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Assunta FLORENZANO
Professore Associato
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita sede ex-Scienze Biomediche
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Pubblicazioni
2024
- Human-induced fires and land use driven changes in tree biodiversity on the northern Tyrrhenian coast
[Articolo su rivista]
Furia, Elisa; Clò, Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
2023
- A Multidisciplinary Study of Wild Grapevines in the River Crati Natural Reserve, South Italy (Calabria): Implications in Conservation Biology and Palaeoecological Reconstructions
[Articolo su rivista]
Clo', E.; Torri, P.; Baliva, M.; Brusco, A.; Marchianò, R.; Sgarbi, E.; Palli, J.; Mercuri, A. M.; Piovesan, G.; Florenzano, A.
abstract
Nowadays, wild grapevine populations are quite limited and sporadic mainly due to habitat destruction, land-use change, and the spread of pathogens that have reduced their distribution range. Palaeoecological, archaeobotanical, and genetic studies indicate that modern cultivars of Vitis vinifera are the results of the domestication of the dioecious, and sometimes hermaphrodite, wild species standing in riparian zones and wet environments. Wild grapevine populations have declined as a consequence of various forms of anthropogenic disturbance and were assigned by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to the Least Concern category. The River Crati Natural Reserve (Riserva Naturale Foce del Crati), located in southern Italy, hosts a population of Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris in a rewilding wet forest close to the Ionian Sea. These protected areas are of high scientific, biogeographic, and conservation interest in terms of Mediterranean biodiversity. Dendroecological and pollen morpho-biometric analyses of the wild grapevine are presented in this study. Palaeoecological perspectives for a landscape management strategy aimed at conserving and restoring the relic grapevine population are discussed.
2023
- Archaeobotany to explore long-term environmental changes and human impact in Italy
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
2023
- BRAIN - Botanical Records of Archaeobotany Italian Network
[Banca dati]
Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
BRAIN - Botanical Records of Archaeobotany Italian Network is a
database listing sites from which anthropogenic pollen, palynomorphs and macroremains are available in Italy and close Mediterranean regions. The database BRAIN includes data from archaeological sites that have been studied for plant remains (pollen, seeds and fruits, wood or charcoal) since the 1980s. BRAIN will support the use of these data for scientific, educational and disseminative purposes.
BRAIN was firstly organised as a large collection of metadata, available free online; the database has been recently implemented to get the possibility to upload raw data that can be shared with users on demand.
BRAIN website and database: https://brainplants.successoterra.net/index.html
2023
- BRAIN id: CTO46 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Furia, Elisa; Clo', Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Vetricella (Tuscany). Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from the Roman-Early Middle Age site of Vetricella (CTO46; Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy; 42°56'37"N 10°50'17"E, 14 m asl) within the nEU-Med project (ERC-2014-ADG). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: CTO46).
2023
- BRAIN id: CTO47 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Furia, Elisa; Clo', Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Val di Pecora (Tuscany). Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from two sediment cores (CTO47a – Pecora 3; CTO47b – Pecora 4) drilled in the Pecora Valley (Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy; 42°55'42"N 10°50'14"E, 11 m asl; chronology: (from ~1250 BC to 1050 AD) within the nEU-Med project (ERC-2014-ADG). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: CTO47).
2023
- BRAIN id: CTO48 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Furia, Elisa; Clo', Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Val di Cornia (Tuscany). Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from two sediment cores (CTO48a – Cornia 3; CTO48b – Cornia 7) drilled in the Cornia Valley (Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy; 42°58'40"N 10°33'16"E, 71 m asl; chronology: from ~5550 BC to 1550 AD) within the nEU-Med project (ERC-2014-ADG). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: CTO48).
2023
- BRAIN id: CTO52 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Mercuri, A. M.; Florenzano, A.; Rattighieri, E.
abstract
Tombarelle (Tuscany).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from two contexts (CTO52a, CTO52b) of the Roman site of Tombarelle (Grosseto; 42°56'01" N 11°22'23" E, 174 m asl; chronology: 1st century BC - 1st century AD). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: CTO52).
2023
- BRAIN id: NER110 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Mazzanti, Marta; Florenzano, Assunta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Torri, Paola
abstract
Modena via Campi - S2 (Modena, N Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from the off-site trench Campi-S2 (Modena, N Italy; 44°37'59" N, 10°56'44" E, 34 m asl). The chronology of the trench includes samples from Roman age, transitional phase and Medieval age. The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: NER110).
2023
- BRAIN id: NER64 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Florenzano, Assunta; Rattighieri, Eleonora
abstract
Baggiovara (Modena, N Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from five short vertical profiles (NER64a, NER64b, NER64c, NER64d, NER64e) of the Terramara di Baggiovara (Modena; 44°36′26″ N, 10°52′18″ E; 59 m a.s.l.; chronology: from c. 1650 to c. 1500 BC). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: NER64).
2023
- BRAIN id: NER67 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Florenzano, Assunta; Rattighieri, Eleonora
abstract
Casinalbo (Modena, N Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from one vertical profile taken from the central area of the necropolis of Casinalbo, belonging to the Terramare culture (Modena; 44°35'00" N, 10°52'00’’ E; 60 m a.s.l.; chronology: from c. 1650 BC and up to Late Roman). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: NER67).
2023
- BRAIN id: NER80 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Mazzanti, Marta; Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Parma - Piazza Garibaldi (N Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from two contexts (NER80a - Roman depression, NER80b - Medieval pits) opened during archaeological excavations at Parma - Piazza Garibaldi (44°48'05.49" N 10°19'40.59" E, 55 m asl; chronology: 3rd-2nd centuries BC, and 10-11th centuries AD). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: NER80).
2023
- BRAIN id: NER92 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Mercuri, A. M.; Florenzano, A.; Torri, P.; Clo', E.; Zappa, J.; Furia, E.; Montecchi, M. C.
abstract
Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (RE, N Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from five trenches (NER92a - VP-VG Moat, NER92b - VP-VG II Moat, NER92c - VP-VG III Moat, NER92d - Well 2106, NER92e - Well 6170) opened during archaeological excavations at the Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (Poviglio, Reggio Emilia, N Italy; 44°52′21″ N 10°34′31’’ E, 21 m asl; site chronology: 1550-1170 BC). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: NER92).
2023
- BRAIN id: NFV26 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Zappa, J.; Florenzano, A.; Torri, P.; Servera-Vives, G.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Palù di Livenza - PaluON (PN, N Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from a trench excavated at the Neolithic pile-dwelling archaeological site of Palù di Livenza (Pordenone, N Italy; 46°01'19.9" N 12°28'56.8" E, 33 m asl; site chronology: c. 4400-3650 BC). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: NFV26).
2023
- BRAIN id: NVE71 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Rattighieri, E.; Clo', E.; Mercuri, A. M.; Florenzano, A.
abstract
Colombare di Negrar di Valpolicella (Verona, N Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from 2 trenches (NVE71a, NVE71b) excavated at the Late Neolithic - Bronze Age site of Colombare di Negrar di Valpolicella (Verona, N Italy; 45°32'45.57" N, 10°57'55.73" E, 650 m asl; site chronology: c. 4300-2500 cal BC). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: NVE71).
2023
- BRAIN id: SEA1 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Torri, Paola; Mazzanti, Marta; Florenzano, Assunta; Furia, Elisa
abstract
Marine core RF93-30. Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from the marine core RF93-30 (SEA1) drilled in the central Adriatic Sea (Italy; 42°04'01"N 15°40'03"E, -77 m asl; chronology: last 7000 years). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: SEA1).
