The Black Death (1347–1352 ce) is the most renowned pandemic in human history, believed by many to have killed half of Europe’s population. However, despite advances in ancient DNA research that conclusively identified the pandemic’s causative agent (bacterium Yersinia pestis), our knowledge of the Black Death remains limited, based primarily on qualitative remarks in medieval written sources available for some areas of Western Europe. Here, we remedy this situation by applying a pioneering new approach, ‘big data palaeoecology’, which, starting from palynological data, evaluates the scale of the Black Death’s mortality on a regional scale across Europe. We collected pollen data on landscape change from 261 radiocarbon-dated coring sites (lakes and wetlands) located across 19 modern-day European countries. We used two independent methods of analysis to evaluate whether the changes we see in the landscape at the time of the Black Death agree with the hypothesis that a large portion of the population, upwards of half, died within a few years in the 21 historical regions we studied. While we can confirm that the Black Death had a devastating impact in some regions, we found that it had negligible or no impact in others. These inter-regional differences in the Black Death’s mortality across Europe demonstrate the significance of cultural, ecological, economic, societal and climatic factors that mediated the dissemination and impact of the disease. The complex interplay of these factors, along with the historical ecology of plague, should be a focus of future research on historical pandemics.
The present study concerns the Phoenician-Punic site of Motya, a small island set in Western Sicily (Italy), in the Marsala Lagoon (Stagnone di Marsala), between Trapani and Marsala. A big disposal pit, datable to between the first half of the 8th and the mid-6th century bc, was identified in Area D. This context was sampled for plant macro-remains through bucket flotation. Palynological treatment and analysis were also performed on soil samples collected from each of the identified filling layers. The combination of the study of macro- and micro-remains has shown to be effective in answering questions concerning introduced food plants and agricultural practices, and native plants, including timber use. Here we investigate if a waste context can provide information about Phoenicians at Motya and their impact on the local plant communities. We found that human diet included cereals (mostly naked wheat), pulses and fruits. A focus was placed on weeds (including Lolium temulentum and Phalaris spp.) referable to different stages of crop processing. This aspect was enriched by the finding of cereal pollen, which suggests that threshing (if not even cultivation) was carried out on site. Palynology also indicates an open environment, with little to no forest cover, characterized by complex anthropogenic activities. Anthracology suggests the presence of typical Mediterranean plant taxa, including not only the shrubs Pistacia lentiscus and Erica multiflora, but also evergreen oaks. The presence of a stone pine nut and of Pinus pinea/pinaster in the pollen rain is noteworthy, suggesting the local occurrence of these Mediterranean pines outside their native distribution range. This represents the first such find in the central Mediterranean. Finally, the present study allows us to compare Motya’s past environment with the present one. The disappearance of Juniperus sp. and Erica arborea from the present-day surroundings of the Marsala lagoon appears to be related to land-overexploitation, aridification or a combination of both processes.
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The Black Death is the most reknown pandemic in human history, believed by many to have killed half of Europe's population. However, despite the advances in ancient DNA research that allowed for the successful identification of the pandemic's causative agent (bacterium Yersinia pestis), our knowledge of the Black Death is still limited, based primarily on medieval texts available for single areas of Western Europe. In our study we remedy this situation and we focus in particular on the scale of the Black Death mortality. We collected data on landscape change from 261 coring sites (lakes and wetlands) located in 19 European countries. We used two independent methods of analysis to evaluate whether the changes we see in the landscape at the time of the Black Death agree with the hypothesis that half of the population died within a single year in each of the 21 regions we studied. We discovered that while the Black Death had devastating impact in some regions, it had negligible or no impact in others. The inter-regional differences in the Black Death mortality across Europe demonstrate the significance of cultural, ecological, economic and climatic factors that mediate the dissemination and impact of the disease. The complex interplay of these factors, along with the identification of the pathogen that caused disease outbreaks, should be the focus of future research on historical pandemics.
High-resolution pollen analysis of a sediment core recovered from Paliouras lagoon (Greece) allowed us to reconstruct the environmental dynamics of the Halkidiki peninsula during the last 4000 years. Palynological results have been interpreted and compared with detailed historical data, showing distinct phases of human-landscape interactions from the Bronze Age until recent times. Pollen spectra revealed an environment characterized by Mediterranean vegetation, mixed deciduous forest, and pine stands from the Late Bronze Age until the 11th century CE. The first signs of human impact were attested during the Archaic period with the cultivation of Olea, Castanea, and Vitis in the inland of the study area. An intensive land management was highlighted by arboriculture and cereal cultivation (Secale and Hordeum group) in Roman times. Late Antique-Early Medieval times coincided with less human pressure due to warfare-related crises, leading to the expansion of the forest and the abandonment of fields colonized by Amaranthaceae. A massive increase in pastoral activities, suggested by the high percentages of Cichorieae during the Ottoman period, is possibly linked to the significant demographic growth of the nearby city of Thessaloniki in the 16th century CE.
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