Felix Bittmann

The Kärlich interglacial, Middle Rhine region, Germany: vegetation history and stratigraphic position

Pollen analytical investigations have been carried out on the sediments of five profiles from a former lake exposed at the Kärlich clay-pit, Middle Rhine region, of Germany, with the aim of clarifying the stratigraphic position of the Kärlich Interglacial (Middle Pleistocene) within the European Pleistocene. The pollen sequence starts with a QM (Quercetum mixtum) phase followed by a Carpinus phase. After the interglacial period there are oscillations (Mühlheim I and II Stadials, and the Kettig Interstadial) and the sequence ends with a cold steppe phase. Parallel with these developments, conditions in the lake changed from meso- to eutrophic and back again to meso-oligotrophic. The lake was finally filled in by silty and organic sediments and then covered by loessic material, with evidence for oscillations between limnic and telmatic phases. Numerous macrofossil remains in the interglacial sediments allowed reconstruction of plant communities mainly from the lake itself, but also from the surrounding forests. The pollen analytical results indicate a warm stage that belongs to the Cromerian Complex. That is corroborated by a good conformity with the upper part of the Cromerian interglacial (Rhume Interglacial) from Bilshausen, Lower Saxony, Germany, which is considered to belong to the youngest part of the Cromerian Complex. 40Ar/39Ar laser dates of the Brockentuff (396±20 ka), a basaltic tephra deposited during the early QM phase of the same warm stage, enable the interglacial sequence to be correlated with oxygen isotope stage 11. On account of biostratigraphic arguments and old-palaeolithic artefacts within the interglacial sediments, the Kärlich Interglacial is considered to have its stratigraphical position between the Cromerian IV (based on the Dutch stratigraphy) and the Holsteinian sensu stricto.

From collecting to cultivation: transitions to a production economy in the Near East

The selected articles in the current issue throw new light on our understanding of how Homo sapiens became caught in the agriculture trap in the Near East. They are the outcome of the session entitled ‘Origins of agriculture in the Near East’ held at the 15th IWGP conference in Wilhelmshaven 2010. The subject is constantly being revised as new information and more refined analyses become available, so these papers provide a state of the art in 2010/2011. Each major discovery adds complexity to what has become a multi-faceted puzzle with data being drawn from disciplines as wide apart as archaeology and genetics, plant biology and palaeo-climatology. In this issue papers concentrate on results obtained from charred plant remains and their interpretation. During the last half of the 20th century ground-breaking scholars like Hans Helbaek, Daniel Zohary, Maria Hopf, Willem van Zeist and Gordon Hillman made major contributions (Zohary and Hopf 1973; Helbaek 1959; Hillman 1984; Van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982). Daniel Zohary combined genetics and information from living progenitors with Maria Hopf’s archaeobotanical knowledge to help explain the domestication of plants in the Near East. Willem van Zeist pioneered the identification and sampling of charred seeds from early Neolithic sites while Gordon Hillman developed interpretive tools for the subject. Their findings opened up avenues for hypothesizing as to how, when and why, in south west Asia, humans started systematically cultivating a selection of grain crops. In the 1980s and 1990s the puzzle appeared quite simple because it was composed of few elements and so scholars hypothesized using straightforward deterministic scenarios and models citing climate change, or population growth, or over-exploitation as possible factors which encouraged humans to adopt cultivation. Today the central elements of these hypotheses are still valid, but with hindsight simple hypotheses are no longer plausible given the archaeological and environmental diversity within the Fertile Crescent. This complex diversity is exemplified by the vast geographical area where transition sites are located, which spans different climate and vegetation zones. Thus, sites in the north of the Fertile Crescent are 1,000 km from those in the south and likewise in the east–west direction. Archaeological diversity is exemplified by the extended chronological range of transition sites. We can trace the use of wild cereals back to about 23,000 years ago when habitations consisted of simple brush huts to villages with sophisticated architecture associated with the earliest domesticated cereals 12,500 years later. The transition to a production based economy was acted out on a vast stage of multi-dimensional cultural developments. Archaeological and archaeobotanical discoveries represent only narrow windows providing unconnected fleeting glimpses of human subsistence economies. Gaps in the archaeological record may result from lack of survey work but also because early Neolithic sites are often buried beneath large Bronze Age mounds, for example at Tell el Kerkh, Motza, Tell Qaramel and Cheik Hassan. Others may be covered by post occupation alluvial sediments. G. Willcox (&) Archeorient, UMR 5133, CNRS Jales, 07460 St-Paul-le-Jeune, France e-mail: gwillcox@wanadoo.fr