2023
- BRAIN id: SSI7– pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Florenzano, Assunta; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Torri, Paola
abstract
Philosophiana (Sofiana; Sicily).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from late antique contexts of the site of Philosophiana (Enna; 37°19'03.10" N 14°16'26.68" E, 628 m asl; chronology: from 2nd century BC to 11th century AD). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: SSI7).
2023
- BRAIN id: SSI9 – pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Florenzano, A.; Rattighieri, E.; Clo', E.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Stromboli - San Vincenzo (Aeolian Islands, Sicily).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from different contexts at the archaeological site of San Vincenzo-Stromboli (Aeolian Islands; 38°48'05.72" N, 15°14'10.76" E, 55 m asl; chronology: from Bronze Age to late Medieval Ages) during seven fieldwork seasons (2009–2015). The dataset was created as part of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC, Palermo, Italy). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: SSI9).
2023
- First archaeobotanical evidence of multiporate Poaceae pollen from early–middle Holocene deposits of the Takarkori rock shelter in the central Sahara
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Clo', Eleonora; Rotunno, Rocco; Di Lernia, Savino
abstract
The Takarkori rock shelter, located in the Tadrart Acacus mountains in southwestern Libya (central Sahara), has been the subject of interdisciplinary research that has repeatedly shed light on the complex relationships between humans and plants in prehistory. The preservation of organic matter is so exceptional that well identifiable plant macro- and micro-remains, zoological remains, as well as molecular residues, lipids, and ancient DNA are recovered. Well preserved pollen grains were extracted by sediments and coprolites accumulated into the site. Among them, some multiporate pollen of Poaceae were extracted for the first time, an interesting anomaly that has never been reported in the Holocene Sahara (Mercuri et al. 2022). Poaceae multiporate pollen is known to be an effect of reproductive cycle abnormalities; it is often related to high levels of hybridization, polyploidy and apomixis. The occurrence of this anomaly in Poaceae pollen has been connected to plasticity of the grass species, and to their ability to reply to environmental stresses. Takarkori's multiporate pollen was found in the pollen sequence from the site, mainly concentrated in the Late Acacus foragers (~10,170 - ~8180 cal BP) and Middle Pastoral herders (~7160 - ~5610 cal BP), and in coprolites of ovicaprines dated to ~9500-5700 cal BP (di Lernia et al. 2019). Its presence reveals that Poaceae that lived in central Sahara have tackled several environmental stresses, under climate or anthropogenic change pressures, during the early and middle Holocene. The highest amount of multiporate Poaceae pollen in coprolites was found in samples taken from the area of an enclosure of young Barbary sheep, dated to the Late Acacus (early Holocene) period. This strongly suggests that the fodder collected to feed the animals was repeatedly selected from high stands of weed and wild cereals in the area, like those known by hunter-gatherers and repeatedly visited to gather wild cereals for food, and that this was a form of management strategy originating from a deep knowledge of environmental dynamics.
2023
- Flora-vegetation history and land use in Medieval Tuscany: The palynological evidence of a local biodiversity heritage
[Articolo su rivista]
Clo', Eleonora; Furia, Elisa; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
This paper introduces the high resolution palynological analyses carried out on samples from four cores drilled in the coastal plains of the Cornia and Pecora rivers, southern Tuscany, Italy. This study provides new information on the landscape transformations that the area has undergone over the past 7500 years, with focus on Medieval times when settlement patterns and land use contributed the onset of the current landscape. The study area, considered one of the most important early centres of the European civilization, has been fully investigated by the ERC funded nEU-Med project through an interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological, geomorphological, chemical, and archaeobotanical analyses. Environmental features and resource availability were explored through pollen markers of natural environments and human activities suggesting similarities and dissimilarities between the two valleys. In the Cornia Valley, the high diversity and percentages of woody taxa is connected to agrarian exploitation with arboriculture, while the Pecora Valley had a mostly open landscape, with lower diversity and higher percentages of anthropogenic pollen indicators. In both valleys, the land was mainly exploited for grazing resources: the high presence of pasture indicators suggests that domesticated animals should have been an important local resource especially in Medieval times. Pastoral/breeding activities fit into a larger context of management of the territory with specific vocation (namely, salt and iron in these two valleys). The detailed palynological analysis and the comparison between the two valleys highlight the local character of these activities, probably carried out in a collateral way by the peasant communities between the 7th-12th centuries AD.
2023
- From microscopic biodiversity to flora and vegetation dynamics: Palynology for monitoring, conservation, and enhancement of Italian and Mediterranean ecosystems
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Clò, Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta; Ricucci, Cristina; Bosi, Giovanna; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
2023
- Human-Impact Gradients through Anthropogenic Pollen Indicators in a Mediterranean Mosaic Landscape (Balearic Islands)
[Articolo su rivista]
Gabriel, Servera-Vives; Mus Amezquita, Maurici; Snitker, Grant; Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; Ruiz, Maurici; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
This paper proposes new anthropogenic pollen indicators for the Balearic Islands and attempts to assess gradients of human impact on vegetation in Mediterranean islands. A combination of modern pollen analogue studies, complemented by phytosociological descriptions and ordination techniques using quantitative and presence/absence data was used. Redundancy analysis allowed us to evaluate the relationships between pollen types and significant environmental variables and propose regional (e.g., Centaurea, Rubus, Plantago lanceolata-t) and local/microregional anthropogenic pollen indicators (e.g., Cerealia, Poygonum aviculare, Matricaria-t). Additionally, an anthropogenic index score (AIS) for each sampled location was calculated to correlate each pollen type to a specific degree of human impact: (a) low (e.g., Cerastium-t, Erica arborea-t, Cistus albidus), (b) moderate (e.g, Sinapis-t, Sanguisorba minor-t, Plantago bellardii-t), (c) high (e.g., Papaveraceae undiff., Dipsacaceae, Secale-t). This paper contributes to a further understanding of land-use dynamics and to defining the degree of impact, which is especially necessary to assess colonization and anthropization rhythms in Mediterranean island environments.
2023
- L’apporto della palinologia per la ricostruzione paleoeconomico-ambientale del sito di Torre di Satriano
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Il capitolo presenta i risultati dell'indagine palinologica condotta nel sito archeologico di Torre di Satriano, insediamento dell'età del Ferro ubicato in Basilicata tra i comuni di Tito e di Satriano di Lucania (PZ). I dati emersi dalle analisi di polline e palinomorfi non pollinici (NPP) hanno fornito informazioni utili per ricostruire destinazioni d’uso e distribuzione spaziale di diversi contesti del sito, nonché dettagli sul paesaggio vegetale e sugli aspetti economici delle fasi arcaiche del sito di Torre di Satriano.
