scholarly journals The Occurrence of Cultivated Plants in the Region of Styria from the Palaeolithic till the Middle Ages

Agricultura ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 9-17
Author(s):  
Andrej Paušič ◽  
Andrej Šušek
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Juglans Regia ◽  
Foxtail Millet ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Cultivated Plants ◽  
Einkorn Wheat ◽  
Proso Millet

The aim of this review study was to analyse large paleo-botanical datasets derived from investigations of 35 archaeological sites and published during a longer time period. The presence of 18 selected crop taxa has been monitored in the region of Styria. Our results indicate that in the Copper Age, the cultivation and usage of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) and the einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum) was present. From the Bronze Age period, the most commonly grown taxa are barley (Hordeum vulgare), proso millet, emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) and spelt wheat (Triticum spelta). In the Iron Age, some new crops emerged along with the already common foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and common flax (Linum usitatissimum), a species first found in Styria during this exact period. The importance of Roman period for Styria lies in the introduction of new taxa like the Persian walnut (Juglans regia), of which remnants were also found in the studied area. The late Antiquity and Middle Ages are a wide time frame where all important cereal taxa were already known from previous periods and were also grown in the studied area, with the exception of oat (Avena sativa) and durum wheat (Triticum durum), of which remnants were absent from this period.

Plant Macro-Remains and Traces of Leaves from Virje and Hlebine

2021 ◽  
pp. 212-226
Author(s):  
Renata Šoštarić ◽  
Tihana Vilović
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Foxtail Millet ◽  
Alnus Glutinosa ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Panicum Miliaceum ◽  
Black Alder ◽  
Proso Millet ◽  
Late Iron Age

During years of archaeological research of mediaeval settlements and Late Antique and mediaeval smelting workshops in the area of Podravina, archaeobotanical samples were collected from the following sites: Hlebine – Dedanovice (H-Ded), Hlebine – Velike Hlebine (H-VH), Virje – Volarski breg (V-VB), and Virje – Sušine (V-Suš). They include fruits, seeds, and leaf imprints/remains. Despite the relatively large number of samples, only a small number of finds was found. It mostly consisted of non-carbonized plant remains from various species of weed and ruderal plants, that most likely represent recent contamination. Of the few carbonized finds, the most significant are the remains of cereals preserved in a rather poor condition: proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), spelt (Triticum spelta) and naked wheat (Triticum aestivum group), and fragmented and damaged remains of large-grain cereals (Cerealia). Due to the small number of archaeobotanical finds originating from the archaeological formations dated into the wide period from the Late Iron Age to the Early Modern Age, nothing can be said in more detail about the diet, agriculture, or other activities of the population of Virje and Hlebine during individual archaeological and historical periods. In general, it can be concluded, taking into account other sites from the area of Podravina (Torčec and Virovitica Kiškorija jug), that different types of cereals, such as wheat/spelt (Triticum), barley (Hordeum vulgare) and proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), formed the basis of the daily diet of the population of Podravina throughout various investigated periods, probably in combination with legumes, and that they were grown in the vicinity of the settlement. Finds of grapevine (Vitis vinifera) suggest that wine also had a significant place in the past of Podravina. At the position of Virje – Sušine, in Trench S-7, SU 314, a smelting furnace hearth wall fragment with a leaf imprint was found. The imprint most probably belongs to black alder (Alnus glutinosa) and dates from the period of Late Antiquity (late 4th/early 5th century). At the position of Hlebine – Velike Hlebine, in Trench S-2, SU 102, a partially fossilized leaf was found in the slag from the period of the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Since the sample was too small, it could not be identified with certainty.

scholarly journals Early human impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems: Multi-proxy geoarchaeological analyses from La Narse de la Sauvetat (France)

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1780-1800
Author(s):  
Alfredo Mayoral ◽  
Salomé Granai ◽  
Anne-Lise Develle ◽  
Jean-Luc Peiry ◽  
Yannick Miras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Societal Factors ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

