Pollen analysis as evidence for Herod’s Royal Garden at the Promontory Palace, Caesarea

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 111-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dafna Langgut ◽  
Kathryn Gleason ◽  
Barbara Burrell
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Ornamental Plants ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Sea Spray ◽  
Fossil Pollen ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
Palynological Spectrum ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Caesarea Maritima

This study is the first to successfully address the identification of the botanical components of a garden in the 2000-year-old palatial courtyard of Herod the Great's Promontory Palace in Caesarea Maritima. Based on the extraction and identification of fossil pollen grains, we were able to reconstruct at least part of the garden's flora, which, we argue, could only have grown within the confines of a garden of this splendid seaside palace which was protected architecturally from salty sea spray. The palynological spectrum included, among other taxa, high percentages of Cupressaceae pollen (cypress) as well as pollen of the non-local tree Corylus sp. (hazelnut), which was most probably introduced as an ornamental from the northeast Mediterranean or from Italy. These trees appear to have been accompanied by other ornamental plants (e.g. Salvia and various Rosaceae plants). The choice of flora to be planted in the garden is consistent with our knowledge of prestige Roman gardens dated to Herod's time. This exceptional and magnificent palace, with its luxurious architectural features and its impressive, well-maintained garden, symbolized the power and the abilities of King Herod, the greatest builder in ancient Jewish history.

scholarly journals Can Palynology be used for Reconstructing the Evolutionary History of Maize Agriculture?

2000 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant D. Zazula
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Fossil Pollen ◽  
Evolutionary Transition ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Maize Agriculture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Pollen Records

The lack of archaeological or macrobotanical evidence that directly links wild teosinte grass with early domesticated maize requires the exploration of alternative methodologies to document this evolutionary transition. The morphological characteristics and measurements for maize, teosinte and Tripsacum pollen are presented to determine if they display sufficient differentiation to be distinguished in fossil pollen records. Analysis of the data reveals a lack of distinguishing morphological characteristics between the pollen grains of these taxa and prevents palynology from be an effective method in documenting the evolutionary history of maize agriculture. Current methods of pollen analysis cannot be employed to document the evolution of teosinte to maize in the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico and pollen is not likely to provide an earlier record of this transition than what is found in the macrobotanical or archaeological evidence.

scholarly journals The history of settlement and agrarian land use in a boreal forest in Värmland, Sweden, new evidence from pollen analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigrún Dögg Eddudóttir ◽  
Eva Svensson ◽  
Stefan Nilsson ◽  
Anneli Ekblom ◽  
Karl-Johan Lindholm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractShielings are the historically known form of transhumance in Scandinavia, where livestock were moved from the farmstead to sites in the outlands for summer grazing. Pollen analysis has provided a valuable insight into the history of shielings. This paper presents a vegetation reconstruction and archaeological survey from the shieling Kårebolssätern in northern Värmland, western Sweden, a renovated shieling that is still operating today. The first evidence of human activities in the area near Kårebolssätern are Hordeum- and Cannabis-type pollen grains occurring from ca. 100 bc. Further signs of human impact are charcoal and sporadic occurrences of apophyte pollen from ca. ad 250 and pollen indicating opening of the canopy ca. ad 570, probably a result of modification of the forest for grazing. A decrease in land use is seen between ad 1000 and 1250, possibly in response to a shift in emphasis towards large scale commodity production in the outlands. Emphasis on bloomery iron production and pitfall hunting may have caused a shift from agrarian shieling activity. The clearest changes in the pollen assemblage indicating grazing and cultivation occur from the mid-thirteenth century, coinciding with wetter climate at the beginning of the Little Ice Age. The earliest occurrences of anthropochores in the record predate those of other shieling sites in Sweden. The pollen analysis reveals evidence of land use that predates the results of the archaeological survey. The study highlights how pollen analysis can reveal vegetation changes where early archaeological remains are obscure.

scholarly journals Paleoenvironment interpretation of a 1760 years B.P. old sediment in a mangrove area of the Bay of Guanabara, using pollen analysis

2006 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ortrud M. Barth ◽  
Luiz E.U. São-Thiago ◽  
Marcia A. Barros
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Laguncularia Racemosa ◽  
Mangrove Species ◽  
Mangrove Area ◽  
Sandy Ground ◽  
Drilling Core ◽  
Actual Size ◽  
Avicennia Schaueriana

A sediment sample was obtained at 122 cm from the top of a drilling core in the Guapimirim mangrove, Bay of Guanabara, and analyzed using pollen analysis. This muddy core reached a sandy ground at 133 cm. 14C datation got the age of 1760 ± 50 years B.P. The most frequent pollen grains were mangrove species of Rhizophora mangle, Laguncularia racemosa and Avicennia schaueriana. "Restinga" and tropical rain forest vegetation was recognized behind the mangrove. After the last sea transgression at 2500 years B.P., the water level lowered to its actual size, allowing the installation of this mangrove.

