Girolamo Fiorentino

Climatic, vegetation and cultural change in the eastern Mediterranean during the mid-Holocene environmental transition:

The eastern Mediterranean region witnessed changes in human culture of the highest importance between ~9000 and ~2500 cal. BP (7000—500 BC) and over the same time period was affected by very significant shifts in climate. Stable isotope data from lake and deep-sea sediment cores and from cave speleothems show an overall trend from a wetter to a drier climate during the mid Holocene. Superimposed on this trend were multicentennial oscillations in climate, with notable arid phases occurring around 5300—5000 BP, 4500—3900 BP, and 3100—2800 BP (all ages are expressed in calibrated/ calendar years). These phases coincide with major archaeological transitions across the eastern Mediterranean region (Chalcolithic to early Bronze Age, EBA to MBA, and LBA to Iron Age) implying that environmental stress or opportunity may have acted as a pacemaker for cultural change and re-organisation. We use 14C and δ 13C analysis of archaeobotanical samples from two protohistoric sites in Syria to illustrate the linkage between water availability, climate and cultural change during the third and second millennia BC. Specific societal responses to environmental change were not predictable in advance, but resulted instead from contingent processes involving antecedent conditions, human choice and adaptive strategies. Pollen analysis highlights how changes in climate were coupled to increasing human impacts to transform the region’s landscapes. Initial human-induced land-cover transformation commonly took place during Bronze Age times, sometimes coinciding with phases of drier climate, although the pattern and precise timing varied between sites. Changes in climate between the early and late Holocene thus helped to transform eastern Mediterranean landscape ecologies and human cultures, but in complex, non-deterministic ways.

A multidisciplinary study of archaeological grape seeds.

We report here the first integrated investigation of both ancient DNA and proteins in archaeobotanical samples: medieval grape (Vitis vinifera L.) seeds, preserved by anoxic waterlogging, from an early medieval (seventh–eighth century A.D.) Byzantine rural settlement in the Salento area (Lecce, Italy) and a late (fourteenth–fifteenth century A.D.) medieval site in York (England). Pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry documented good carbohydrate preservation, whilst amino acid analysis revealed approximately 90% loss of the original protein content. In the York sample, mass spectrometry-based sequencing identified several degraded ancient peptides. Nuclear microsatellite locus (VVS2, VVMD5, VVMD7, ZAG62 and ZAG79) analysis permitted a tentative comparison of the genetic profiles of both the ancient samples with the modern varieties. The ability to recover microsatellite DNA has potential to improve biomolecular analysis on ancient grape seeds from archaeological contexts. Although the investigation of five microsatellite loci cannot assign the ancient samples to any geographic region or modern cultivar, the results allow speculation that the material from York was not grown locally, whilst the remains from Supersano could represent a trace of contacts with the eastern Mediterranean.

Stable isotopes in archaeobotanical research

In recent decades the analysis of stable isotopes in plants has become a useful method to infer natural and anthropogenic effects on the growing conditions of plants. Here we present a review of the state-of-the-art regarding the use of stable isotopes in plant macroremains. After providing a brief theoretical and methodological background, we will concentrate on the most common applications developed so far: reconstruction of climate and crop growing conditions, and crop provenancing. Finally, we will discuss current methodological challenges, and potential new directions for research.

The palaeoenvironmental study of the Alimini Piccolo lake enables a reconstruction of Holocene sea-level changes in southeast Italy