Human landscapes and climate change during the Holocene

Palaeoecological and archaeobotanical studies of past environments are essential for understanding the kinds of natural settings in which agriculture and prehistoric societies evolved. They increase our knowledge of how human activities have changed environment and vice versa. Human impact on vegetation cover was recognised from the beginning of modern palynological research (Firbas 1937; Iversen 1941). Based on plant communities described from traditional agriculture and the evidence from archaeobotanical records, Behre (1981) identified palynological anthropogenic indicators. They comprise pollen of cultivated plants together with their associated arable weeds and ruderals. These indicators have been widely used and adapted in different European regions (e.g. Rosch 1996; Brun 2011) and the Near East (e.g. Behre 1990). Apart from reconstructing the vegetation dynamics caused by humans, current palynological research attempts to identify the spatial scale and variation of human activities, and their precise duration and location in given landscapes. Recent advances in quantification and numerical analyses of pollen data including climate reconstruction and vegetation/land-cover modelling, which allow for more precise estimates of the opening of woodlands in past times as well as simulating possible scenarios of human impact on the vegetation and landscapes (e.g. Gaillard et al. 2008). With these methodologies, past and future anthropogenic land cover change can be explored (Gaillard et al. 2010). However, until now most applications of these approaches have mainly concentrated on northwestern Europe. Extending them to further regions would be of great interest. Numerical analyses are of increasing importance for estimating human impact on vegetation and to allow disentangling the human and climatically induced vegetation changes in some cases (Feurdean et al. 2010; Bakker et al. 2012). Climate models can be used for the interpretation of human–environment interactions (e.g. Riehl et al. 2009). However, climatic changes of the last millennia are usually too small in amplitude to be detected by most of the quantitative climate reconstructions using pollen data (Kuhl et al. 2010). Also, microand macro-charcoal records in palaeoecological and archaeobotanical studies serving as climate and human indicators are becoming increasingly relevant (Carcaillet et al. 2002). Investigations of charcoal in soil have focussed on the tropics, the boreal zone and around the Mediterranean, however recently the temperate zone has been integrated as well. In addition, on-site wood charcoal analyses can contribute to reconstructing the human impact on vegetation, especially in areas where no suitable pollen archives are available near human occupation sites (Riehl and Marinova 2008). E. Marinova (&) Centre for Archaeological Sciences, University of Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, bus 2408, 3001 Leuven, Belgium e-mail: elena.marinova@bio.kuleuven.be

Landscape evolution and agro-sylvo-pastoral activities on the Gorgan Plain (NE Iran) in the last 6000 years

The Gorgan Plain (NE Iran) is characterized by fertile soils formed on a loess plateau and is at present primarily exploited for intensive agriculture. However, the timing and intensity of the human impact on the landscape in the past are still unclear. A sediment core, taken from the centre of the eastern Gorgan Plain in the Kongor Lake covering the major part of the Holocene from 6.1 to 0.8 ka (all ages are calibrated before present), has been studied for pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, botanical macroremains, insects, charcoal, geochemistry, biomarkers and magnetism in order to provide new insights into the evolution of the landscape and to estimate the intensity of human activities. The data obtained suggest a dry period between 5.9 and 3.9 ka and an increase in regional humidity afterwards with a maximum between 2.7 and 0.7 ka, during the period of the Persian empires (Achaemenid through Sasanian) and the Islamic era. The eastern part of the Gorgan Plain was characterized by open steppe landscapes during the last 6 ka, which most likely were used for pasture and at least since 2.7 ka for agriculture including arboriculture. The strongest anthropogenic impact on the environment around the Kongor site is documented during the Parthian and Sasanian Empires (200 BC–651 AD) and the Islamic era up to the eve of the Mongol invasion.

