Valentina Caracuta

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.

The onset of faba bean farming in the Southern Levant.

Even though the faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is among the most ubiquitously cultivated crops, very little is known about its origins. Here, we report discoveries of charred faba beans from three adjacent Neolithic sites in the lower Galilee region, in the southern Levant, that offer new insights into the early history of this species. Biometric measurements, radiocarbon dating and stable carbon isotope analyses of the archaeological remains, supported by experiments on modern material, date the earliest farming of this crop to ~10,200 cal BP. The large quantity of faba beans found in these adjacent sites indicates intensive production of faba beans in the region that can only have been achieved by planting non-dormant seeds. Selection of mutant-non-dormant stock suggests that the domestication of the crop occurred as early as the 11th millennium cal BP. Plant domestication| Vicia faba L.| Pre-Pottery Neolithic B| radiocarbon dating| Δ13C analysis.

14,000-year-old seeds indicate the Levantine origin of the lost progenitor of faba bean

The understanding of crop domestication is dependent on tracking the original geographical distribution of wild relatives. The faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is economically important in many countries around the world; nevertheless, its origin has been debated because its ancestor could not be securely identified. Recent investigations in the site of el-Wad (Mount Carmel, Israel), provide the first and, so far, only remains of the lost ancestor of faba bean. X-ray CT scan analysis of the faba beans provides the first set of measurements of the biometry of this species before its domestication. The presence of wild specimens in Mount Carmel, 14,000 years ago, supports that the wild variety grew nearby in the Lower Galilee where the first domestication was documented for Neolithic farmers 10,200 years ago.

Radiocarbon chronology of Manot Cave, Israel and Upper Paleolithic dispersals

Manot Cave radiocarbon dates establish Levantine chronology, which is critical for understanding Upper Paleolithic dispersals. The timing of archeological industries in the Levant is central for understanding the spread of modern humans with Upper Paleolithic traditions. We report a high-resolution radiocarbon chronology for Early Upper Paleolithic industries (Early Ahmarian and Levantine Aurignacian) from the newly excavated site of Manot Cave, Israel. The dates confirm that the Early Ahmarian industry was present by 46,000 calibrated years before the present (cal BP), and the Levantine Aurignacian occurred at least between 38,000 and 34,000 cal BP. This timing is consistent with proposed migrations or technological diffusions between the Near East and Europe. Specifically, the Ahmarian could have led to the development of the Protoaurignacian in Europe, and the Aurignacian in Europe could have spread back to the Near East as the Levantine Aurignacian.

Farming legumes in the pre-pottery Neolithic: New discoveries from the site of Ahihud (Israel)

New discoveries of legumes in the lower Galilee at the prehistoric site of Ahihud in Israel shed light on early farming systems in the southern Levant. Radiocarbon dating of twelve legumes from pits and floors indicate that the farming of legumes was practiced in southern Levant as early as 10.240–10.200 (1σ) ago. The legumes were collected from pits and other domestic contexts dated to the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. The legumes identified include Vicia faba L. (faba bean), V. ervilia (bitter vetch), V. narbonensis (narbon vetch), Lens sp. (lentil), Pisum sp. (pea), Lathyrus inconspicuus (inconspicuous pea) and L. hirosolymitanus (jerusalem vetchling). Comparison with coeval sites in the region show how the presence of peas, narbon vetches, inconspicuous peas, jerusalem vetchlings and bitter vetches together with faba bean and lentils is unique to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, and might indicate specific patterns in farming or storing at the onset of agriculture.

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.