We analysed the late-Holocene pedo-sedimentary archives of La Narse de la Sauvetat, a hydromorphic depression in the southern Limagne plain (central France), where chronologically accurate studies are scarce. The multi-proxy geoarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental analysis of two cores from different areas of the basin was carried out through sedimentological, geochemical, micromorphological and malacological investigations. Integration of these datasets supported by a robust radiocarbon-based chronology allowed discussion of socio-environmental interactions and anthropogenic impacts from Late Neolithic to Early Middle Ages. Until the Middle Bronze Age, there was no clear evidence of anthropogenic impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary dynamics of the catchment, but two peaks of high alluvial activity probably related to the 4.2 and 3.5 kyr. BP climate events were first recorded in Limagne. Significant anthropogenic impacts started in the Late Bronze Age with increased erosion of the surrounding volcanic slopes. However, a major threshold was reached c. 2600 cal BP with a sharp increase in the catchment erosion interpreted as resulting from strong anthropogenic environmental changes related to agricultural activities and drainage. This implies an anthropogenic forcing on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems much earlier than was usually considered in Limagne. These impacts then gradually increased during Late Iron Age and Roman periods, but environmental effects were certainly contained by progress in agricultural management. Late Antiquity environmental changes are consistent with regional trend to drainage deterioration in lowlands, but marked asynchrony in this landscape change suggests that societal factors implying differential land management were certainly predominant here.

scholarly journals Late-Holocene forest resilience in the central Pyrenean highlands as deduced from pollen analysis of Lake Sant Maurici sediments

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110332
Author(s):  
Valentí Rull ◽  
Núria Cañellas-Boltà ◽  
Teresa Vegas-Vilarrúbia
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
Central Pyrenees ◽  
The Middle Ages

Palynological analysis of the last ca. 4300 cal year BP using a sediment core taken from high mountain (ca. 1900 m elevation) Lake Sant Maurici sediments (southern-central Pyrenees) showed remarkable vegetation constancy during the Bronze Age and the Middle Ages. Records of the Iron Age and the Roman period were missing due to a major sedimentary gap. During the studied periods, the vegetation around the lake was largely dominated by pine ( Pinus) forests with birch ( Betula), oak ( Quercus) and hazel ( Corylus) trees, as is the case today. The composition of these forests and the abundance of their components remained quite stable, despite the occurrence of temperature and moisture shifts. The degree of human disturbance, notably that of pastoralism and cereal cultivation by scattered and temporary settlements, was very low and had little or no effect on the dominant forests. This situation contrasts with most high-elevation (subalpine and alpine) environments of the central Pyrenees that were massively anthropized during the Middle Ages. Further research should be aimed at finding sediments corresponding to the Iron Age and the Roman period to verify whether the vegetation constancy can be extended throughout the Late-Holocene. Past records of this type may allow the estimation of natural and anthropogenic thresholds for irreversible forest changes, which would be useful for conservation purposes.

III. Villanovan Veii

1961 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 20-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Ward-Perkins
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Long Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Precise Relationship ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The City

The roads and gates described in the previous section are of very varied dates, and many of them were in use over a long period. They have been described first because they constitute the essential framework for any serious topographical study of Veii. Within this framework the city developed, and in this and the following sections will be found described, period by period, the evidence for that development, from the first establishment of Veii in Villanovan times down to its final abandonment in late antiquity.Whatever the precise relationship of the Villanovan to the succeeding phases of the Early Iron Age in central Italy in terms of politics, race or language, it is abundantly clear that it was within the Villanovan period that the main lines of the social and topographical framework of historical Etruria first took shape. Veii is no exception. Apart from sporadic material that may have been dropped by Neolithic or Bronze Age hunters, there is nothing from the Ager Veientanus to suggest that it was the scene of any substantial settlement before the occupation of Veii itself by groups of Early Iron Age farmers, a part of whose material equipment relates them unequivocally to the Villanovan peoples of coastal and central Etruria.

CERAMICS OF THE PESTRYAKOVO LAKE SETTLEMENT (SOUTH OF WESTERN SIBERIA)

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 205-212
Author(s):  
KIRYUSHIN K. ◽  
◽  
KIRYUSHIN Yu. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Siberia ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
The South ◽  
Animal Hair ◽  
The Middle Ages

The article is devoted to the publication of finds of fragments of ceramic dishes discovered at the settlement of Pestryakovo Lake (Zavyalovsky district of Altai Territory). A group of ceramics which belongs to the early Iron Age and the Middle Ages, is pointed out. Single fragments find analogies in the materials of the sites of the Early and Late Bronze Age. The ceramic collection of the Pestryakovo Lake settlement includes groups of ceramics that belong to the Neolithic or Eneolithic. These are fragments of vessels ornamented with prints of a “string”, pricks, imprints of a short comb stamp, a dingle-dingle stamping. Linear-pricked and receding-pricked ceramics are quite informative. On the outer and inner surfaces, as well as in the fractures, traces of burnt-out organic matter (animal hair) are recorded. Such ceramics are widely represented in the south of Western Siberia and are associated with various settlement and burial complexes from the Ob to the Irtysh and various cultural formations of the Neolithic and Eneolithic. Keywords: settlement, ceramics, ornamentation technique, comparative typological analysis, neolithic, eneolithic