Before and after: millet cultivation and the transformation of prehistoric crop production in northern Germany

A programme of radiocarbon dating aims to correlate the onset of millet cultivation in northern Germany with cultural and technological changes during the Bronze Age.

Proceedings of the 17th conference of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany, Paris 2016

The present volume of Vegetation History and Archaeobotany comprises a collection of papers presented at the 17th conference of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany (IWGP) held at the National Museum of Natural History (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, MNHN) in Paris (France), between July 4 and 9, 2016. This was the second time the IWGP meeting took place in France, 18 years after the event was organised in Toulouse in summer 1998. Scholars, students and administrative personnel from the hosting team—Archaeozoology, Archaeobotany: Societies, Practices and Environments (UMR 7209, MNHN-CNRS) were in charge of the organisation of the conference, which received financial support from several French institutions and organisations: the MNHN, the Institute of Ecology and Environment (INEE) of the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the National Institute for Rescue Archaeology (INRAP), the Archaeology Department of the Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Association des Amis du Muséum. 251 participants from 33 different countries representing all continents (except Antarctica) gathered in central Paris for a week of intensive and enriching scientific exchange. While senior scholars were present to share their experience, many young researchers—doctoral students and postdocs—also participated in the conference and presented their results obtained from a multitude of new studies. 110 oral and 88 poster presentations were scheduled during 5 days and in order to guarantee a reasonable timetable, parallel sessions had to be organised during part of the meeting (one and a half days). This was a première in the history of the IWGP and even though some participants may regret the passing of an epoch when it was possible to fit in all presentations into one week, the success of the IWGP meetings and the expanding community of palaeoethnobotanists will probably also make the planning of at least some parallel sessions necessary during future conferences. As already noticed during the 16th IWGP conference, held in Thessaloniki (Greece) in 2013, the themes treated during the meetings are becoming more global than previously and this tendency was reinforced in Paris. Thus, from concerning primarily archaeobotanical work carried out in Europe and in south-west Asia, the last conferences have included an increasing number of studies relating to other parts of the world, in particular India, East Asia and South America. Australia, Africa and Oceania were also represented at the Paris conference by several communications. Lectures and posters were presented within more than a dozen of thematic sessions. Besides sessions dedicated to specific geographic and chronological domains, papers were organised according to methods used (isotope geochemistry, geometric morphometrics, aDNA) or themes such as ethnobotany, ritual, food, islands or trees. Traditionally the IWGP meetings bear mainly on the results from seed and fruit analysis and the organising team did indeed decline a certain number of proposals dealing exclusively with wood, charcoal and pollen studies or proposed to present a poster rather than a lecture. Still, and positively, many presentations adopted a multidisciplinary approach combining data from different disciplines of environmental archaeology, historical sources, ethnobiology, chemistry, etc. The domestication of food plants was, similarly to previous conferences, a theme that was treated by several participants presenting data on the domestication of maize, millets, rice, soy and adzuki beans as well as fruit trees. Communicated by F. Bittmann.

Dating Archaeological Cultures by Their Moats? A Case Study from the Early Bronze Age Settlement Fidvár near Vráble, SW Slovakia

This article uses age-depth models based on 29 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates from charred plant macroremains (seeds, chaff), wood charcoal, and snail shells found in two moats from the settlement Fidvár near Vráble (SW Slovakia) to improve the absolute chronology of the Early Bronze Age in central Europe. The charred macroremains were taxonomically identified to species or genus level and the lifespan of the objects and the archaeological context were considered carefully. The selected snail shells were identified to provide reliable age information. This study demonstrates that under certain conditions, ditch archives can be well suited to contribute to archaeological chronologies. For the first time, the transition from the Hatvan to the Únětice period is dated absolutely.