2023
- Palaeoenvironment and land-use at the UNESCO archaeological site of Palù di Livenza (Pordenone): a palynological perspective
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Zappa, Jessica; Torri, Paola; Fontana, Alessandro; Degasperi, Nicola; Bassetti, Michele; Florenzano, Assunta; Braga, Lorenzo; Micheli, Roberto; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
2023
- Palynology on reconstructing the long-term dynamics of plant biodiversity: Insights from nature-value areas in Italy – Preliminary analysis from Pollino National Park (southern Italy)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Ricucci, Cristina; Florenzano, Assunta; Clò, Eleonora; Piovesan, Gianluca; Palli, Jordan; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
2023
- Pedoanthracology sheds light the ancientness of the pastoral highlands of three mediterranean mountain: Sierra de Gredos (Spain), southeast Massif Central (France), and northern Apennines (Italy)
[Articolo su rivista]
Bal, M. -C.; Benatti, A.; Bosi, G.; Florenzano, A.; Garcia-Àlvarez, S.; Mercuri, A. M.; Rubiales, J. M.
abstract
The Mediterranean mountain zone is probably one of the parts of the world with the longest documented history of interactions between vegetation, climate, and human activities. The twofold objective of the present study was to examine and compare changes in three silvopastoral mountain areas, and to identify the natural and human processes that have shaped today’s mountain landscapes. Although there were differences in vegetation and history between the three areas, there were also similarities in agropastoral practices, including livestock pressure and the use of fire. These similarities were supported by strong evidence based on soil charcoal and complemented by multiple other proxies (i.e., pollen analysis, archeology, historical documentation, and climatic data). The processes that led to the current physiognomy of the landscapes took place over the previous millennium, with a degree of synchrony over the past 500–800 years. The long co-evolution of humanity and landscape led us to reflect on the legacy of previous human practices and climatic changes, in terms of the composition of modern forests and the sensitivity of certain arboreal taxa (Pinus gr. sylvestris, Abies alba and Taxus baccata) that declined or disappeared during the late Holocene when the rates of vegetation change accelerated markedly. In summary, the comparative study of the history of the three highland landscapes attests to the interaction between long-term human impact (mainly pastoral societies, including livestock pressure and use of fire) and protracted climatic episodes that led to common changes in the study areas.
2023
- Plants, Fire and Landscape at the Prehistoric Pile-Dwelling Village of Palù di Livenza (PaluON1), UNESCO Site in the Italian Alps
[Articolo su rivista]
Zappa, Jessica; Degasperi, Nicola; Bassetti, Michele; Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; Gabriel, Servera-Vives; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Micheli, Roberto
abstract
This paper presents palynological data obtained from a trench excavated at the Neolithic pile-dwelling archaeological site of Palù di Livenza (northeastern Italy). The site is in a wetland located in a tectonic basin at the foot of the Cansiglio plateau, crossed by the Livenza river. Environmental conditions have made this wetland a suitable area for settlements since prehistoric times. Thanks to the peaty sediments that characterise the area, archaeological materials and botanical remains have been exceptionally well preserved. Their study has shed light on a Neolithic pile-dwelling settlement that developed in various phases between c. 6350 and 5600 cal BP (c. 4400 and 3650 BC), and has also allowed for a detailed environmental reconstruction of the surrounding environment. A vertical sequence of 20 samples was analysed to study pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and microcharcoals. An age-depth model was performed based on three radiocarbon dates. The palynological analysis provided insight into the response of vegetation to environmental changes caused by both climatic fluctuations and human pressure. In this sense, it was possible to highlight differences in vegetation cover, some fires, the use of woody resources, the spread of cereal fields, as well as the presence of other cultivated plants and plant processing by the people within the village.
2023
- Pollen and Molecular Biomarkers from Sedimentary Archives in the Central Po Plain (N Italy): Assessing Their Potential to Deepen Changes in Natural and Agricultural Systems
[Articolo su rivista]
Florenzano, A; Clo', E.; Jacob, J
abstract
This paper proposes to improve the information provided by biological indicators from sedimentary archives by integrating biomolecular techniques and botanical skills. This study repre sents a first proposal for combining pollen and biomolecular markers to detect land use and improve knowledge of past environmental change drivers. The specific aim of the research is to verify the relationship between miliacin (a pentacyclic triterpene methyl ether, usually interpreted as a broom corn millet biomarker) and Panicum pollen in three near-site stratigraphic sequences of the Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (Po Plain, N Italy). The three cores span the last ~15,000 years and potentially record the beginning of Panicum miliaceum cultivation attested in the area since at least the Bronze Age within the Terramare culture. Despite the fact that Panicum pollen grains were rare in the spectra
and miliacin was barely detectable in most of the 31 samples selected for biomolecular analyses, their combined evidence testifies to the local presence of the plant. Panicum pollen and sedimentary miliacin suggest the adoption of millet crops during the Recent Bronze Age by the Terramare culture, when climatic instability led to the diversification of cereal crops and the shift to drought-tolerant varieties.
2022
- BIG DATA PALAEOECOLOGY: A NEW APPROACH IN PALYNOLOGY TO RECONSTRUCT HISTORICAL KEY EVENTS SUCH AS THE BLACK DEATH ACROSS EUROPE
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Masi, Alessia; Ejarque, Ana; Florenzano, Assunta; Kouli, Katerina; Antonio LÓPEZSÁEZ, José; LUELMO-LAUTENSCHLAEGER, Reyes; Masci, Lucrezia; Mazier, Florence; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Palli, Jordan; PÉREZ-DÍAZ, Sebastián; Piovesan, Gianluca; Sadori, Laura; Vignola, Cristiano; Izdebski, Adam
abstract
2022
- BRAIN id: SBA1 - pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Altojanni (Matera, S Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from two different contexts (SBA1a, SBA1b) opened during 2006-2007 archaeological excavations at the Altojanni site (Grottole, Matera, S Italy; 40°36'36"N 16°23'40"E, 375 m asl; site chronology: 3rd-5th cent.; 12th-15th cent AD). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: SBA1).
2022
- BRAIN id: SBA12 - pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Torre di Satriano (Potenza, Southern Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected the site of Torre di Satriano (Potenza, S Italy; 40°34'12"N 15°38'15"E, 930 m asl; site chronology: 6th-5th cent. BC). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: SBA12).
2022
- BRAIN id: SBA2 - pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Miglionico (MT, S Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from the castle 'Castello del Malconsiglio' of Miglionico (Matera, S Italy; 40°34'03"N 16°40'51"E, 138 m asl; site chronology: 14th-15th cent AD). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: SBA2).
2022
- BRAIN id: SBA4 - pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Difesa San Biagio (Matera, S Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from the site of Difesa San Biagio (Grottole, Matera, S Italy; 40°30'21"N 16°40'51"E, 138 m asl; site chronology: 5th-1st cent. BC).
The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: SBA4).
2022
- BRAIN id: SBA5 - pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Fattoria Fabrizio (Matera, S Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from the Greek farmhouse of Fattoria Fabrizio (Matera, S Italy; 40°24'46"N 16°44'28"E, 57 m asl; site chronology: 6th-4th cent. BC). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: SBA5).
2022
- BRAIN id: SBA9 - pollen dataset
[Banca dati]
Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Pantanello (Matera, S Italy).
Dataset including pollen counts from sediment samples collected from three trenches opened during 2013 (SBA9a, SBA9b) and 2010 (SBA9c) archaeological excavations at the Pantanello site (Matera, S Italy; 40°23'21"N 16°47'11"E, 8 m asl; site chronology: 7th-1st cent BC). The site is included in the BRAIN database (https://brainplants.successoterra.net/; site id: SBA9).
