Pollen from archaeological layers and cultural landscape reconstruction: Case studies from the Bradano valley (Basilicata, southern Italy)

Abstract

The article aims at presenting some aspects of environmental reconstruction through pollen analysis from archaeological contexts. The anthropogenic pollen transport into archaeological sites is regarded as an interesting tool to improve knowledge on flora and vegetation in the area of influence of sites. The zoophilous plants can be found more easily than in the regional airborne pollen rain where anemophilous pollen is generally overrepresented. Moreover, pollen from archaeological contexts is mainly a result of the cultural landscape shaped by human activities. Two case studies from the Bradano Valley (Basilicata, southern Italy), rich in archaeological sites dating altogether from the Middle Bronze Age to the Medieval age, are reported. Difesa San Biagio and its surroundings is one of the biggest settlements of the area, settled in early times by Enotrians. Altojanni is an extended area mainly frequented in Hellenistic, Roman late Imperial and Medieval times. A very open landscape, and clear signs of plant exploitation and cultivation, breeding and settlements were present in the two sites. Though samples are disturbed and preservation problems are sometimes observed, the main characters of pollen spectra are recurrent. High percentages of Poaceae and Cichorioideae, together with coprophilous fungal spores, strongly suggest a long tradition of pastoral activities. These case study examples suggest that human activities would have produced a fairly xeric environment.

Seeds/fruits, pollen and parasite remains as evidence of site function: piazza Garibaldi – Parma (N Italy) in Roman and Mediaeval times

“…The recognition of cultivated and synanthropic plants allowed obtaining details on the plant landscape and uses from archaeological layers (Mercuri et al, 2010b;Sadori et al, 2010b) and was of particular importance to emphasize the value of botanical data as proxy evidence of environmental, behavioural and site function reconstructions.…”

Climate change versus land management in the Po Plain (Northern Italy) during the Bronze Age: New insights from the VP/VG sequence of the Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio

“…This seems to contradict the above-mentioned hypothesis of the spreading of grapevine as part of riparian vegetation . In archaeological contexts their pollen is among the most important pastureland or grazing indicators (Florenzano et al, 2013;Mercuri et al, 2010). In off-site records, the trend of Cichorieae pollen commonly follows the trend of Poaceae pollen marking dry grassland spreading during increasing climate aridity and human impact in the last three millennia .…”

Plant landscape and land use at the Neolithic lake settlement of Dispilió (Macedonia, northern Greece)

“…Renfrew 1973;Valamoti 2004;Asouti & Austin 2005;Sadori et al 2010c). Furthermore, palynomorph records from both archaeological sites and natural deposits are an invaluable tool for the assessment of cultural landscapes evolution (Konigsson 1989;Bottema & Woldring 1990;Mercuri 2008Mercuri , 2014Mariotti Lippi et al 2009;Mercuri et al 2010a;Sadori et al 2010aSadori et al , 2010bKouli 2012;Marinova et al 2012).…”