Proceedings of the 16th conference of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany, Thessaloniki 2013

This volume of Vegetation History and Archaeobotany comprises a collection of papers presented at the 16th conference of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany, held at the Research Dissemination Centre (KEDEA) of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) between June 16th and 22nd 2013. The conference was organised under the auspices of the School of History and Archaeology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Municipality of Thessaloniki, the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports and the Hellenic Ministry of Rural Development and Food. The Museum of Byzantine Culture hosted the official dinner of the conference. The following institutions financially supported the conference: the Research Committee of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Institute of Aegean Prehistory, Foglip-ERC, the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, and Piraeus Bank. Various other sponsors supported the conference with donations in kind (gifts and food/drink): Agrino, Apivita, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Babatzim wines, Claudia Papagianni wines, Creta Carob, Gerovassileiou wines, Haitoglou, Holomon herbs, Ianos, I Kathimerini, Korres, Kyr Yianni wines, Ligas wines, Masticha Shop, MIET (National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation), Mylelia, Pantopoleion tis Thessalonikis, Psichalos publications, Rayan Foods, Tea-Routes, Thessaloniki Chef’s Association, Thessaloniki Hotels Association, University Studio Press, Vaeni wines, Vivlia Chora wines, Yiam. In times of financial hardship their help has been invaluable. This is the first time an IWGP conference has been organised in Greece, where archaeobotany was initiated by German, Dutch and British colleagues, like Maria Hopf, Helmut Kroll, Willem van Zeist, Sytze Bottema, Glynis Jones, Jane Renfrew and James Greig, most of whom were among the pioneers of archaeobotany worldwide. These people sowed the seeds of archaeobotany in Greece as members of national archaeological school missions in various parts of the country, in those early days when archaeology was ‘losing its innocence’ as David Clarke epitomised the arrival of New Archaeology (Clarke 1973). Among the pioneers, colleagues such as Glynis Jones and Helmut Kroll not only ‘saved seeds’ (Jones et al. 1982) and broadened the horizons of Greek archaeobotany but, perhaps most significantly trained indigenous archaeologists into becoming the first native archaeobotanists. Thus, the 16th IWGP held in Thessaloniki (the second Mediterranean city to host an IWGP after Girona in Spain 2004) would simply not have happened without the work of these teachers and practitioners of archaeobotany. The conference went officially global this time, providing a podium to papers from regions not traditionally represented in the preceding IWGP meetings. Presentations on Inuit archaeobotany, South African hunter-gatherer survival strategies, Chinese burial offerings, Japanese prehistoric rice growing and consumption, and Argentinian early cultivation and food processing demonstrate the wide geographical range represented by the current IWGP. Various challenges had to be dealt with during the organisation of the conference including a large number of submitted oral presentations and posters, and a host country in deep financial S. M. Valamoti Department of Archaeology, School of History and Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece e-mail: sval@hist.auth.gr

The potential of palaeoecological studies in archaeological wetland sites of the southern Baltic regions