2022
- Environmental and land-use changes in a Mediterranean landscape: palynology and geoarchaeology at ancient Metapontum (Pantanello, Southern Italy)
[Articolo su rivista]
Florenzano, A.; Zerboni, A.; Carter, J. C.; Clo', Eleonora; Mariani, G. S.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
The paper presents the results of palynological and geoarchaeological investigation carried out on the Greek-
Roman site of Pantanello – ancient Metapontum – in the Metaponto Plain (southern Italy). This area, archaeologically
investigated since the ‘70s, is an example of the long-term interaction between human communities and
the environment. A total of 29 pollen samples and 43 bulk samples for sedimentological and mineralogical
analyses were collected from three 2-m-deep trenches excavated in the vicinity of the archaeological complex of
Pantanello and the alluvial plain of the Basento River. Our multidisciplinary investigation permitted to elucidate
the main natural and human-controlled sedimentary processes that took place in the last two millennia. Large
part of sedimentation occurred in fluvial environments and led to the accumulation of fine and organic matterrich
deposits. This happened in alluvial to swampy environments at the margin of the Basento River plain. Since
the Greek occupation of the area, human communities contributed to the sedimentation with different degree of
intensity. In fact, human agency (herding and cultivation) tuned the intensity of soil erosion and slope processes,
thus activating the colluvial mobilization of coarse sediments into the sedimentary sequence. Pollen analyses
allowed exhaustive landscape reconstructions of the site, giving specific details on the land use and its transformations
during the Greek and Roman phases. The increased human exploitation of the area altered the intensity
of surface processes (erosion and sedimentation) and the evolution of plant cover promoted by natural
dynamics.
2022
- Heterocysts of Rivularia Type for Interpreting a Palaeoenvironmental Context of the Late Quaternary in Northern Italy
[Articolo su rivista]
Clo', Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
This paper presents new results on a quali-quantitative analysis of the heterocysts of the Rivularia type as a key bioindicator informative on local eutrophic conditions. The Rivularia type is usually reported in palynological analyses due to the thick, multilayered envelope that ensures the preservation of heterocysts in sediments. Samples come from two continuous terrestrial cores (N-S3: 77 samples, C-S1: 20 samples) drilled in the area surrounding the Bronze Age site of the Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (Po Plain; N Italy) and spanning at least over the last 15 ka years. Concentrations and percentages of the Rivularia type, combined with pollen curves of wet environments, describe local variability and rapid changes in ecological conditions over the millennia of deposition. Given the abundance and diversity of heterocysts of the Rivularia type in the studied samples, this paper attempts to group these cells based on morphology (ellipsoidal or elongated) and the state of preservation of the sheaths (presence or absence). Actually, it is difficult to confirm a relationship between heterocyst morphologies and the presence of different cyanobacteria species. Increasingly accurate identification of heterocysts from biostratigraphical archives may improve the data available on these bioindicators for achieving more detailed decoding of wetland (and terrestrial) transformations. Since the Bronze Age and at the most recent levels, the Rivularia type may be a good indicator of the local presence of agriculture and livestock, which lead to trophic and water changes in the soil.
2022
- IN SEARCH OF NEW TOOLS TO TRACE BACK THE HISTORY OF OLIVE CULTIVATION
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Ricucci, Cristina; Snitker, Grant; Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; Gabriel, SERVERA-VIVES
abstract
2022
- Modern analogs for understanding pollen-vegetation dynamics in a Mediterranean mosaic landscape (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean)
[Articolo su rivista]
Gabriel, Servera-Vives; Mus Amezquita, Maurici; Snitker, Grant; Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; Estrany Bertos, Joan; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
This paper presents the study of modern pollen analogs from the Balearic Islands. While similar studies have been largely applied to mainland areas,
research focused on modern vegetation dynamics on Mediterranean islands remains very rare. In this research, we combine vegetation surveys, pollen
analysis and multivariate statistics to understand landscape composition. The main objectives of are: (1) to examine pollen-vegetation relationships in
relation to environmental and land-use variables; (2) to understand modern pollen representation in a mosaic landscape structure; and (3) to propose
pollen indicators that characterize the primary vegetation types from the Balearic Islands to better interpret past pollen records in Mediterranean island
environments. Pollen results and Redundancy Analysis (RDA) distinguish three major groups: (a) Holm oak and box formations; (b) maquis and garrigues;
and (c) anthropogenic and open habitats. Landscape form, mean decadal rainfall, mean decadal temperature, fire activity, trampling, slope percentage, wet/
flooded soil, saline soil, distance to agropastoral cells, gHM index, domestic herbivory presence, agropastoral use, and soil type are the major variables
explaining modern pollen assemblage variation in our research. Poaceae undiff., Plantago sp., Apiaceae undiff., Cerealia-t, and Cichorieae are highly
correlated to human activities but should be interpreted cautiously when occurring in low values. Quercus ilex-t, Hypericum, and Buxus are correlated to
humid locations while Pistacia, Pinus, Juniperus-t, and Olea to high mean decadal temperatures. Our study indicates how pollen analysis and multivariate
analysis are powerful tools for characterizing the mosaic landscape, with special focus on the main vegetation types of the Balearic Islands.
2022
- Modern pollen analogues from the Balearic Islands (Full Dataset)
[Banca dati]
Servera-Vives, Gabriel; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
This dataset includes the full pollen types identified from the study of modern pollen analogues from the Balearic Islands. This dataset counts on 46 locations from Mallorca, Menorca, Eivissa, Formentera and Cabrera. Samples were collected during 2016 and 2017, and they were selected to gather information about the pollen rain of the main vegetation types forming the typical Mediterranean mosaic landscape that dominates the archipelago. Further details on the methods and information about the samples can be obtained in this paper: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/09596836221088229
2022
- Multiporate Pollen of Poaceae as Bioindicator of Environmental Stress: First Archaeobotanical Evidence from the Early–Middle Holocene Site of Takarkori in the Central Sahara
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Clo', Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
This paper reports on the most ancient unusual morphological trait of the apertures of Poaceae pollen found in archaeological layers. In Poaceae, high levels of hybridization, polyploidy, apomixis, and multiporate pollen are often related. Multiple genomes in polyploids are critical for the adaptation of plant species to stresses and could be revealed by anomalies in pollen development. Therefore, the paleoenvironmental research can gain great benefits from identifying polyploids in past contexts by observing anomalous pollen morphology during pollen counts. The occurrence of multiporate pollen in Poaceae has also been related to special features of the ecology of the species showing this anomaly, as well as to climatic and environmental stresses experienced by Poaceae living in a given region. Multiporate and bi- or tri-porate instead of monoporate pollen grains have been observed in samples taken from Takarkori rockshelter, an archaeological site in southwestern Libya (central Sahara) that has been occupied between ~10,200 and ~4650 cal BP. Multiporate pollen was found in organic sands and coprolites of ovicaprines. On the basis of archaeobotanical research, this work aims to investigate whether the presence of supernumerary pores in Poaceae pollen may be an effect of both climatic/hydrological changes and continued anthropogenic pressure on the wild grasses living in the region. The presence of multiporate pollen reveals that Poaceae that lived in central Sahara tackled several kinds of stress during the early and middle Holocene. The Takarkori pollen record suggests that climate change could have played a major role in the early Holocene, while human pressure became stronger during the middle Holocene. The change in environmental conditions determined adaptive responses of polyploid grasses even in the form of multiporate pollen.
