Emilia Allevato

Archaeobotany at Oplontis: woody remains from the Roman Villa of Poppaea (Naples, Italy)

The Vesuvius area near Naples, southern Italy, is one of the richest places for archaeological finds from Roman times. The a.d. 79 volcanic eruption also caused the preservation of a huge quantity of archaeobotanical material. In this paper the available wood and charcoal remains from the timber structures as well as from the garden soils of the Villa of Poppea at Oplontis are presented. The analyses provide new evidence of the history of some significant trees of the Mediterranean region, such as Abies alba and Cupressus sempervirens, and allow us to put forward hypotheses about wood use during the Roman period. The identification of the building material confirms that the Romans had a good knowledge of the technological properties of wood and mainly used local resources. There is also evidence of trade in high quality timber, in particular Picea abies. The strong presence of climbing plants and of branches and small size stems of wild trees together with typical ornamental plants in the two gardens of the villa reveals a lack of regular gardening maintenance. This evidence is in agreement with the absence of occupants at the moment of the eruption, since the villa was under restoration after the a.d. 62 earthquake.

Farming in a rural settlement in central Italy: cultural and environmental implications of crop production through the transition from Lombard to Frankish influence (8th–11th centuries a.d.)

Plant macrofossil (carpological) and morphometric analyses were carried out on plant remains from the medieval castle of Miranduolo, Siena, a rural settlement in central Italy with a long sequence of occupation between the 8th and the 11th centuries a.d. The presence of Triticum aestivum/durum and Vicia faba var. minor from the first phase of the Lombard farming village suggests continuity with the agricultural tradition of the preceding Roman world, and the use of good cultivation techniques that allowed quality yields to be obtained from rather poor soils. At the same time, the significant presence of the primitive cereal T. monococcum, compared with the archaeobotanical literature of north-central Italy, allows to us consider it as a “cultural” element of Lombard farming. In the next cultural phases, with the Carolingian manor and then with the feudal castle, the stable presence of T. aestivum/durum and the reduction of T. monococcum in favour of more productive cereals such as Secale cereale and Hordeum vulgare indicate a further improvement in productivity. This is also confirmed by the appearance of fruits and nuts such as Castanea sativa, Vitis vinifera and Prunus persica. The increase in caryopsis sizes of T. monococcum and T. aestivum/durum in the transition from the village to the manorial phase is a consequence of the improvements in farming. The decrease in caryopsis size of T. monococcum from the manor phase to that of the castle testifies the decreasing importance of this cereal. The good date resolution of this research allows us to detect the crops, the storage and the processing practices, as well as the changing role of crop plants in the rural economy. This highlights the geographical, historical-cultural and political factors of the medieval transition from the Lombard to the Carolingian and then to the feudal period in central Italy.

Human-derived landscape changes on the northern Etruria coast (western Italy) between Roman times and the late Middle Ages

Anthracological analysis has been carried out in three sites located on the Tyrrhenian coast of central Italy (ancient northern Etruria: the castle of Donoratico, the town of Populonia and the port of Alberese), spanning between the Roman Republican Period and the Late Middle Ages (3rd century bc–13th century ad). The integrated comparison of three different local charcoal data with the regional pollen and microcharcoal data available from northern Etruria showed well that vegetation changes are completely independent of climate and strictly connected to economic and social dynamics characterising the history of this part of central Italy. Indeed, Quercus ilex forests progressively retracted from the 3rd century bc in favour of open macchia formations just during the growing human impact of the Romanisation when intensive agriculture and livestock grazing characterised the economic system. The transition from macchia to deciduous Quercus forest at the end of the Roman Period from the mid-4th to the mid-5th centuries ad and long lasting until the 9th–10th centuries ad was related to economic and cultural factors which led to a phase of land abandonment. Finally, between the 11th and 13th centuries ad, the vegetation cover shifted again towards an open macchia environment at the same time of a re-settlement phase well evidenced also by intensive orcharding. Charcoal data also showed that the expansion of olive and chestnut in central Italy only began in the Late Medieval Period (11th century ad) and not in the Roman Period. This means that extensive cultivation of chestnut and olive has very recent origins and should be attributed to one and the same macro-factor such as the set-up of the economic establishment of the feudal system and the later political organism of the Medieval town.

The contribution of archaeological plant remains in tracing the cultural history of Mediterranean trees: The example of the Roman harbour of Neapolis

In this paper, we present a detailed record of the plant remains recovered on the palaeo-seafloors of Neapolis harbour, spanning ≈700 years, between the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD, thus intersecting the entire Roman Imperial Age. The site preserved many cultivated or cultivable plant remains, especially from food related trees. This particular feature provided the opportunity to reconstruct the puzzling history of planting them and the Roman economy, especially with respect to food production, the market and to dietary habits. The evidence suggests that Prunus persica, Castanea sativa, Juglans regia and Pinus pinea were locally grown all along the investigated period, testifying for a well advanced arboriculture. A broad presence of P. pinea cones could be related to their large use as stoppers for amphorae which probably was among the driving force for planting it actually influencing its original range. The seafarers had extensive access to dry fruit such as walnut, hazelnut and chestnut that for its imperishable nature and the high energy density, would probably have been part of the food-stocks of the galleys. Chestnut consumption, attested throughout the entire period in the harbour, represents the first strong archaeobotanical evidence of chestnut as food in the Western Mediterranean in Roman time. This evidence shed light on the cultural-social significance of these fruits that was probably eaten mainly or almost exclusively by low social classes. The exceptional find of Hyphaene thebaica for the first time outside its native range is also reported.

