Search results for "Archaeobotany"
showing 10 items of 29 documents
The past distribution of Abies nebrodensis (Lojac.) Mattei: results of a multidisciplinary study
2019
The present study provides a critical review of the available historical data on the distribution of Abies nebrodensis, a fir tree endemic to Sicily. The only (somewhat ambiguous) references to its occurrence on Mount Etna date back to the 1st century bc and refer back to the 3rd century bc. Although the botanical and forestry literature and the very few surviving herbarium specimens do not prove that A. nebrodensis grew outside the Madonie mountain range, several indications suggest its past occurrence on other Sicilian mountain ranges such as the Erei, Nebrodi, and probably also Sicani mountains. The results of the most recent pollen investigations (still ongoing) point to the disappearan…
The Sicilian Countryside in the Early Middle Ages: Human–Environment Interactions at Contrada Castro
2021
Within the project ‘Harvesting Memories: Ecology and Archaeology of Monti Sicani Landscapes’, this paper aims to reconstruct human–environment interactions in the inland areas of Western Sicily during the Early Middle Ages through a comparative analysis of environmental archaeological data. We analyse carpological and anthracological finds and faunal remains originating from different layers of the rural settlement of Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo), excavated in 2017–2019. The site was mainly occupied between the Byzantine and Islamic periods (late 8th to 11th c. AD). The examination of wood charcoal enabled the identification of plant species selected and exploited in the landscape of…
Changing Plant-based Subsistence Practices among Early and Middle Holocene Communities in Eastern Maghreb
2020
The eastern Maghreb is a key area for understanding environmental and cultural dynamics during the early and middle Holocene. Capsian populations from around 10000–7500 cal BP were among the last foragers in the region. Capsian sites are known as escargotières (land shell middens), and locally called rammadiyat (meaning ashy mound). As taphonomic conditions in Capsian open-air sites generally favour the preservation of resistant materials such as shells and bones rather than fragile plant remains, this study integrates macro-botanical and microfossil evidence from phytoliths, calcitic wood ash pseudomorphs and dung spherulites, since each is influenced by different formation and post-deposi…
MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF ANCIENT GRAPE SEEDS FROM A SINK IN THE MIDDLE-AGE TOWN OF PALERMO
2014
The archaeological excavations in Piazza della Vittoria, in the Roman-Middle Age town of Palermo (Sicily) put in light a sink 3.20 m deep and 1 square m. large, partially filled by thin organic sediments. Grape seeds (grape-stones), fish scales and few vertebrate bones have been found in specific strata sealed under a stratum chronologically attributed to Islamic Middle-Age period (a post-quem limit). The finding of well preserved grape seeds is peculiar and their study opens the opportunity to improve the actual knowledge about evolution, cultivation, use and trade of Vitis L. in the Mediterranean area. This preliminary work focuses on morphologic and morphometric analysis of the ancient g…
Un couple des moulins à eau du XIIe siècle à Bréviandes (Aube)
2016
The divers specialized studies of the Bréviandes watermill have yielded precise information on how the milling installation was operated and its environment. It was built with oak posts felled in 1115 AD along an ancient, silted up meander of the Seine river.the meander was re-activated after cleaning. The foundation probably served to maintain the vanes and platformsof two different mills located to either side of the channel. The millstone fragments correspond to a lower stone and three or four upper stones, two of which retained phytoliths of barley. The lifetime of this facility was probably short, because no repairs were observed following the first that appears to have provoked the co…
Selongey (Côte d'Or)
2016
International audience
Borg, Germany
2016
International audience
Schwarzer Holunder – eine alte Nahrungs- und Heilpflanze
2016
International audience
Oedenburg. Une agglomération d’époque romaine sur le Rhin supérieur : fouilles françaises, allemandes et suisses à Biesheim-Kunheim (Haut-Rhin)
2005
Die römische Fundstelle Oedenburg (Biesheim-Kunheim, Haut-Rhin, France) wird seit 1998 von einem international Team ausgegraben (Ecole pratique des hautes études, Paris, Universität Freiburg im Breisgau, Deutschland, Universität Basel, Schweiz). Gegenüber dem keltischen Oppidum von Breisach, nahe am heutigen Rhein gelegen, war die Siedlung in einer deutlich anderen Landschaft angelegt worden, die damals von verschiedenen Flussarmen durchzogen war. Nach dem bisherigen Stand der Erforschung scheint der Ort zu Beginn der tiberischen Zeit von einem Militärlager besetzt gewesen zu sein, das zum Kommandobereich von Vindonissa im Nordteil des Territoriums der Rauriker gehörte. Zur gleichen Zeit en…
The Origins of Millet Cultivation (Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica) along Iberia’s Mediterranean Area from the 13th to the 2nd Century BC
2023
The introduction of the cultivation of millets (Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica) along Iberia’s Mediterranean zone appears to stem from different origins which themselves hinged on their own specific historical developments. The earliest traces in the northeast, presumably of trans-Pyrenean origin, were brought to light in Bronze Age contexts (13th century BC) in Western Catalonia, notably in the Cinca River Valley. The different species of millets from southern and eastern Iberia, by contrast, come from later 10th–8th century BC contexts under Phoenician influence. Their expansion can be linked to the cultivation of fruit trees (vineyards and others) throughout the 9th–7th centuries …