2022
- POLLEN AND LIPID BIOMOLECULES FROM SEDIMENTARY ARCHIVES: A CASE STUDY FROM THE NEAR-SITE CORES OF THE TERRAMARA S. ROSA DI POVIGLIO (PO PLAIN, N ITALY)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta; Clo', Eleonora; Jacob, Jérémy
abstract
2022
- Palaeoecological Data indicates land-use changes across Europe linked to spatial heterogeneity in mortality during the Black Death pandemic
[Articolo su rivista]
Izdebski, A.; Guzowski, P.; Poniat, R.; Masci, L.; Palli, J.; Vignola, C.; Bauch, M.; Cocozza, C.; Fernandes, R.; Ljungqvist, F. C.; Newfield, T.; Seim, A.; Abel-Schaad, D.; Alba-Sánchez, F.; Björkman, L.; Brauer, A.; Brown, A.; Czerwiński, S.; Ejarque, A.; Fiłoc, M.; Florenzano, A.; Fredh, E. D.; Fyfe, R.; Jasiunas, N.; Kołaczek, P.; Kouli, K.; 1, ; Kozáková, R.; Kupryjanowicz, M.; Lagerås, P.; Lamentowicz, M.; Lindbladh, M.; López-Sáez, J. A.; Luelmo-Lautenschlaeger, R.; Marcisz, K.; Mazier, F.; Mensing, S.; Mercuri, A. M.; Milecka, K.; Miras, Y.; Noryśkiewicz, A. M.; Novenko, E.; Obremska, M.; Panajiotidis, S.; Papadopoulou, M. L.; Pędziszewska, A.; Pérez-Díaz, S.; Piovesan, G.; Pluskowski, A.; Pokorny, P.; Poska, A.; Reitalu, T.; Rösch, M.; Sadori, L.; Sá Ferreira, C.; Sebag, D.; Słowiński, M.; Stančikaitė, M.; Stivrins, N.; Tunno, I.; Veski, S.; Wacnik, A.; Masi, A.
abstract
The Black Death (1347–1352 CE) is the most renowned pandemic in human history, believed by many to have killed half of Europe’s population. However, despite advances in ancient DNA research that conclusively identified the pandemic’s causative agent (bacterium Yersinia pestis), our knowledge of the Black Death remains limited, based primarily on qualitative remarks in medieval written sources available for some areas of Western Europe. Here, we remedy this situation by applying a pioneering new approach, ‘big data palaeoecology’, which, starting from palynological data, evaluates the scale of the Black Death’s mortality on a regional scale across Europe. We collected pollen data on landscape change from 261 radiocarbon-dated coring sites (lakes and wetlands) located across 19 modern-day European countries. We used two independent methods of analysis to evaluate whether the changes we see in the landscape at the time of the Black Death agree with the hypothesis that a large
portion of the population, upwards of half, died within a few years in the 21 historical regions we studied. While we can confirm that the Black Death had a devastating impact in some regions, we found that it had negligible or no impact in others. These inter-regional differences in the Black Death’s mortality across Europe demonstrate the significance of cultural, ecological, economic, societal and climatic factors that mediated the dissemination and impact of the disease. The complex interplay of these factors, along with the historical ecology of plague, should be a focus of future research on historical pandemics.
2022
- Palaeoenvironment, settlement and land-use in the Late Neolithic –Bronze Age site of Colombare di Negrar di Valpolicella (N Italy, on-site)
[Articolo su rivista]
Tecchiati, U.; Salzani, P.; Gulino, F.; Proserpio, B.; Reggio, C.; Putzolu, C.; Rattighieri, E.; Clo', E.; Mercuri, A. M.; Florenzano, A.
abstract
Palynological and archaeobotanical analyses have been carried out as part of the interdisciplinary project of Colombare di Negrar, a prehistoric site in the Lessini Mountains (northern Italy). The palaeoenvironmental and economic reconstruction from the Late Neolithic to the beginning of the Early Bronze Age was based on 16 pollen samples and three samples of macroremains taken from two contiguous trenches. The landscape reconstruction shows the presence of natural clearings in the wood. Forest cover was characterised by oak wood, with Ulmus and Tilia. The intermediate morphol ogy of size and exine of Tilia cordata/platyphyllos pollen may be regarded as the first palynological evidence of lime hybrids in palaeorecords. Hygrophilous trees and Vitis vinifera testify to the presence of riparian forests and moist soils. Among trees supplying fruits, in addition to the grapevine, hazel nut (Corylus avellana) and walnut (Juglans regia) were present. A mixed economy based on animal breeding and cultivation of cereals (Hordeum vulgare, Triticum monococcum, T. dicoccum, T. timopheevii) emerged from the data. The combined analysis of pollen and plant macroremains suggests that different activities were carried out simultaneously in Colombare and a relationship between natural resources and the socio-economic and cultural evolution of the territory.
2022
- Palynology for Sustainability: A Classical and Versatile Tool for New Challenges
[Curatela]
Florenzano, A.; Clo', E.; Servera-Vives, G.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Palynology is a bridge between different research fields. This centenary discipline studying fossils and modern pollen and spores represents a landmark in multidisciplinary studies on both past and current environmental issues. Palynology plays an important role not only in ‘basic research’ on botanical taxonomy, phylogeny, reproductive biology, and phenology but also in ‘applied research’ focused on the measurement of environmental variables, including the quality of food and air. Aerobiology is one of the main fields, together with palaeoecology, which demonstrates the great power of pollen as a methodological approach to add details and information to other methods. In addition, paleoenvironmental studies are based on the analysis of pollen from sediments and archaeological layers, which provides a long-term perspective to understand ecosystem responses to different human and climate triggers. In this sense, recent palynological research has repeatedly demonstrated that past cultures adopted cultural choices to tackle environmental and climate changes to ensure social resilience by using multi-functional land uses to exploit nature without compromising the environment.
Starting from the MedPalynoS-2021 meeting, this issue aims to collect groundbreaking papers using palynology as a cornerstone for their research, including some papers awarded during the conference. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, and sedimentary charcoal are excellent bioindicators for detecting human impact and landscape development. For this reason, interdisciplinary bio-geo-archaeo investigations on on-site/off-site integration and Holocene contexts and palynology in studies on phylogeny, reproductive strategy, melissopalynology, and forensic sciences are welcomed.
We encourage submissions of research articles from the palynological community on all aspects of the discipline, especially reporting the latest updates to face future challenges.
2022
- Prime indagini palinologiche
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Florenzano, A.; Rattighieri, E.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Il lavoro presenta i risultati delle prime indagini palinologiche condotte nel sito altogardesano del Doss Penede (Nago-Torbole, TN). Le indagini palinologiche si inseriscono nel quadro multidisciplinare delle ricerche finalizzate alla ricostruzione della vita e dell’ambiente locale durante le fasi di frequentazione dell’abitato. Le analisi microscopiche esplorative, condotte su campioni provenienti da contesti della seconda età del Ferro e
romani, forniscono le prime informazioni utili alla conoscenza della paleoeconomia e alla ricostruzione del paesaggio vegetale dell’area. Inoltre, i dati pollinici di campioni provenienti
da diversi contesti del sito possono dare alcune indicazioni sulla destinazione d’uso da correlare con i dati archeologici.
2022
- Sustainability in the Neolithic and the Bronze Age through the lens of archaeobotany
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Mercuri, A. M.; Florenzano, A.; Clo', E.
abstract
Sustainability has played an important role in human cultures since prehistoric times. People shaped the environment to assure stability to settlements and crop fields, and to allow survival and wellness to generations. Changes of land use and plant selection were evident at any climate change across the Lateglacial and Holocene periods. The Mediterranean Basin as the cradle of western civilization has been a witness of adaptive strategies of prehistoric people living in many territories in past millennia. Most economies of prehistoric people are revealed by palynology and archaeobotany which give plant evidence of past environmental conditions. During Neolithic and the Bronze Age, the relationships of humans with Nature have probably started to change. The Bronze Age is emblematic as important technical and cultural skills were achieved that triggered the evolution of complex agro-sylvopastoral systems, as in the case of the land management adopted by the Terramare culture in the Po Plain. The shaping of the environment has resulted in different cultural landscapes that still today tell tales of struggle for survival and challenges fought in search of a sustainable development.
