M. Bandini Mazzanti

Recherches géobotaniques sur les Monts Madonie (Sicile du Nord)

Le ricerche palinologiche sulle Madonie, le prime in Sicilia, si collocano a fianco degli studi fitosociologici che ne costituiscono lo stadio finale. Sono stati presi in considerazione ambienti umidi di altitudine alimentati da piccole sorgenti di strato. Si sono gia avuti risultati apprezzabili ai siti T13 (Urgo di Pietra Giordano, msm 1440, prof, cm 260, resti di faggeta). Nel profilo si ha un predominio della faggeta che si prolunga fino al periodo Atlantico, quando il querceto a dominante Quercus petraea inizia il suo predominio. Ilex aquijolium e presente lungo tutto il diagramma. Sono stati studiati legni fossili, che al livello—cm 150 hanno permesso una datazione assoluta di 9200 ± 90 B P. Al sito T 11 (Urgo di Pollicino, msm 1200, prof, cm 200, vegetazione atuale erbacea per denudamento antropico) si sono ricavati spettri con percentuali massicce di erbacee. Si sono utilizzati dati sedimentologici, si e proceduto allo studio di pollini di taxa attuali, quali Plantago cupani, Abies nebrodensis ecc.

Palynological diagram of the peat‐bog near Pavullo nel Frignano (Modena, Italy) in the framework of Tuscan/Emilian Apennines vegetation history

A pollen diagram drawn for a peat bog located at San Pellegrino, in a vast plain at 675 m a.s.1. near Pavullo nel Frignano (Modena, Italy), is of vegetation on the northern slope of the Tuscan/Emilian Apennines. This altitude is just below the lower limit of the Fagus‐Abies belt. The sequence, 20 m in depth, consists mostly of clayey sediments in its lower part, the upper part prevalently formed by peat. The upper complex is dated by 14C at 10,790 yr B.P. and 2590 yr B.P., the lower part of the sequence is dated by chronological comparison with Chiarugis diagram (1950) and subsequent 14C updates (Bertolani Marchetti, 1985). The sequence apparently begins after 16,950 yr B.P., because its lower part does not reach the Salix tundra/Artemisia steppe located at the bottom of Chiarugis diagram. The period of general dominance of Pinus over the existing Fagus and oak mixed forest runs from about 20 m and 12 m. The Lanscombe (?), Dryas I and Bolling phases fall here. After a hiatus that may contain the Dryas I...

The history of the Portulaca oleracea aggregate in the Emilia-Romagna Po Plain (Italy) from the Roman Age to the present

Portulaca oleracea L. is a cosmopolitan synanthropic species, of uncertain origin, known in Italy since the Roman Age. The aim of this work is to reconstruct the history of P. oleracea aggregate in the Emilia-Romagna Po Plain, by discovering the microspecies that have lived in this region. A qualitative study was carried out to determine the microspecies documented in the archaeological sites of Emilia-Romagna, from the Roman to Medieval/Renaissance periods. A comparison between archaeological seeds and recent and present records was made by sampling in historical herbaria and field collections. Seven different microspecies were identified: Portulaca papillatostellulata, P. trituberculata, P. cypria, P. sativa, P. oleracea (all hexaploid); P. granulatostellulata and P. nitida (both tetraploid = 4x). They are distinguished on the basis of seed coat morphology. The findings in archaeological sites and in the present collections are discussed. Two independent events of European colonization could be proposed: First to arrive were the hexaploid (6x) species, followed by the tetraploid species. In future, the application of similar analyses to the well-preserved archaeobotanical remains of purslane, particularly the microspecies from America, could be a good way to understand the history of this interesting species aggregate from a chronological and geographical standpoint.

The memory of water: Archaeobotanical evidence of wetland plants from Modena (Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy) and palaeoecological remarks

Modena, founded by the Romans (183 BC), has always been conditioned by water in all its urban history. In the city, numerous archaeobotanical investigations have been carried out in order to reconstruct the natural landscape and human–environment interactions over time. During these investigations, four archaeological sites (two Roman and two medieval) have revealed deposits with a marked character of palaeobiocoenosis, largely resulting from the natural environment surrounding the sites, due to natural “seed rain”. These deposits are characterized by widespread evidence of plants related to water, constituting a valuable archive to investigate habitats which currently have become very rare and threatened, if they have not completely disappeared. The present paper aims to reveal the peculiarities of the Roman/medieval archaeocarpological floristic lists (through a comparison with the flora over the last two centuries in the area of Modena) and highlight the possible causes explaining the presence or the demise of several taxa, considering also the palaeoecological reconstruction of the environment in which they have been found.