Evidence of a short-lived episode of olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivation during the Early Bronze Age in western Mediterranean (southern Italy)

Anthracological analysis was carried out in the archaeological site of Punta di Zambrone on the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria in southern Italy. Archaeological excavation documented at the site settlement deposits dated mainly to Early Bronze Age (EBA, 21st–18th century BC) and the Recent Bronze Age (RBA, 13th to early 12th century BC). In the phase of the EBA village, the high frequency of Olea europaea in the charcoal data suggests the tree may well have been cultivated by favouring the spread of the scant olive trees growing wild. Comparison with existing archaeobotanical data indicates that olive cultivation spread over a large portion of southern Italy from the EBA and the early Middle Bronze Age (MBA, 17th–15th century BC), thus calling into question the hypothesis of its first cultivation related to the interaction between Mycenaean Greece and local cultures in southern Italy. The early domestication event at Punta di Zambrone supports the idea of multiple independent primary events of olive domestication throughout the Mediterranean basin. In the following phase of the fortified settlement dated to the RBA, the frequency of olive charcoal diminished and the expansion of a more or less dense forest dominated by Quercus was judged to be a consequence of human depopulation that characterises the end of MBA and also a different land use of RBA. This forest increase, also recorded by other archaeobotanical proxies in the central and southern Italian peninsula, is found to be related to the diffusion in southern Calabria of the Subapennine culture, spreading from more northerly areas of Italy and bringing different economic systems and agronomic knowledge. These far-reaching changes appear to have brought to a halt the first event of olive cultivation recorded at Punta di Zambrone.

Wood exploitation and food supply at the border of the Roman Empire: the case of the vicus of Thamusida – Sidi Ali ben Ahmed (Morocco)

This paper presents the results of inter-disciplinary work drawing on archaeobotanical and archaeometric studies to trace the agroforestry landscape and the supply economy at the vicus of Thamusida in north-west Morocco at the border of the Roman Empire. The available data indicate the self-sufficiency of the settlement in both forestry and agricultural products throughout the period investigated from the end of the 1st century BC to the beginning of the 4th century AD. Charcoal data testify to the presence of a Quercus suber forest in the close surroundings of the site and its exploitation for a variety of forestry products such as timber, fuelwood, cork, and probably also leaves and acorns to feed livestock. The overwhelming presence of Q. suber in the archaeological layer investigated clearly indicates that this forest was under human influence prior to Roman occupation and was already partially degraded. Charred seed and fruit remains suggest that the diet of both troops and civilians was mainly based on locally grown products and that all the inhabitants of the site had access to good cereals such as barley, naked wheats and pulses with large seeds such as horse bean and pea; quality fruits, such as olive and grape, were also produced locally for fresh consumption. Organic residue analyses of the contents of ceramic vessels and plastered vats allowed archaeobotanical data to be complemented, thereby shedding light on some of the imports at Thamusida. Despite the remote location of this settlement, imported goods such as oil and wine were transported here in amphorae from different parts of the Empire.

Repeated stand-replacing crown fires affect seed morphology and germination in Aleppo pine

Post-fire reproductive niche of Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) is deeply interlaced with fire products. Indeed, the high pH and low osmotic potentials of ash beds under burnt crowns constitute the main constraints to seed germination. In this study, we aim to investigate whether fire recurrence, through the physico-chemical constraints imposed by the ash beds, affects the reproduction ability of P. halepensis at the germination stage. To this aim, Aleppo pine seeds were collected in neighboring even-aged stands subjected to 0, 1, or 2 fires (namely fire cohorts), and seed morphology and germination performance, in terms of cumulative germination and germination kinetics, were studied under increasing osmotic potentials (from 0.0 to −1.2 MPa) and pH (from 6 to 11). Besides fire history, the role of ontogenetic age of mother plants on seed morphology and germination was also investigated. Differences in seed morphology among the three cohorts have been highlighted in a multivariate context, with anisotropic enlargement of the seeds produced by pine stands experiencing repeated fires. The patterns of seed germination varied primarily in relation to the fire cohort, with seeds from the pine stand experiencing repeated fires exhibiting enhanced tolerance to pH stress. Conversely, germination performances under osmotic constraints mainly depends on tree ontogenetic stage, with an involvement of fire history especially in the timing of seed germination. Our results suggest that, at least in the short term, fire recurrence does not constrain the reproduction ability of Aleppo pine. These results highlight the need for further research to elucidate the mechanisms behind these responses to recurrent fires.