorieae and Asteroideae). In addition to these pollen pasture indicators, NPPs – with special attention paid to dung-related fungi (e.g. Sordaria, Sporormiella, Podospora and Cercophora) – can be used to assess the presence of past fauna, in particular herbivores. Altogether, the pasture indicators from palynological investigations help to identify pastoral sites and routes otherwise not clear from the archaeological record alone.
Archaeological layers from sites dated from Hellenistic to Medieval periods in Basilicata (southern Italy) give a palynological dataset that may be of key relevance for understanding the past pastoralism practised in the area in the last 2500 years. 121 pollen samples were taken from small trenches, rooms or floors of houses, and spot samples. Data point to an open landscape dominated by pastures and cereal fields. Important evidence of pastoral farming rises from the joint record of pollen grazing indicators and spores of coprophilous fungi. This dataset highlight the pressure of pastoralism in the past and support the idea of the importance of the ancient pasture farming as a major agent of landscape transformation in this Mediterranean region.
Riassunto -Cichorioideae-Cichorieae quale indicatore di pascolo in spettri pollinici dell'Italia ... more Riassunto -Cichorioideae-Cichorieae quale indicatore di pascolo in spettri pollinici dell'Italia meridionale. Il polline di Cichorioideae, generalmente inteso con esina fenestrata, è considerato tra i più importanti indicatori di pratiche di allevamento e presenza di pascoli nell'ambito di ricerche paleoeconomico-ambientali. In realtà, il tipo pollinico fenestrato è riferibile solo ad alcuni generi delle Cichorioideae, e solo la tribù delle Cichorieae ha una distribuzione che include la penisola italiana. Pertanto, il nome Cichorieae risulta più appropriato alla individuazione di questo morfotipo.
this paper reports a study case showing integrated analyses of microscopic records from an archae... more this paper reports a study case showing integrated analyses of microscopic records from an archaeological site of southern italy. pollen and non pollen palynomorphs-Npps were found in archaeological layers and were basic in reconstructing both the past environment and the economic activities of the site. the site, Fattoria Fabrizio, is a modest 4 th -cenury bc farmhouse of the chora (rural territory) of the Greek city (polis) of Metaponto (basilicata). pollen analyses in addition to the study of Npps have been particularly worthwhile for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoeconomical reconstructions of this site and others in the chora. the pollen spectra delineate an open plant landscape, with scanty woodlands and presence of local wet environments. Olea pollen is fairly well represented in all samples, suggesting that this tree was an important element of the agricultural economy of the chora. shrubby grasslands and a well-developed macchia characterized the territory, probably as result of grazing activities by sheep and goats. accordingly, the high percentages of poaceae and cichorieae pollen, together with coprophilous fungal spores (such as Sordaria type and Sporormiella type), suggest that pastoral activities were widely practiced. the low number of cerealia pollen grains suggests that the inhabitants' fields covered small areas or were quite far from the farmhouse.
Over the last millennia, the land between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea, characterized by ex... more Over the last millennia, the land between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea, characterized by extraordinary habitat diversity, has seen an outstanding cross-cultural development. For the first time, this paper reports on the census of the Holocene archaeological sites that have been studied as part of archaeobotany in Italy (continental Italy, the Italian peninsula and islands) over the last quarter in a century. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, seeds and fruits, woods/charcoals and other plant remains have all been analysed in multidisciplinary researches. A list of 630 sites has been provided by more than 15 archaeobotanical teams. The sites are located across the 20 regions of Italy, and in the Republic of San Marino (356 sites in northern Italy, 118 in central Italy, 156 in southern Italy and on the islands). They belong to several cultural phases: 321 sites are only pre-Roman, 264 are Roman/post-Roman, and 45 sites cover a broader range of time, present in both time spans. Site distribution is plotted in maps of site density according to geographical districts and the main chronological phases. The reference list helps to find analytical data referring to the descriptive papers that may be scattered throughout monographs and specific books on the matter. Please cite this article as: Mercuri, A.M., et al., Pollen and macroremains from Holocene archaeological sites: A dataset for the understanding of the bio-cultural diversity of the Italian landscape, Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. (2014), http://dx.