Based on multiproxy investigations of a 250 cm long sediment core (ALI1), a reconstruction of palaeoenvironmental dynamics for the Alimini Piccolo lake (south Adriatic coast of Apulia, Italy), is proposed. Our results indicate that shortly before 5500 cal. yr BP a marsh environment established. From 5400 cal. BP the marsh progressively became a lagoon and did not change until 3320 cal. BP, when Alimini Piccolo evolved into a shallow, sheltered, freshwater basin. Around 1400 cal. yr BP the basin became again a lagoon. Changes of the deposition environments and the chronological framework defined in the ALI1 sequence allowed speculation about local relative sea-level motions through the mid—late Holocene. Using proxy-data (molluscs, foraminifers, ostracods and plant macro-remains) as environment and bathymetry indicators, we reconstruct the elevation of the basin bottom (above or below sea level) through time. Plant macro-fossils have proved to be an especially reliable source of data for sea-level reconstruction. The resulting relative sea-level curve is characterised by a slow rise between 5500 and 3900 cal. yr BP, a drop culminating around 2500 cal. yr BP and a new, steeper rise continued to the present position. Our model differs from other curves (tectonically and isostatically corrected) proposed for a number of Mediterranean coastal sites where Holocene sea-level changes have been described with a continuously rising curve, steep before 7000—6000 yr BP, more gradual between 6000 yr BP and the present. On the other hand, our reconstruction seems to agree with evidence on sea-level position during the Roman age, found in several Apulian sites (Salento coastland) by means of geomorphological and archaeological investigations.

Climate changes and human–environment interactions in the Apulia region of southeastern Italy during the Neolithic period

The objective of our research was to define the main human–environment interactions during the Neolithic period (6500–3700 bc) in the Apulia region of southeastern Italy based on available published and unpublished data. Knowledge of these interactions is crucial to understanding the cultural and social dynamics of the period, particularly concerning the earliest farmers. Using a multidisciplinary approach, paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatological data at the regional and Mediterranean scales were compared with the results of analyses performed on natural deposits and deposits in Neolithic settlements. The following data sets were used: (1) 121 14C dates for settlements, from which probability curves (%) of the Apulian Archaeological Occupation (AAO) were developed; (2) offshore data obtained from analyses performed on two offshore sediment cores drilled in the Adriatic Sea; (3) offsite data from studies conducted in two natural coastal contexts; and (4) onsite archaeobotanical data from 35 settlements. This study allowed us to tentatively define the main climatic features between 6200 and 3700 bc. We identified two dry phases (one between 5000 and 4600 bc and a second that peaked c. 4000 bc) and two wet intervals (one between 6200 and 5500 bc and a second that peaked around 4400 bc). Climate changes appear to have been relatively gradual. The use of archaeobotanical data allowed us to determine a direct link between paleoclimatic and archaeological sequences. These data highlight the variations in agricultural strategies (species used and harvest times) as humans responded to changes in the rainfall regime.

Roads to recovery. An investigation of early medieval agrarian strategies in Byzantine Italy in and around the eighth century

The cumulative power of botanical and chemical analysis is demonstrated here by our authors, who succeed in opening a window on Europes most obscure period, in the south as in the north, the time after the Roman and then the Byzantine empire lost its hold. The emphasis here is on the rise in production and trade of cash crops in the eighth century as detected by survey, pollen, charcoal and residues. Taken together, the new data show a community well on the road to economic recovery after two centuries of recession and monetary failure.

Archaeobotany as an In-Site/Off-Site Tool for Paleoenvironmental Research at Pulo di Molfetta (Puglia, South-Eastern Italy)

Archaeobotanical investigations of the Early Neolithic settlement of Fondo Azzollini (Molfetta, SE Italy) have been carried out since 1999 in order to reconstruct the environmental changes that occurred in the Murgia region (Puglia) during the main occupation phases of the site. The archaeological site is located on a calcareous plateau sloping down to a sinkhole called “the Pulo”. The rock surfaces of the sinkhole are marked by several caves, inhabited also during the Bronze Age. The heavy erosion processes active in the settlement area and the distinctive morphology of the plateau have caused eroded sediments to flow into the adjacent natural basin. This study compares archaeobotanical remains from the archaeological site (in-site data) and plant remains from the S1-bis core drilled in the Pulo (off-site data). AMS radiocarbon dating indicated that the lowest part of the S1-bis core had the same age as the Neolithic settlement, whereas the upper part of the core corresponded to the Bronze Age habitation of the caves. The off-site plant remains found in the core enriched the rather scarce archaeobotanical data from the archaeological site itself and enabled us to identify changes in plant resources and cultivation practices.