Fossil pollen grains of Asteraceae from the Miocene of Patagonia: Nassauviinae affinity

2008 ◽  
Vol 151 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 51-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viviana Barreda ◽  
Luis Palazzesi ◽  
María Cristina Tellería
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Fossil Pollen

Prehistoric Vegetation and Environment at Chaco Canyon

1988 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 582-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Hall
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Chaco Canyon ◽  
San Juan ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
San Juan Basin ◽  
Pine Trees ◽  
Pinyon Pine

Pollen analysis of woodrat (Neotoma) middens indicates that the local vegetation at Chaco Canyon and the regional vegetation of the San Juan Basin, northwestern New Mexico, have been shrub grassland since at least 10,600 years ago. Plant macrofossils in the same woodrat middens indicate that pinyon pine trees were present in the canyon during much of the Holocene, but low percentages of their pollen grains in both the middens and in adjacent alluvium suggest the trees were few, occurring as small stands or isolated individuals along canyon escarpments. The vegetation at Chaco Canyon during Anasazi times was an arid shrub grassland with a sparse escarpment population of pinyon and juniper. A climate-caused regional increase in pinyon at higher elevation sites occurred approximately at the time of Puebloan abandonment.

scholarly journals The Middle Ages in Pollen-Analytical Research on the Territory of the Czech Republic

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vlasta Jankovská
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Analytical Perspective ◽  
Analytical Research

Abstract An orientation survey of mostly the author’s own results of pollen analyses of medieval sediments from archaeological sites in the Czech Republic is presented. The aim of the several-year-long cooperation with archaeologists was to find out whether, and to what extent, the results of pollen analysis are able to specify more exactly the outcomes of archaeological research. Existing pollen-analytical results confirmed their potential to contribute to interdisciplinary archaeological-archaeobotanical research. From a pollen-analytical perspective it was possible to distinguish early medieval material from high medieval material, particularly in the area of larger medieval towns. Selected finds of palynomorphs (pollen grains, spores and Non-Pollen-Palynomorphs) are mentioned in more detail in the chapters “Botany and pharmacy”, “Hygiene and social situation”, “Problems of the age, function and/or disappearance of some archaeological features and situations” and “Pollen analysis and history”.

scholarly journals Contribution of non-pollen palynomorphs to reconstructions of land-use changes and lake eutrophication: case study from Lake Jaczno, northeastern Poland

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 247-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawid Weisbrodt ◽  
Dirk Enters ◽  
Maurycy Jacek Żarczyński ◽  
Anna Izabela Poraj-Górska ◽  
Wojciech Tylmann
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Fungal Spores ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Laminated Sediments ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
Northeastern Poland

Abstract Analysis of non-pollen palynomorphs supplemented by pollen analysis, microcharcoal analysis and geochemical data from laminated sediments from Lake Jaczno were used to establish different phases of land-use in the catchment between c.a. AD 1840 and AD 2013. The results show that during the first eighty years the vicinity of the lake was heavily deforested. During this period erosional inputs caused accumulation of abundant fungal spores, indicators of pastures and natural fertilizers (manure) as well as of corroded pollen grains and charcoal. Gradual regeneration of forest cover took place after World War II, when expansion of pioneer trees occurred (Betula, Salix, Carpinus, Populus). At the same time, a considerable increase in the lake trophy was observed, leading to the changes in phytoplankton and macrophyte communities: a decrease in the proportion of Botryococcus and an increase in the Nymphaea alba population. The non-pollen palynomorphs analyses indicate the substantial human impact that caused changing local environmental conditions, compatible with the results based on pollen analysis and geochemical data.

A contribution to the tertiary occurrence of the genus Dacrydium in the Australian region

1953 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 474 ◽  
Author(s):  
IC Cookson ◽  
KM Pike
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Grains ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Fossil Pollen ◽  
Australian Region ◽  
Living Species

Foliage shoots and seeds of a new Tertiary species, Dacydium rhomboideum, are described; the affinity of D. rhomboideum is discussed.A new sporomorph, Dacrydiumites florinii, is proposed for fossil pollen grains, similar to those of certain species of Dacrydium, isolated from Tertiary deposits in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. Descriptions of the pollen grains of the living species Dacrydium araucurioides and Dacrydium balansae are included.

Palynological Studies in Brigalow (Acacia harpophylla F. Muell.) Communities: Pollen Analysis in Gilgai Soil Under the Primary Forest

1975 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 355 ◽  
Author(s):  
WH Litchfield
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Physical Stability ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Primary Forest ◽  
Eucalypt Forest ◽  
Biological Attack ◽  
Pollen Types ◽  
History Of ◽  
Successional Change ◽  
Pollen Preservation

A pollen analysis of acid clays under brigalow is presented. The pollen fluxes in a first pair of soil profiles throw light upon the natural history of one locality as regards both its modern vegetation and the physical stability of gilgai. Fluxes in the relative pollen preservation indicate intensity of biological attack on the exine. In a profile representative of the higher level, preservation is good enough, erosion or fill on a micro-scale so slight, and any vertical down-wash so slow as to show up residual flux variations from successional change. But under this natural canopy, even though there is only a very slow wash of litter and soil down to the bottom of the depression, a faster tempo of decay than any in the higher ground, and physical incorporation down deeper cracks, maintain a balance that prevents accumulation on an almost bare surface. This shows up in deeper penetration of pollen grains, in even the residual pollen types being severely eroded, and in irregular fluxes in which the successional trace is lost. Presumably, old Myrtaceae types have washed out of the soil above. The pollen fluxes indicate a natural replacement of eucalypt forest by brigalow some time before clearing. The expanding fluxes at the immediate surface are taxa from outside the forest, particularly the Chenopodiaceae, that would have become more abundant after clearing. Insight into soil stability comes from the marked contrast in the distribution and the preservation of the pollen grains across the microrelief. The higher level is physically more stable than the bottom of the adjacent depression. Depressions are surprisingly dry in natural forest, but these pollen fluxes suggest that they are occas- ionally the wettest microenvironment.

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