Erratum to: The European Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) project
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2013
THE TRANS-EUROPEAN EXHIBITION “PaCE–PLANTS AND CULTURE IN THE HISTORY OF EUROPE”
"The project PaCE-Plants and Culture: seeds of the Cultural Heritage of Europe (... more "The project PaCE-Plants and Culture: seeds of the Cultural Heritage of Europe (Culture Programme 2007-2013, EACEA 09/2006) has promoted and still promotes the green cultural heritage common to Europe. PaCE project was proposed with the main idea of creating an interdisciplinary cooperation on the scientific and humanistic cultural heritage of Europe; this was performed by contacting institutions of several countries, involving research centres and museums, searching for a wide international work group and a common interest which went beyond geographical and chronological frontiers. The net of PaCE consisted of 30 teams belonging to 12 countries. The main successful action of this project was the performance of the trans-European PaCE Exhibition, translated in 11 languages and exhibited in 28 locations in different countries. From September 2008 to today, the exhibition has been set in 10 European countries (Norway, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Italy, San Marino, Spain) and approximately at least 320,000 persons have visited it. Since the beginning of 2009 the virtual exhibition is available on the web (http://www.plants-culture.unimore.it). Different botanical cultures, which are part of the history of European countries, are represented. The project has valorised the relationships between plants and people as cultural markers, and has improved the knowledge on the evolution and the history of the green cultural heritage."
Il paesaggio agrario nella terramara di Baggiovara - Modena (XVII–XVI sec. a.C.)
Bonini G., Visentin C. (Eds), Paesaggi in trasformazione. Teorie e pratiche della ricerca a cinquant’anni dalla Storia del paesaggio agrario di Emilio Sereni. Atti Convegno Internazionale: La Storia del paesaggio agrario italiano di Emilio Sereni cinquant'anni dopo. , Jun 2014
The agricultural landscape of the Terramara of Baggiovara “17th – 16th cent. B.C.”
The paper rep... more The agricultural landscape of the Terramara of Baggiovara “17th – 16th cent. B.C.”
The paper reports pollen data obtained by the analyses of samples taken from the Terramara of Baggiovara (Modena), dated
from 17th to 16th century BC.
Archaeobotanical analyses, integrated with palaeobotanical researches, carried out in some terramare of the region, gave
useful elements for the reconstruction of the plant landscape and human impact during the middle and late Bronze age of the
alluvional lowland area.
Data suggest that the landscape was open with low forest cover and most land devoted to agricultural activities (small
cereal and legume fields, alternated to extended pastures). The economy was mainly based on animal breeding rather than
cultivations. The pollen spectra show a high presence of biological records that are pastures indicators, cerealia and other
synananthropic indicators. Altogether, all these are important characters of anthropization.
A marine/terrestrial integration for mid-late Holocene vegetation history and the development of the cultural landscape in the Po valley as a result of human impact and climate change
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2012
The paper presents data from two records studied within independent projects: the marine core RF9... more The paper presents data from two records studied within independent projects: the marine core RF93-30, in central Adriatic, with a sediment source area including the Po Valley and the central and northern Appenines, and spanning the last 7000 years; the Terramara di Montale, one of the most important terramaras which was settled in the Po plain from approximately 3550 to 3200 cal BP. The on-site/off-site and terrestrial/marine integration of pollen data has furnished pieces of evidence which contribute to the reconstruction of the time-scan and intensity of climate-human forces that shaped cultural landscapes in the Italian peninsula. The marine core shows a gradual but irreversible trend towards increasing aridity and evolution of a cultural landscape. From around 7570 cal BP, conifers were fairly spread and deciduous oak woods constituted the prevalent woody vegetation. Just after 4560 cal BP, the Betula and Picea decline marked a change towards relatively less cool conditions. The event was fairly synchronous to the increase of Mediterranean taxa (Pistacia-Quercus ilex type). At around 3620 cal BP, deciduous oaks and other broadleaved trees reached maximum expansion. Human impact introduces rapid changes, as the fall of silver fir (thinned by the decrease of precipitations and further cut before the Bronze age) followed by that of oaks at around 3600 cal BP. Then, gradual landscape openness coincided with dramatic fall of oaks corresponding to the onset of Middle Bronze age settlements in the Po Valley. The impact of terramaras includes wood management by coppicing, and patching of the territory in pastures and fields. Xeric environments, represented by Cichorioideae, resulting from the continuative human pressure, spread since the Recent Bronze age, reinforcing the aridification process. In the multi-causal explanation for the decline of terramaras event, we suggest that climate would have had a less important role in the decline than in the onset phases. Then, the evolution of the cultural landscape through pollen evidence is mainly be traced by the trends of Castanea, Juglans and Olea besides those of cereals. From around 3351 to 438 cal BP, subsequent forest reduction and renewal match the fairly gradual openess of the landscape responding to both drier climatic conditions (decline of Abies and Fagus) and increase of human pressure (increase of antropogenic pollen indicators). At around 1100 cal BP, there was a tendency of the Mediterranean evergreen woodland to degrade to shrubby open environments. At around 810 cal BP, the ‘chestnut landscape’ was so diffused in terrestrial environments that its fallout became clearly visible in the marine records. Evident deforestation events were coincident with the spread of cultivated trees, pasturelands and cereal fields during a wetter climatic phase. Modern times were marked by the findings of Zea mays while the chestnut landscape declined.