Holocene evolution of closed depressions and its relation to landscape dynamics in the loess areas of Poland

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Kołodyńska-Gawrysiak
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Landscape Dynamics ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Atlantic Period

Past Pleistocene topography of the loess uplands is rich in local sinks (closed depressions (CDs)) influencing sediment fluxes. Soil-sediment sequences from CDs constituting geoarchives where landscape changes under natural and anthropogenic conditions have been recorded. Pedo-sedimentary archives from 10 CDs in the Polish loess belt and human settlements were analysed. Phases of the Holocene evolution of the CDs were correlated with landscape dynamics in loess areas in Poland and Central Europe. Phases of infilling of CDs occurring (2) from the late Boreal/early Atlantic Period until the (middle) late Bronze Age/early Iron Age and (4) since the early Middle Ages until today were documented. These were phases of long-term soil erosion and colluviation corresponding to the increasing agricultural land use of Polish loess uplands. Phases of soil formation related to geomorphic stabilization of CDs occurred (1) from the late Vistulian until the late Boreal/early Atlantic Period and (3) from the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age until the early/high Middle Ages. These were phases of decreased soil erosion and landform conservation in a considerable part of Poland’s loess areas. Pedo-sedimentary archives from the CDs have recorded soil erosion strongly related with human-induced land-use changes. The mean soil erosion rate in the catchment of CDs was 0.33 t·ha−1·yr−1 during prehistory and 4.0 t·ha−1·yr−1 during the last approximately 1000 years. Phases of CD evolution are representative for the main phases of sediment and landscape dynamics in Poland’s loess areas recorded in various archives, and are not synchronous with some of these phases in Central Europe.

scholarly journals Late Holocene vegetation changes in relation with climate fluctuations and human activities in Languedoc (Southern France)

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 4123-4157 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Azuara ◽  
N. Combourieu-Nebout ◽  
V. Lebreton ◽  
F. Mazier ◽  
S. D. Müller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Forest Recovery ◽  
Southern France ◽  
Climate Fluctuations ◽  
Climatic Impacts

Abstract. Holocene climate fluctuations and human activities since the Neolithic have shaped present-day Mediterranean environments. Separating anthropogenic effects from climatic impacts to reconstruct Mediterranean paleoenvironments over the last millennia remains a challenging issue. High resolution pollen analyses were undertaken on two cores from the Palavasian lagoon system (Hérault, southern France). These records allow reconstruction of vegetation dynamics over the last 4500 years. Results are compared with climatic, historical and archeological archives. A long-term aridification trend is highlighted during the Late Holocene and three superimposed arid events are recorded at 4600–4300, 2800–2400 and 1300–1100 cal BP. These periods of climatic instability coincide in time with the rapid climatic events depicted in the Atlantic Ocean (Bond et al., 2001). From the Bronze Age (4000 cal BP) to the end of the Iron Age (around 2000 cal BP), the spread of evergreen taxa and loss of forest cover result from anthropogenic impact. The Antiquity is characterized by a major reforestation event related to the concentration of rural activities and populations in coastal plains leading to forest recovery in the mountains. A major regional deforestation occurred at the beginning of the High Middle Ages. Around 1000 cal BP, forest cover is minimal while cover of olive, chestnut and walnut expands in relation to increasing human influence. The present day vegetation dominated by Mediterranean shrubland and pines has been in existence since the beginning of the 20th century.

scholarly journals SHIMAILY – A NEW LOCATION OF PETROGLYPHS IN EASTERN KAZAKHSTAN 

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
З. Самашев
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
New Information ◽  
Mountain Goats ◽  
East Kazakhstan ◽  
Animal Images ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Bronze Age

