FIBS in Archaeobotany: Functional Interpretation of Weed Floras in Relation to Husbandry Practices

Charles, Mike; Jones, Glynis; Hodgson, J.

doi:10.1006/jasc.1997.0194

Cited by 61 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The data were analysed using ArcGIS 10.3.1 in order to detect any associations between topographical Charles, Jones, and Hodgson 1997;Bogaard et al 1999;Jones et al 2000;Bogaard et al 2001; for fuller explanations).…”

Section: Field Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Traditional Farming in Morocco to Early Urban Agroecology in Northern Mesopotamia: Combining Present-day Arable Weed Surveys and Crop Isotope Analysis to Reconstruct Past Agrosystems in (Semi-)arid Regions

Bogaard

Styring

Ater

et al. 2016

Environmental Archaeology

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We integrate functional weed ecology with crop stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to assess their combined potential for inferring arable land management practices in (semi-)arid regions from archaeobotanical assemblages. Weed and GIS survey of 60 cereal and pulse fields in Morocco are combined with crop sampling for stable isotope analysis to frame assessment of agricultural labour intensity in terms of manuring, irrigation, tillage and handweeding. Under low management intensity weed variation primarily reflects geographical differences, whereas under high management intensity fields in disparate regions have similar weed flora. Manured and irrigated oasis barley fields are clearly discriminated from less intensively manured rain-fed barley terraces in southern Morocco; when fields in northern and southern Morocco are considered together, climatic differences are superimposed on the agronomic intensity gradient. Barley δ 13 C and δ 15 N values clearly distinguish among the Moroccan regimes. An integrated approach combines crop isotope values with weed ecological discrimination of low-and high-intensity regimes across multiple studies (in southern Morocco and southern Europe). Analysis of archaeobotanical samples from EBA Tell Brak, Syria suggests that this early city was sustained through extensive (low-intensity, large-scale) cereal farming. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Field Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Traditional Farming in Morocco to Early Urban Agroecology in Northern Mesopotamia: Combining Present-day Arable Weed Surveys and Crop Isotope Analysis to Reconstruct Past Agrosystems in (Semi-)arid Regions

Bogaard

Styring

Ater

et al. 2016

Environmental Archaeology

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“…Three study areas were chosen (all of which have been the subject of research on the relationship between crop-growing conditions and weed ecology): the Borja area of northern Spain (Charles, Jones and Hodgson 1997;Jones et al 1995), the area around the village of Tharounia on the Greek island of Evvia (Jones 2005;Jones et al 1999), and the area in and around Wadi Ibn Hammâd in Jordan . Records of crop treatment were compiled through interviews with local cultivators and irrigation supervisors to enable a comparison between water availability and Δ 13 C values (Table 1), but variability in water conditions is expected, given that multiple farmers were involved, and fields were spread over large areas.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stable carbon isotope analysis as a direct means of inferring crop water status and water management practices

et al. 2013

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Stable carbon isotope analysis of plant remains is a promising tool for researchers studying palaeoclimate and past agricultural systems. The potential of the technique is clear: it offers a direct measure of the water conditions in which plants grew. In this paper, we assess how reliably stable carbon isotope discrimination can be used to infer water conditions, through the analysis of present-day crop plants grown at multiple locations across the Mediterranean and south-west Asia. The key findings are that: (1) Δ¹³C, as expected, provides an indication of water conditions, (2) even for plants grown in similar conditions there is variation in Δ¹³C and (3) Δ¹³C may reflect crop water status for a period beginning well before the grain filling period. A new framework is presented which increases the robustness with which Δ¹³C values of plant remains can be interpreted in terms of the water conditions in which ancient crops grew.

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“…This approach is suitable, assuming that the response of the taxa to environmental factors did not change and that the combinations of environmental conditions are comparable between the past and nowadays (actualism), so that most probably the composition of vegetation did not change very much over time. A disadvantage of using abiotic values is that these are based on field observations of growth locations, but insight in which factors influence the occurrence of a taxon is lacking (Bogaard 2004, p. 7;Charles et al 1997Charles et al , p. 1152. Therefore, Charles et al (1997) and Bogaard (2004) propose using functional attributes (biotic factors) such as leaf life span and root length to reconstruct vegetation types for which one might assume that a modern analogy of a combination of factors influencing the chances of a taxon occurring is lacking: a prime example is arable weed vegetation.…”

Section: Individualistic Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

An objective method based on assemblages of subfossil plant macro-remains to reconstruct past natural vegetation: a case study at Swifterbant, The Netherlands

Schepers

Cappers

Tongeren³

et al. 2012

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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We present a new method of identifying past plant communities based on a palaeobotanical dataset. The dataset used as a case study consists of plant macroremains retrieved from the Neolithic settlement Swifterbant S4, The Netherlands. Taxa were grouped based on their present-day concurrence values. Subsequently, phytosociological analysis was performed on the subfossil taxon groups using the software package PALAEOAS-SOCIA, adjusted for this type of research. Results show that syntaxonomic knowledge on the concurrence of plant species can be used to reconstruct parts of the past vegetation. We further discuss the theory behind the reconstruction of syntaxa, with special emphasis on actualism.

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FIBS in Archaeobotany: Functional Interpretation of Weed Floras in Relation to Husbandry Practices

Cited by 61 publications

References 28 publications

From Traditional Farming in Morocco to Early Urban Agroecology in Northern Mesopotamia: Combining Present-day Arable Weed Surveys and Crop Isotope Analysis to Reconstruct Past Agrosystems in (Semi-)arid Regions

From Traditional Farming in Morocco to Early Urban Agroecology in Northern Mesopotamia: Combining Present-day Arable Weed Surveys and Crop Isotope Analysis to Reconstruct Past Agrosystems in (Semi-)arid Regions

Stable carbon isotope analysis as a direct means of inferring crop water status and water management practices

An objective method based on assemblages of subfossil plant macro-remains to reconstruct past natural vegetation: a case study at Swifterbant, The Netherlands

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