Key words: archaeobotany, archaeological sites, bronze age, climate change, environmental changes, human impact, marine core, pollen, terramara, Castanea
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Papers by Assunta Florenzano
ilex type increase indicate less cool conditions. Human impact introduces rapid changes, such as the decrease of Abies alba, thinned by the reduction of precipitation and further cleared before or during the Early Bronze Age, followed by the fall of oaks. The latter started after around 3900 cal. B.P., and became evident at around 3600 cal. B.P. The gradual increase in signs of open landscape and woodland clearance correspond to the onset of Middle Bronze Age settlements in the Po valley, and to the development of the cultural landscape in the region. The impact of the terramare people includes woodland man- agement by coppicing, and division of the territory into a patchwork of pastures and fields. Dry environments are indicated mainly by Cichorioideae, resulting from the continued human pressure, and these spread since the Recent Bronze Age. Of the possible causes for the decline of the terramare, we suggest that climate would have been less important in the decline than in the onset phases. The later cultural landscapes are mainly indicated by the trends of the Olea, Juglans and Castanea (OJC) records, besides those of cereals. At around 700 cal. B.P., the ‘‘chestnut landscape’’ spread while modern times are shown by the finds of Zea mays.
1. Introduction
Plants are basic elements of cultural evolution. Both their past and present uses and the development of human environments support this simple assumption. The effects of human action range from low influence to high impact on vegetation, depending on the scale (space) and duration (time) of its presence in a given territory (Mercuri et al., 2010a). The transformation of natural into cultural landscapes is the result of millennia of human activities. These have had direct and indirect effects on the environment that led, and still lead, to clear changes in vegetation cover (Fægri and Iversen, 1989). The life sciences firstly investigate these changes by exploring the morphological and genetic diversity of flora, and
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: annamaria.mercuri@unimore.it (A.M. Mercuri).
1040-6182/$ e see front matter ! 2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.01.005
Pollen data from three off-site records and twenty-six on-site (archaeological) sites are reviewed to investigate the development of cultural landscapes through the history of the olive, walnut and chestnut trees in the Italian peninsula from the Late Glacial to late Holocene. The spread of these trees, which have been gathered or cultivated since ancient times, though not marked by high values in pollen diagrams, is an important indicator of increasing human activity and anthropization in the Mediterranean area.
The sum of Olea, Juglans and Castanea percentages in pollen spectra constitutes the OJC curve. The off-site records discussed are core RF93-30 from the Adriatic Sea (last 7000 years), and cores PALB94-1E of Lago Albano and PNEM94-1B of Lago di Nemi, two lakes in the Latium region (last 13,000 years). The on-site records are located in several regions (Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicily) and in the Republic of San Marino. Their chronology spans approximately from the Bronze to the Renais- sance ages, from 4200 to 500 BP. The simultaneous presence of OJC in the off-sites and in all the archaeo- logical sites confirms that these trees were widespread in the Italian peninsula during the last four millennia. The OJC pollen sum shows low values but Olea, Castanea and Juglans are common in Bronze age sites from northern Italy, when their percentages increase in the off-site records. In Hellenistic and Roman times, there are sharp increments of their curves in the off-sites, and values of Olea are especially high in archaeological sites of southern Italy. The highest values of OJC, especially due to Castanea, are found in records of the Middle ages. Juglans is significant but less frequent in both the archaeological sites and the off-sites.