The ancient lake settlement tradition is not characteristic of one particular geographical area or time period, but it is spread over various European regions and dates from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages (Menotti and O’Sullivan 2013). Already in the 19th century, lake settlements were discovered in the Baltic region as well as elsewhere. Although research concentrated on sites in Poland up to the end of the 20th century (Pydyn and Gackowski 2011; Pranck _ enait _ e 2014, this volume), recent discoveries have directed attention to Lake Luokesa (Luokesai ežeras), Lithuania, as the five articles in the present issue show. The Luokesa lake settlements L1 and L2, dated to the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, were discovered at the very beginning of the 21st century and excavated between 2000 and 2011. The excavation (mainly of L1) was carried out underwater and revealed a thick cultural layer, containing extraordinarily well preserved organic material, which allowed an unprecedented interdisciplinary palaeoecological investigation. In contrast, site L2 which was located on the opposite side of the lake consisted of a barren wooden platform without any cultural layers. Excavations were carried out by a team from the Department of Archaeology at Vilnius University and the Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Centre which included Z. Baubonis, R. Kraniauskas, M. Kvedaravicius, G. Motuzait _ e-Matuzeviciūt _ e, E. Pranck _ enait _ e and numerous volunteers. Part of the excavations and, above all, the entire palaeoecological investigations, which comprised soil micromorphology, pollen and plant macroremain analyses and dendrochronological studies carried out between 2008 and 2011, were fully funded by the Swiss National Foundation for Scientific Research within the Project ‘‘Understanding human occupation in later prehistoric Europe’’ (No. NF K-13K1-117893), directed by Francesco Menotti (IPAS, Basel University). The first article by E. Pranck _ enait _ e gives a comprehensive overview of the history of lake settlement research in north-eastern Europe. The excavated settlement structures and finds at L1 and L2 are presented and the importance and unusual nature of the settlements stressed. Formerly raised hypotheses and interpretations of the origins as well as the development and use of the region’s lake settlements are discussed. This article forms an important review and starting point for the other papers dealing with the Luokesa sites, which present results of dendrochronology, geoarchaeology, palynology and archaeobotany. The dendrochronological study by N. Bleicher allows the Luokesa lake settlements to be placed within a precise Late Bronze/Early Iron Age (LBA/EIA) chronology for the first time. A 90 year long floating chronology of the settlement could be established and fitted to the time axis by wiggle-matching radiocarbon dates to 625 and 535 BC (2r range). The duration of the settlements however was much shorter, for example L1 was in use for only ca. 16 years. S. Jacomet (&) Department of Environmental Sciences, Basel University, Institute for Prehistory and Archaeological Science, Spalenring 145, 4055 Basel, Switzerland e-mail: stefanie.jacomet@unibas.ch

Farming in the forest—Ecology and economy of fire in prehistoric agriculture

For a better understanding of the past, knowledge about ancient nutrition, agriculture and landscape is essential. For historical periods, proxy data obtained from archaeology, soil and past vegetation can be cross-checked with data from written sources. However, for the long duration of the prehistoric period the latter are not available. Reconstructions of landscape and land use are therefore not based on direct evidence, but have the character of models derived from hypotheses. Comparisons with ethnographic data and experimental testing will help to obtain better and more plausible models. In 1995, an agrarian and archaeological experiment started in the Hohenloher Freilandmuseum at Schwabisch HallWackershofen in southwest Germany. Initiated by Manfred Rosch, a team of scientists from different fields and institutions began to simulate and to compare farming practices like a hypothetical Late Neolithic swidden agriculture with a High Medieval three field system. After three years of intensive work and the gaining of much new practical experience, the experiments were moved fromWackershofen to Forchtenberg, where the forest administration of the state of Baden-Wurttemberg placed a forest plot of three hectares at the disposal of the research group for at least 20 years. At this time the composition of the group changed. Since 1999 until today, the same people have been working together, carrying out experiments to improve our understanding of Neolithic agriculture in forested landscapes of the temperate zone. During these years, further researchers have joined the working group, as is reflected by the authors listed in the most recent publications. Since the early years not only practical work and internal scientific discussion have been important, but also communication with the broader scientific community. During the pioneer phase in Wackershofen, a scientific colloquium took place each year at a regional or national level. During the following 14 years in Forchtenberg, four national and international scientific conferences have been organized at the nearby Schontal monastery, the third being at the same time the annual meeting of the Arbeitskreis Vegetationsgeschichte der Reinhold-Tuxen-Gesellschaft. The fourth and so far biggest meeting took place under the title Farming in the forest—Ecology and economy of fire in prehistoric agriculture, 3rd International Schontal Conference from 11th to 15th July 2012. Altogether 67 participants from 16 countries presented their work in 26 papers or posters, discussed and visited the experimental area in Forchtenberg. This special volume of Vegetation History and Archaeobotany comprises a selection of the conference papers under the title Farming in the forest—Ecology and economy of fire in prehistoric agriculture. It has been financed by the Baden-Wurttemberg state office for the protection of monuments (Landesdenkmalamt Baden Wurttemberg). The editors hope that this volume will stimulate further research on experimental archaeobotany towards a better understanding of prehistoric agriculture. F. Bittmann (&) Niedersachsisches Institut fur historische Kustenforschung, Viktoriastr. 26/28, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany e-mail: bittmann@nihk.de