Charcoal analysis and the reconstruction of ancient woodland vegetation in the Konya Basin, south-central Anatolia, Turkey: results from the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük East

Fire, climate and the origins of agriculture: micro‐charcoal records of biomass burning during the last glacial–interglacial transition in Southwest Asia

“…Human population densities increased at those times and in those regions when conditions were warmer and wetter, and during the transition from hunting-foraging to farming there is archaeological evidence that Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic communities modified their local and -possibly -regional environments by their use of, and need for, fire (e.g. Asouti and Hather, 2001;Emery-Barbier and Thiébault, 2005). Human actions thus seem to have amplified the underlying, climatically paced shifts in fire regime during the transition to Neolithic agriculture.…”

“…On the other hand, deliberate cultural fire-setting during the transition to full agriculture may have meant that fires occurred more frequently, hence increasing the overall magnitude of microcharcoal flux peaks, even if not altering their timing on multidecadal to multi-centennial timescales. It is clear from anthracological analysis of macro-charcoals that by 9 ka wood fuel for human domestic use had to be transported from a distance at sites such as Ç atalhö yü k in central Turkey (Asouti and Hather, 2001;Asouti, 2005). It should be borne in mind also that Anatolian woodlands include many insect-pollinated species (Woldring and Cappers, 2001) so that some key woody taxa (e.g.…”

Vegetation history reconstructed from anthracology and pollen analysis at the rescue excavation of the MO Motorway, Hungary

“…Its significance is that it allows for the reconstruction of woody plants, so that the reconstruction of the former local vegetation can be completed. Several studies from recent years [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] show that anthracological analysis has become a very important method in palaeoecological studies. In Hungary, even in the first part of the 20 th century very important wood anatomical [13][14][15][16] and anthracological [17][18][19][20] papers were published, and during the last few decades palaeoecological studies have also been prominent [21][22][23][24][25].…”

“…The analysis of archaeological charcoals is an applied method for the vegetation reconstruction of dry environments because of the lack of the well preserved pollen sequences [7,26,27]. The archaeological context is very important in reconstructing the former environment.…”

Régészeti lelőhelyek szenült faanyagának határozása és értékelése a geoarcheológiai kutatásokban

“…Az erdők regenerációját serkenteni lehet erdei utak, ösvények létrehozásával vagy a területen levő tönkök, kiszáradt fák és cserjék eltávolításával. A levelek lehullása és más organikus maradvány növeli a tápanyagtartalmat, így elősegíti a növényzet megújulását és fajgazdag erdei biomok fejlődését (Dean et al 1999;Asouti-Hather, 2001). Emberi lakóhelyek közelében főleg azok a fajok jutottak uralomra, melyeknek erősebb a sarjadzási képessége.…”