2022
- The Archaeobotanical Study of Agriculture of Roman Peasants: Skilled Farmers of the 1st BC – 5th AD in Tuscany, Central Italy
[Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Rinaldi, Rossella; Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
This paper focuses on the archaeobotanical study of small farmhouses and rural facilities on Roman sites in central Italy studied in the framework of the Roman Peasant Project
2021
- 1.36 million years of Mediterranean forest refugium dynamics in response to glacial–interglacial cycle strength
[Articolo su rivista]
Donders, Timme; Panagiotopoulos, Konstantinos; Koutsodendris, Andreas; Bertini, Adele; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Masi, Alessia; Combourieu-Nebout, Nathalie; Joannin, Sébastien; Kouli, Katerina; Kousis, Ilias; Peyron, Odile; Torri, Paola; Florenzano, Assunta; Francke, Alexander; Wagner, Bernd; Sadori, Laura
abstract
The sediment record from Lake Ohrid (Southwestern Balkans) represents the longest continuous lake archive in Europe, extending back to 1.36 Ma. We reconstruct the vegetation history based on pollen analysis of the DEEP core to reveal changes in vegetation cover and forest diversity during glacial–interglacial (G–IG) cycles and early basin development. The earliest lake phase saw a significantly different composition rich in relict tree taxa and few herbs. Subsequent establishment of a permanent steppic herb association around 1.2 Ma implies a threshold response to changes in moisture availability and temperature and gradual adjustment of the basin morphology. A change in the character of G–IG cycles during the Early–Middle Pleistocene Transition is reflected in the record by reorganization of the vegetation from obliquity- to eccentricity-paced cycles. Based on a quantitative analysis of tree taxa richness, the first large-scale decline in tree diversity occurred around 0.94 Ma. Subsequent variations in tree richness were largely driven by the amplitude and duration of G–IG cycles. Significant tree richness declines occurred in periods with abundant dry herb associations, pointing to aridity affecting tree population survival. Assessment of long-term legacy effects between global climate and regional vegetation change reveals a significant influence of cool interglacial conditions on subsequent glacial vegetation composition and diversity. This effect is contrary to observations at high latitudes, where glacial intensity is known to control subsequent interglacial vegetation, and the evidence demonstrates that the Lake Ohrid catchment functioned as a refugium for both thermophilous and temperate tree species.
2021
- Agricoltura e gestione del territorio nell’età del Rame dei Lessini occidentali: lavori in corso nel sito di Colombare di Villa (Negrar di Valpolicella, VR)
[Articolo su rivista]
Tecchiati, U.; Salzani, P.; Orioli, M.; Mercuri, A. M.; Talamo, S.; Nicosia, C.; Amato, A.; Casati, S.; Cercatillo, S.; Florenzano, A.; Palmisano, E.; Paleček, D.; Proserpio, B.; Putzolu, C.; Rattighieri, E.; Reggio, C.
abstract
Almost 70 years after the first excavations, the site of Colombare di Villa di Negrar di Valpolicella is now the focus of a
project of archaeological and paleoenvironmental investigations led by the University of Milan and the Cultural
Heritage Office for the provinces of Verona, Rovigo and Vicenza.
In the light of the archaeological evidence, the site was occupied from the Recent Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age,
apparently without interruption. Probably it was founded in the context of systematic activities of extraction,
processing and export of the high quality flint of the western Lessini Mountains, but its long duration also implies a
deep-rooted presence in the territory due to the agricultural exploitation of the land.
The project is based on a rigorously interdisciplinary methodology of investigation, oriented towards the study of the
relations between the community settled at Colombare and the surrounding territory, and it avails itself of the
collaboration of several research institutes. The results of pollen and archaeobotanical studies show a relatively
developed agricultural economy, with cereal growing and wild fruit picking activities. Among these, the vine and the
hazelnut are particularly important as species that must have been present in the site, probably cared for and
systematically used for human consumption.
Radiocarbon dates document a reduction of tree species in favor of herbaceous species starting from the last
centuries of the fifth millennium BC, which can be interpreted as the effect of an extensive deforestation.
Archaeozoological data, although they’re substantially unreliable in terms of function and chronological detail,
indicate a prevalence of domestic animals, including typically Neolithic large cattle, and hunting activities, especially
of the large ungulates of forest habitat.
The very detailed data of the paleo-environmental researches at Colombare di Negrar allow to advance some
considerations on the construction of the agrarian landscape in the alpine and prealpine area during the recent
prehistory and protohistory, and on its peculiarities compared to the better known Po Valley area.
2021
- Cannabis pollen records in Italy: when the taxon actually entered the Mediterranean?
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Palli, Jordan; Florenzano, Assunta; Masi, Alessia; Mensing, Scott; Piovesan, Gianluca; Sadori, Laura; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
2021
- Contrasted climate patterns during the Late Glacial and Holocene in Italy reconstructed from pollen data
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Blache, Marion; Robles, Mary; Joannin, Sébastien; Brugiapaglia, Elisabetta; Ménot, Guillemette; Dugerdil, Lucas; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Jeanty, Angèle; Peyron, Odile
abstract
This study proposes here to use pollen data to reconstruct quantitatively the climate trends at the Italian scale during the last 15000 years. In order to reconstruct the climate, the Modern Analogue Technique was used to reconstruct the mean annual temperature and the annual precipitations.
2021
- Diatomées, pollens et micro-fossiles non polliniques: apports de l’étude des microrestes à la compréhension des structures archéologiques
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Beauger, Aude; Florenzano, Assunta; Miras, Yannick
abstract
2021
- Environmental And land use changes in a Mediterranean landscape: the case study of the Ancient Metapontum (Pantanello, S Italy)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta; Zerboni, Andrea; Coleman CARTER, Joseph; Clo', Eleonora; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
The paper presents the results of palynological and geoarchaeological investigation carried out on the Greek-Roman site of Pantanello (Metapontum, S Italy). The combined bio-geoarchaeological approach provides information for palaeoenvironmental and economical reconstructions of the ancient Metapontum area, suggesting that human impact have locally prevailed over climate influence on environmental changes.
2021
- Environnement du site et anthropisation du milieu
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Florenzano, Assunta; Hallavant, Charlotte; Miras, Yannick
abstract
2021
- Integrating palaeo- And archaeobotanical data for a synthesis of the Italian fossil record of Lycopus (Lamiaceae, Mentheae)
[Articolo su rivista]
Martinetto, E.; Ardenghi, N. M. G.; Arobba, D.; Bertini, A.; Bosi, G.; Caramiello, R.; Castiglioni, E.; Florenzano, A.; Hvalj, A. V.; Kromer, B.; Maritan, M.; Mazzanti, M.; Macaluso, L.; Miola, A.; Perego, R.; Ravazzi, C.; Rinaldi, R.; Rottoli, M.; Talamo, S.; Vassio, E.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Lycopus is a widespread herbaceous plant, currently part of European flora. Fossil remains of fruits (nutlets or mericarps) attributed to this genus are frequently found in European archaeological and palaeontological sites, being easily preserved in sedimentary deposits. In a worldwide context, the oldest fossils are from the early Oligocene (ca. 30 Ma) of West Siberia, but they become more common in Miocene (23.0–5.3 Ma) records, ranging from West Siberia to Central Europe. In the literature, the Oligocene and Miocene remains (plus a few Pliocene ones) were assigned to fossil-species, whereas the abundant Pliocene and Pleistocene occurrences (5–0.01 Ma) in Europe were mainly assigned to the extant species L. europaeus. The present work is conceived as the result of an ad hoc research team whose task was to revise and summarize the Italian fossil record of Lycopus, assembling palaeobotanical and archaeobotanical data. We herein report ca. 6000 Lycopus nutlets from 61 sites located in nine regions of Northern and Central Italy. Based on the available information on extant species, we detected nine morphological types of nutlets that can be used for the characterisation of fossils. Our analysis suggests that from 4 to 2.6 Ma a single taxon (L. cf. pliocenicus) with L. americanus-type of nutlets occurred in Italy. The first occurrence of the latter morphological type is from the early Oligocene of West Siberia. The available fossils mildly suggest that extant L. americanus could be the descendant of ancient Eurasian plants characterised by the L. americanus-type of nutlets, through expansion of their range to North America. Conversely, the abundant Italian records of the last 0.2 Ma, including remains from archaeological sites, are only referable to the Eurasian species L. europaeus.
