Christoph Brombacher

On-site data cast doubts on the hypothesis of shifting cultivation in the late Neolithic (c. 4300–2400 cal. BC): Landscape management as an alternative paradigm:

This article brings together in a comprehensive way, and for the first time, on- and off-site palaeoenvironmental data from the area of the Central European lake dwellings (a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site since 2011). The types of data considered are as follows: high-resolution off-site pollen cores, including micro-charcoal counts, and on-site data, including botanical macro- and micro-remains, hand-collected animal bones, remains of microfauna, and data on woodland management (dendrotypology). The period considered is the late Neolithic (c. 4300–2400 cal. BC). For this period, especially for its earlier phases, discussions of land-use patterns are contradictory. Based on off-site data, slash-and-burn – as known from tropical regions – is thought to be the only possible way to cultivate the land. On-site data however show a completely different picture: all indications point to the permanent cultivation of cereals (Triticum spp., Hordeum vulgare), pea (Pisum sativum), flax (Linum usitatissimum) and opium-poppy (Papaver somniferum). Cycles of landscape use are traceable, including coppicing and moving around the landscape with animal herds. Archaeobiological studies further indicate also that hunting and gathering were an important component and that the landscape was manipulated accordingly. Late Neolithic land-use systems also included the use of fire as a tool for opening up the landscape. Here we argue that bringing together all the types of palaeoenvironmental proxies in an integrative way allows us to draw a more comprehensive and reliable picture of the land-use systems in the late Neolithic than had been reconstructed previously largely on the basis of off-site data.

Agriculture, food and environment during Merovingian times : plant remains from three early medieval sites in northwestern Switzerland

There have been only a few archaeobotanical investigations of early medieval sites in Switzerland (5th–7th century ad) until now. Recent archaeobotanical studies of plant macroremains from three Merovingian settlements in the Canton du Jura, northwest Switzerland, have added to our knowledge of past landscapes, agriculture and food. One was located within an intra-Jurassic basin while the others were situated in the Ajoie plain to the northwest of the Jura mountains. The principal cultivated cereals were Avena sativa, Triticum aestivum, T. spelta and T. monococcum, followed by smaller frequencies of Hordeum distichon/vulgare, Secale cereale and T. dicoccon. Two types of millet, Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica, were found only sporadically. Legumes such as Lens culinaris, Pisum sativum and Vicia faba were also regularly present in these settlements. Finds of cultivated vegetables and spices like Coriandrum sativum, Apium graveolens and Anethum graveolens were rare. These records, together with those of Malus sp. (probably cultivated) and Prunus domestica, demonstrate the past existence of gardens and orchards. Isolated remains of Juglans regia were also recovered. At Develier-Courtételle, with its partially waterlogged sediments, finds of Linum usitatissimum and Cannabis sativa, together with dyeing and carding plants such as Reseda luteola, Xanthium strumarium and Dipsacus sativum/fullonum underline the importance of textile production. Among the wild plants found, many taxa are from cultivated fields, meadows and pasture land. Most of these are typical of rather damp, calcareous soils. Plants characteristic of dry grassland are rare, despite this habitat being widely present in the Jura until the first half of the 20th century. Compared to other contemporary sites in Switzerland, northeastern France and southern Germany, only small differences in the spectra of crop plants from the 4th to the 6th century ad are detected. However the relative proportions of these crop plants vary quite significantly, which could indicate that the significance of the individual taxa at the studied sites differed.

Layers rich in aquatic and wetland plants within complex anthropogenic stratigraphies and their contribution to disentangling taphonomic processes

There is an ongoing discussion about how organic material is preserved in settlement layers on lakeshores. Different scenarios have been suggested; was a permanent water cover needed at all times, or were there episodical water level fluctuations? In this paper, we use aquatic and wetland plants to shed light on layer formation processes of complex anthropogenic stratigraphies of the Neolithic lakeshore settlement Zug-Riedmatt (Central Switzerland). Botanical macroremains from the microarchaeologically investigated occupation layer were analysed and compared to modern analogue data from two lakes. Results suggest that the excavated area of the settlement was in a first phase located in the sublittoral zone (below water), with a massive input of anthropogenic waste material contributing to the layer formation, but then in a second phase, the shoreline shifted so that the excavated part of the settlement was located in the eulittoral zone and in a third phase probably even landwards of a reed belt. In a comparison with two previously investigated Neolithic lakeshore sites, we found that at least in one of these sites, such ‘drier’ conditions could also be found. This shows how important it is to know which part of the littoral zone is represented in an excavation, as conditions can differ within a settlement, and that there is very likely no universally valid ‘Pfahlbau scenario’.