The cultivation of walnut and chestnut trees in pre-Roman times may have included local stands. The nurturing for wood may have had negative effects on pollen fallout while the flowering of plants was favoured to obtain fruits.
As humans exploited the natural resources they interfered with the distribution of useful plants. The development of human environments in a modern sense, however, is a relatively recent phenomenon. It has largely caused the expansion of complex agrarian landscapes, including fields, pastures and groves.
sedimentary sequences from permanent and dried basins demonstrate that water has always been
an attractive environmental feature, especially during periods of drought. This paper reports on two
very different examples of Holocene sites where “humans and water” coexisted during dry periods,
as observed by stratigraphic, archaeological and palynological evidence. Independent research was
carried out on the Jefara Plain (Libya, 32°N) and the Gobero area (Niger, 17°N), at the extreme
northern and southern limits of the Sahara, respectively.
The histories of the Jefara and Gobero areas, as revealed by the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental
reconstructions, suggest that these areas were likely to have been visited and exploited for a long
time, acting as anthropic refugia, and therefore they have been profoundly transformed. Human presence
and actions have conditioned the local growing of plants and selected a more or less synanthropic
flora. Today, modern conservation strategies should take into consideration that water reservoirs, which
are crucial for the long-term conservation of biodiversity, have provided refugia in the past just as they
presently do under global warming conditions.
the Nile river floodings. The data obtained, the most consistent from any archaeological site in this area, are coherent with the regional and interregional palaeoenvironmental data. The interdisciplinary studies that allowed the correct interpretation of the pollen records presented in this paper included the archaeological features, and the faunal (mainly gastropod) and algal remains from the same sites. The state of preservation of most pollen, showing thinned exine, and the remarkable records of the terrestrial alga Fritschiella outline the seasonality of the area that has been evident in the past as in the present.
Pollen samples included prevailing amounts of grasses and sedges that, with some hygro-hydrophilous taxa, largely represent the riverine and wetland vegetation of the Nile Valley. They suggest that the land use was not intensive and was not able to substantially modify the natural cover and cyclic renewal of the soils and the vegetation. The interdisciplinary evidence from the Sai Island, showing that site 8-B-76 has been continuatively occupied during the 8.2 ka BP dry phase, proves the key role played by the great river on attracting humans and supplying resources even, and especially, during the arid oscillations of the Holocene.
In pollen diagrams, the clearest signal for pastoralism is given by the abundance of plants reflecting animal breeding and grazing areas, such as daisy-family (Cichorieae and Asteroideae). In addition to these pollen pasture indicators, NPPs – with special attention paid to dung-related fungi (e.g. Sordaria, Sporormiella, Podospora and Cercophora) – can be used to assess the presence of past fauna, in particular herbivores. Altogether, the pasture indicators from palynological investigations help to identify pastoral sites and routes otherwise not clear from the archaeological record alone.
Archaeological layers from sites dated from Hellenistic to Medieval periods in Basilicata (southern Italy) give a palynological dataset that may be of key relevance for understanding the past pastoralism practised in the area in the last 2500 years. 121 pollen samples were taken from small trenches, rooms or floors of houses, and spot samples. Data point to an open landscape dominated by pastures and cereal fields. Important evidence of pastoral farming rises from the joint record of pollen grazing indicators and spores of coprophilous fungi. This dataset highlight the pressure of pastoralism in the past and support the idea of the importance of the ancient pasture farming as a major agent of landscape transformation in this Mediterranean region.
The paper reports pollen data obtained by the analyses of samples taken from the Terramara of Baggiovara (Modena), dated
from 17th to 16th century BC.
Archaeobotanical analyses, integrated with palaeobotanical researches, carried out in some terramare of the region, gave
useful elements for the reconstruction of the plant landscape and human impact during the middle and late Bronze age of the
alluvional lowland area.
Data suggest that the landscape was open with low forest cover and most land devoted to agricultural activities (small
cereal and legume fields, alternated to extended pastures). The economy was mainly based on animal breeding rather than
cultivations. The pollen spectra show a high presence of biological records that are pastures indicators, cerealia and other
synananthropic indicators. Altogether, all these are important characters of anthropization.
Key words: archaeobotany, archaeological sites, bronze age, climate change, environmental changes, human impact, marine core, pollen, terramara, Castanea