2021
- Landscape evolution and social resilience in the Balearic Islands since Prehistory. The study case of Santa Ponça (Mallorca, Western Mediterranean)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Gabriel, Servera-Vives; Snitker, Grant; Gómez-Pujol, Lluís; Picornell-Gelabert, Llorenç; Fornós, Joan J.; Florenzano, Assunta; Calvo, Manuel; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
The EU-funded OLEA-project (G.A.-895735) aims to focus on the drivers and timing of the spread of Olea macchia as a central feature of the current Balearic mosaic landscape. This work will advance research on mosaic landscape formation in the Mediterranean in relation to human, climate, and environmental drivers.
2021
- Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Faideh fluvio-lacustrine sequence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: a palynological approach.
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Zappa, J.; Forti, L.; Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.; Regattieri, E.; Zerboni, A.
abstract
2021
- Mediterranean Palynology Societies Symposium 2021. Abstracts Book.
[Curatela]
Florenzano, A.; Clo', E.
abstract
2021
- Paesaggio vegetale sulla base delle analisi del riempimento dei pozzi al margine del Villaggio Grande della Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Florenzano, Assunta; Clo', Eleonora; Zappa, Jessica; Chiara Montecchi, Maria; Furia, Elisa; Torri, Paola; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
L’ indagine palinologica del riempimento dei pozzi fornisce informazioni puntuali sulle modalità di formazione dei depositi ad integrazione del dato stratigrafico, testimoniando le varie fasi successive all’ utilizzo dei pozzi fino al loro completo riempimento in seguito a crolli o alla rifunzionalizzazione come rifiutaie. Inoltre, i dati pollinici danno indicazioni su flora e vegetazione nei pressi dei pozzi, nei momenti del loro utilizzo e nelle fasi di riempimento. Il confronto/integrazione dei dati ottenuti dalle analisi dei pozzi con quelli dalle sequenze dei fossati (in particolare con le serie polliniche prelevate nei Vertisuoli) consente una ricostruzione del paesaggio e dell’ uso del suolo, dettagliando i cambiamenti della vegetazione nelle fasi di vita e abbandono dell’ abitato. Tali informazioni sono fondamentali per investigare tempo e cause della crisi idrica e della concomitante azione antropica.
2021
- Palynology from Lake Faideh: environmental changes and human influence in Upper Mesopotamia (ca. 32,000 - 8,000 BC)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Zappa, Jessica; Forti, Luca; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Regattieri, Eleonora; Zerboni, Andrea
abstract
In this contribution we want to present the preliminary results of the palynological analysis of the Faideh fluviolacustrine sequence, located in the northwestern Kurdistan Iraqi Region (KRI). The study is part of a multidisciplinary project aimed at reconstructing the evolution of the Late Quaternary landscape of Upper Mesopotamia.
2021
- Pollen and molecular biomarkers from sedimentary archives: complementary tools to improve knowledge on the introduction of broomcorn millet in the central Po Plain (N Italy)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta; Clo', Eleonora; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Jacob, Jérémy
abstract
2021
- Preliminary palynological analysis of the Late Neolithic and Copper Age site of Colombare di Villa (Negrar di Valpolicella, Verona, Italy)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Rattighieri, Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta; Putzolu, Cristiano; Reggio, Chiara; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Salzani, Paola; Tecchiati, Umberto
abstract
The interdisciplinary research project of Colombare di Villa started in 2019 from the excavation made by Francesco Zorzi in the 50s, and included palynology to contribute to the palaeoenvironmental and economic reconstruction of people that settled in the N Italy site from late Neolithic to the beginning of early Bronze Age.
2021
- Rivularia heterocystis as indicator of long-term changes of moisture and nutrients in soils: a quali-quantitative study at the Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (Reggio Emilia, Italy)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Zini, Valentina; Taglini, Francesco; Torri, Paola; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Clo', Eleonora
abstract
This work is part of the constantly updated research on non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP). The study was focused on the identification of Rivularia, a cyanobacterium that is an excellent bioindicator as it requires certain trophic, climatic and environmental conditions at different stages of the life cycle (Whitton and Mateo 2012).
2021
- Sharing the Agrarian Knowledge with Archaeology: First Evidence of the Dimorphism of Vitis Pollen from the Middle Bronze Age of N Italy (Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio)
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Torri, Paola; Florenzano, Assunta; Clo', Eleonora; Mariotti Lippi, Marta; Sgarbi, Elisabetta; Bignami, Cristina
abstract
The recovery of inaperturate pollen from functionally female flowers in archaeological layers opens the question of a possible pollen-based discrimination between wild and domesticated Vitis vinifera in prehistoric times. Pollen analysis applied to archaeology has not routinely considered the existence of pollen dimorphism in Vitis, a well-known trait in the field of agrarian studies. Therefore, the inaperturate shape of grapevine pollen is ignored by studies on the archaeobotanical history of viticulture. In this paper we investigate pollen morphology of the domesticated and wild subspecies of V. vinifera, and report the first evidence of inaperturate Vitis pollen from an archaeological site. We studied exemplar cases of plants with hermaphroditic flowers, belonging to the subspecies vinifera with fully developed male and female organs, cases of dioecious plants with male or female flowers, belonging to the wild subspecies sylvestris and cases of V. vinifera subsp. vinifera with morphologically hermaphroditic but functionally female flowers. The pollen produced by hermaphroditic and male flowers is usually trizonocolporate; the pollen produced by female flowers is inaperturate. This paper reports on the inaperturate pollen of Vitis found in an archeological site of the Po Plain, Northern Italy. The site dated to the Bronze Age, which is known to have been a critical age for the use of this plant with a transition from wild to domesticated Vitis in central Mediterranean. Can the inaperturate Vitis pollen be a marker of wild Vitis vinifera in prehistoric times? Palynology suggests a possible new investigation strategy on the ancient history of the wild and cultivated grapevine. The pollen dimorphism also implies a different production and dispersal of pollen of the wild and the domesticated subspecies. Grapevine plants are palynologically different from the other Mediterranean “cultural trees”. In fact, Olea, Juglans and Castanea, which are included in the OJC index, have the same pollen morphology and the same pollen dispersal, in wild and domesticated plants. In contrast, the signal of Vitis pollen in past records may be different depending on the hermaphroditic or dioecious subspecies.