Chronostratigraphic Sequence of Santuario della Madonna Cave (Calabria, Southern Italy): AMS Radiocarbon Data from a New Excavation Area

The Santuario della Madonna Cave, located near Praia a Mare (Cosenza), along the northwestern coast of Calabria (southern Italy), has an impressive stratigraphy, with occupation phases spanning from the late Paleolithic to the advanced phases of the Middle Bronze Age. Recently, a new excavation area has been opened in the cave from which short-lived vegetal remains were sampled and submitted for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating. The aim of this study was to define an accurate chronology of the different cultural aspects and to explore the potentialities resulting from application of advanced statistical tools for 14C data analysis in such a context.

Farming and Trade in Amheida/Trimithis (Dakhla Oasis, Egypt): New Insights from Archaeobotanical Analysis

This paper presents the results of the first archaeobotanical investigation carried out by the University of Salento archaeological team during the 2015 field season at the site of Amheida/ Trimithis in Dakhla Oasis, Egypt. The bulk of the recovered material consists of seeds and fruits from midden deposits that lay under the foundation of an upper class fourth century AD house and the adjoining school, and similar deposits beneath streets that flanked the house. Overall, almost 600 seeds were recovered. The archaeobotanical assemblage includes nine species of fruit trees. Among these species, three belong to the local, sub-arid, vegetation of the Dakhla Oasis, such as the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), Nile acacia (Acacia nilotica (L.) Delile Willd. ex Delile) and Christ´s-thorn ( Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) Desf.), while the rest are allochthonous species that could have been locally grown, or imported as food from other areas of the Mediterranean and the Far East. The olive tree (Olea europaea L.), which was introduced to Egypt from the Mediterranean areas of the Levant, is quite abundant at Amheida/ Trimithis , and its presence suggests that olives were an important source of food between the third-fourth century AD. As we know from the site of Umm Mawagir, in the nearby Kharga Oasis, olives were consumed in the oases already in the late Middle Kingdom (Cappers et al. 2013). Another species, which also comes from the Mediterranean area, is the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) Delile. Findings of carob seeds are recorded at Amheida/ Trimithis , as well as at the contemporaneous site of Ismant el-Kharab/Kellis, but nowhere else in the New Valley Governorate (Southwestern Egypt), suggesting that this species was introduced, at the earliest, during the Roman period. The presence of black myrobalan (Terminalia chebula Retz.), a species that is native to South Asia, might be indicative of a network of exchanges between Amheida\ Trimithis and localities on the Red Sea coast.

Inside sacrificial cakes: plant components and production processes of food offerings at the Demeter and Persephone sanctuary of Monte Papalucio (Oria, southern Italy)

Well-preserved finds of sacrificial cakes from the Sanctuary of Demeter at Monte Papalucio (Oria, southern Italy, VI-III cent. B.C.) are among the most famous bread-like remains from the ancient Mediterranean region. These unusual finds represent direct and rare evidence of the food products offered as part of religious practice by the indigenous (Messapian people) inside a particular ‘place of encounter’, a place of worship closely related to the south Italian colonial Greek world (Magna Graecia). This paper offers for the first time a detailed analysis of the internal structure of these bread-like remains using Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope and Image Analysis in order to detect plant-based ingredients and the techniques employed in the production and cooking processes. Moreover, considering the cultural context, the sacrificial cakes from Oria Sanctuary offer a rare opportunity to directly compare the ‘cake’ finds and ancient written Greek sources, allowing for a deeper understanding of the chaînes opératoires of cereal processing in the past as well as the perception and role of these products among the ancient societies of the region. The contribution presents and discusses the results of these analyses and offers valuable, integrated information hidden inside the ancient cakes. A better understanding of the reciprocal influences and possible divergences between native and Greek culture is achieved by taking into consideration ancient Greek tradition on bread and cakes in sacred contexts and the interplay.