To cite this version:Alexa Dufraisse, Sylvie Coubray, Olivier Girardclos, Noémie Nocus, Michel Lemoine, et al.. Anthracotypology as a key approach to past firewood exploitation and woodland management reconstructions. Dendrological reference dataset modelling with dendro-anthracological tools. Quaternary International, Elsevier, 2018, 463 (part B) Charcoal analysis aims to study different aspects of forest management, techno-19 economical choices and their specific impact on past landscapes, as well as the impact of 20 climatic events. However, at the present time, charcoal analysis is generally limited to the 21 study of a list of taxa and their relative frequency, as the methods usually employed in 22 dendrochronology to characterize past woodland, based on long tree-ring series, are not 23 suitable for anthracological material. Today, the new challenge for charcoal analysis is thus 24 to develop adapted dendrological tools. In this context, the aim of the ANR DENDRAC 25 project "Development of dendrometrical tools applied to anthracology: study of the 26 interactions between Man, resources and environments" was to characterize modern-day 27 wood stands in accordance with historical woodland practices and convert dendroecological 28 R e v i s e d m a n u s c r i p t 2 data into parameters adapted to charcoal analysis. The purpose of this study is to define the 29 dendrological features with the help of the anthracological tools without explaining the 30 observed differences between the sampled stands (given the stational variability, age and 31 regeneration modes). The first step consisted in creating dendro-anthracological tools based 32 on morpho-anatomical criteria that help to characterize growth, distinguish heartwood from 33 sapwood and evaluate charcoal-pith distance. The second step involves characterizing three 34 modern-day wood stands (coppice under standard, high forest and young stand formed by a 35 mixture of seeded and coppice trees), defined by their structure, stand density and 36 regeneration modes, using dendrological data measured on fresh wood material and 37 modelled into anthracological data with the dendro-anthracological tools. In this way, 38 anthracological types were defined for each wood stand, forming anthraco-typological 39 models, which area useful for the interpretation of archaeological charcoal assemblages. 40Finally, an anthracological key is proposed to sort archaeological charcoal fragments in 41 anthraco-groups before data processing. 42 43
While some consensus exists about the roles of southwestern China and northeastern India in the origin and diversification of the genus Citrus, the scarcity of its archaeological remains, as well as some methodological limits in unequivocally identifying taxa, do not facilitate reconstruction of the tempo and mode of spread of the genus towards other areas, notably the Mediterranean. Recent discoveries of archaeobotanical macro-remains (seeds and fruits) and pollen records from some important Italian sites in the Vesuvius area and Rome can be used to shed new light on this history. However, due to their morphological variability and the changes derived from the preservation processes, Citrus seeds appear difficult to recognise. In this paper, we present criteria to facilitate their precise identification, based on the observation of the morphology of modern seeds, and most of all the seed-coat patterns. The reference material consisted of "archaic" varieties of C. medica L. (citron), C. × limon (L.) Burm. f. (lemon) and seeds of C. × aurantium L. (bitter or Seville orange), C. × aurantiifolia (Christm.) Swingle (lime) and C. reticulata Blanco (tangerine, mandarin orange). Considering the fact that the general morphology of seeds, especially when mineralised, can confuse the identification of Citrus with Maloideae types, we also add criteria for the recognition of Cydonia oblonga Mill. (quince), Malus domestica Borkh. (apple), Pyrus communis L. (pear), Sorbus aria (L.) Crantz (whitebeam) and S. domestica L. (service tree). The observation of the keels and cell patterns was mostly useful to identify new material from Pompeii and Rome dating from the 3rd/2nd century b.c. and the Augustan period around the beginning of the Common (Christian) Era as C. medica L. (citron) and C. cf. × limon (L.) Burm. f. (possible lemon). The classical Greek and Latin sources helped us to understand the use and status of citrus fruits in the ancient world and, in combination with all available archaeobotanical remains compiled in this paper, have allowed us to discuss the spread of Citrus from its regions of origin to the eastern Mediterranean and then within the Mediterranean. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.