В статье приводятся сведения о петроглифах урочища Шимайлы на территории Тарбагатайского района Восточно-Казахстанской области Республики Казахстан. Наскальное искусство этого памятника охватывает время от эпохи бронзы до раннего средневековья. Основные мотивы изображений бронзового века антропоморфная фигура, зооморфные изображения, колесница, знаки-символы и предметы вооружения. Основу звериного образа наскальных изображений Шимайлы бронзового века составляет триада рогатых животных: бык, горный козел/архар, олень. В репертуар петроглифов эпохи бронзы входят также и другие травоядные животные, хищные звери и птицы. Последние представлены изображениями дрофы, которые чаще всего включены в состав многофигурных композиций. Хищники представлены фигурами волков, которые преследуют или терзают парнокопытных. К переходному периоду от эпохи бронзы к раннему железному веку в Шимайлы относятся образы птицеголовых или клювастых оленей, идентичные фигурам на так называемых оленных камнях. К раннесакскому и развитому сакскому периодам относятся изображения оленей поджарых, в летящей позе и/или стоящих на кончиках копыт, с большими глазами, ветвистыми откинутыми назад рогами. Зафиксированы тамги средневековых народов. The article includes new information on the petroglyphs of the Shimaily (Tarbagatai district of the East Kazakhstan region of the Republic of Kazakhstan). The imagery of this rock art site is related to the period from the Bronze Age to the Early Middle Ages. The main images of the Bronze Age are an anthropomorphic figure, numerous zoomorphic images, a chariot, depictions of weapons, signs and symbols. Animal images are basically represented by the figures of bulls, mountain goats and deer. Other herbivores are also depicted as well as predators and birds. The latter are represented by images of bustards, which are most often included in the multi-figure compositions. Predators are mostly wolves that shown in the scenes of pursuing or tormenting the artiodactyls. Another series of images in Shimaily refers to the transitional period from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. These are birdheaded or beaked deer, identical to the figures depicted on the so-called deer stones. The Early Saka and developed Saka periods include a series of typical deer figures: theiy are lean, flying and/or standing on the tips of the hoofs, with large eyes, with branchy antlers thrown back. The tamga-signs of the medieval peoples are also recorded in Shimaily.

scholarly journals Late Holocene vegetation changes in relation with climate fluctuations and human activity in Languedoc (southern France)

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1769-1784 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Azuara ◽  
N. Combourieu-Nebout ◽  
V. Lebreton ◽  
F. Mazier ◽  
S. D. Müller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Forest Recovery ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Southern France ◽  
Climate Fluctuations

Abstract. Holocene climate fluctuations and human activity since the Neolithic have shaped present-day Mediterranean environments. Separating anthropogenic effects from climatic impacts to better understand Mediterranean paleoenvironmental changes over the last millennia remains a challenging issue. High-resolution pollen analyses were undertaken on two cores from the Palavasian lagoon system (Hérault, southern France). These records allow reconstruction of vegetation dynamics over the last 4500 years. Results are compared with climatic, historical and archeological archives. A long-term aridification trend is highlighted during the late Holocene, and three superimposed arid events are recorded at 4600–4300, 2800–2400 and 1300–1100 cal BP. These periods of high-frequency climate variability coincide in time with the rapid climatic events observed in the Atlantic Ocean (Bond et al., 2001). From the Bronze Age (4000 cal BP) to the end of the Iron Age (around 2000 cal BP), the spread of sclerophyllous taxa and loss of forest cover result from anthropogenic impact. Classical Antiquity is characterized by a major reforestation event related to the concentration of rural activity and populations in coastal plains leading to forest recovery in the mountains. A major regional deforestation occurred at the beginning of the High Middle Ages. Around 1000 cal BP, forest cover is minimal while the cover of olive, chestnut and walnut expands in relation to increasing human influence. The present-day vegetation dominated by Mediterranean shrubland and pines has been in existence since the beginning of the 20th century.

Inner Asian agro-pastoralism as optimal adaptation strategy of Wupu inhabitants (3000–2400 cal BP) in Xinjiang, China

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 095968362094113
Author(s):  
Lijing Wang ◽  
Yongqiang Wang ◽  
Wenying Li ◽  
Michael Spate ◽  
Kuerban Reheman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Foxtail Millet ◽  
Populus Euphratica ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Adaptation Strategy ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Human Environment

Exploring ancient socio-economic adaptation is a basic issue of human-environment interaction. Xinjiang in northwest China is a region of high geographic diversity. Past human adaptations to this arid marginal area is a current focus of research interest but still lacks in-depth study. This article presents data from the Wupu Cemetery, located in the extremely arid Hami Basin in the eastern Tianshan Mountains. Archaeobotanical analysis is used to reconstruct the local environment niche and the subsistence economy of inhabitants. Radiocarbon dating results indicate the cemetery was occupied between 3000 and 2400 cal BP, during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. In total 16 species of the plant remains are identified, including four cereal crops, foxtail millet ( Setaria italica), broomcorn millet ( Panicum miliaceum), naked barley ( Hordeum vulgare var. coeleste), wheat ( Triticum aestivum) and 12 wild types. The riparian plant Populus euphratica and aquatic plant Typha sp. indicate inhabitants lived in an oasis near the cemetery. Environmental interpretation of this data compares well with other seven sites in arid southern Xinjiang. In addition to faunal remains from the site, it is assumed that a flexible system of multi-crop farming and herding was the subsistence pattern around Wupu. This system was widespread across Inner Asia and appears to have played a central role in adapting to different marginal environments during the Bronze Age and Iron Age.

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