2021
- Supplemental material of the paper "Modern analogues for understanding pollen-vegetation dynamics in a Mediterranean mosaic landscape (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean)"
[Banca dati]
Servera-Vives, G.; Mus Amezquita, M.; Snitker, G.; Florenzano, A.; Torri, P.; Estrany, J.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
This supplementary material includes a dataset including information of environmental variables and sample information and an RMarkdown with the analytical codes used in the paper. This project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie [grant agreement 895735; Olea-project); Movilidad y conectividad de las comunidades prehistóricas en el Mediterraneo occidental durante la prehistoria reciente: El caso de las Islas Baleares [PID2019-108692GB-I00], financed by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Spanish Government). GSV also received funding from Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación [IJCI-2016-30581], Vicenç Mut program [GOIB & ESF: PD-018-2017] and José Castillejo [CAS16/00040] fellowships. GS research was also supported in part by an appointment to the United States Forest Service (USFS) Research Participation Program administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) through an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). ORISE is managed by ORAU under DOE contract number DE-SC0014664. All opinions expressed in this paper are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the policies and views of USDA, DOE, or ORAU/ORISE.
2021
- The dimorphism of Vitis pollen: a different palynological imprint of wild and domesticated V. vinifera L.
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Torri, Paola; Florenzano, Assunta; Clo', Eleonora; Mariotti Lippi, Marta; Sgarbi, Elisabetta; Bignami, Cristina
abstract
The dimorphism of Vitis pollen is a well-known feature in agrarian studies and a practically ignored characteristic in the archaeobotanical/palaeoenvironmental field of research. Trizonocolporate and inaperturate pollen grains are common in the wild subspecies of Vitis but can occur in some ancient cultivars of the subspecies vinifera.
2021
- Transported landscape and social resilience in the Balearic Islands since Prehistory. The study-case of Santa Ponça (Mallorca, Western Mediterranean).
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Servera-Vives, G.; Snitker, G.; Gómez-Pujol, L.; Picornell-Gelabert, L.; Fornós, J. J.; Florenzano, A.; Calvo Trias, M.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
2021
- What about Dinner? Chemical and Microresidue Analysis Reveals the Function of Late Neolithic Ceramic Pans
[Articolo su rivista]
Beneš, Jaromír; Todoroska, Valentina; Budilová, Kristýna; Kovárník, Jaromír; Pavelka, Jaroslav; Atanasoska, Nevenka; Bumerl1, Jiří; Florenzano, Assunta; Majerovičová, Tereza; Vondrovský, Václav; Ptáková, Michaela; Bednář, Petr; Richtera, Lukáš; Kučera, Lukáš
abstract
The Late Neolithic palafitte site, Ustie na Drim, in the northern part of Lake Ohrid (North Macedonia), excavated in 1962, offered ceramic fragments of large, flat, elongated pans. These artifacts could be dated by relative chronology to roughly around 5200–5000 BC. According to their shape and technological traits, the ceramic pans were probably used for baking. The attached materials on the surface of studied pan fragments were sampled for consequent chemical and microscopical analyses (i.e., analyses of starch, phytoliths, and microscopic animal remains). An immunological method revealed the presence of pork proteins in samples. The presence of organic residues of animal origin was, moreover, confirmed by the detection of cholesterol using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Analysis of detected microscopic botanical objects revealed starch grains of several plants (i.e., oak, cattail, and grasses). An interesting find was the hair of a beetle larva, which could be interpreted contextually as the khapra beetle, a pest of grain and flour. Based on our data, we suppose that the ceramic pans from Ustie na Drim were used for the preparation of meals containing meat from common livestock in combination with cereals and wild plants.
2020
- Geoarchaeological evidence of multiple climatic and anthropic triggers driving the breakdown of the Terramare civilization (Bronze Age, Northern Italy)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Zerboni, A.; Mercuri, A. M.; Florenzano, A.; Clo', E.; Zanchetta, G.; Regattieri, E.; Isola, I.; Brandolini, F.; Cremaschi, M.
abstract
The Terramare civilization included hundreds of banked andmoated villages, located in the alluvial
plain of the Po River of northern Italy, and developed between the Middle and the Recent Bronze
Ages (XVI-XII cent. BC). This civilization lasted for over 500 years, collapsing at around 1150 years
BC, in a period marked by a great societal disruptionin the Mediterranean area. The timing and
modalities of the collapse of the Terramare Bronze Age culture are widely debated, and a
combined geoarchaeological and palaeoclimatic investigation – the SUCCESSO-TERRA Project –is
shading new light on this enigma. The Terramare economy was based upon cereal farming,
herding, and metallurgy; settlements were also sustained by a well-developed system for the
management of water and abundant wood resources. They also established a wide network of
commercial exchange between continental Europe and the Mediterranean region.The SUCCESSOTERRA
Project investigated two main Bronze Age sites in Northern Italy:(i) the Terramara Santa
Rosa di Poviglio, and (ii) the San Michele di Valestra site, which is a coeval settlement outside the
Terramare territory, but in the adjoining Apennine range. Human occupation at San Michele di
Valestra persisted after the Terramare crisis and the site was settled with continuity throughout
the whole Bronze Ages, up to the Iron Age. The combined geoarchaeological, palaeoclimatic, and
archaeobotanical investigation on different archaeological sites and on independent archives for
climatic proxies (offsite cores and speleothems) highlights the existence of both climatic and
anthropic critical factors triggering a dramatic shift of the landuse of the Terramare civilization.
The overexploitation of natural resources became excessive in the late period of the Terramare
trajectory, when also a climatic change occurred. A fresh speleothem record for the same region
suggests the occurrence of a short-lived period of climatic instability followed by a marked peak of
aridity. The unfavourable concomitance between human overgrazing and climatic-triggered
environmental pressure, amplified the on-going societal crisis, likely leading to the breakdown of
the Terramare civilization in the turn of a generation.
2020
- Il sito preromano e romano del Doss Penede (Nago-Torbole, TN): la campagna di scavo 2019
[Articolo su rivista]
Vaccaro, E.; Angelucci, D. E.; Bassi, C.; Buonopane, A.; Florenzano, A.; Marani, F.; Matteazzi, M.; Mercuri, A. M.; Rattighieri, E.; Sfacteria, M.; Zambaldi, M.
abstract
Begun in 2019, the excavation project at the pre-Roman and Roman hilltop-site at the Doss Penede (Nago, TN) in the High Lake Garda is the result of a fruitful collaboration among the Department of Humanities of the University of Trento, the Superintendency for Cultural Heritage of the Autonomous Province of Trento and the Township of Nago-Torbole. The site has been known since the early 1990s when its outstanding buildings attracted local interest. However, no stratigraphic investigation has been promoted until 2019, when the site was chosen as the first case-study of a wider project aimed at analysing patterns of change occurred at settle-ments, economy and the cultural landscape between the second Iron Age and the late Roman period in the area of the High Garda Lake and the Sarca valley. The first excavation season, whose results are presented and discussed in this paper, uncovered a well-planned hilltop site characterised by a system of parallel large terrace-walls linked by monumental staircases and butted by buildings of various functions. Occupied uninterruptedly between the second Iron Age and the 3rd-4th centuries AD, the site likely experienced a process of monumentalisation in the early Roman period. The Doss Penede is a quintessential example of the resil-ience of pre-roman hilltop sites at the time of Romanisation of Cisalpine Gaul.
2020
- Long Term Perspective of Environmental Changes (the more you learn, the easier saving the Earth will become)
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, A. M.; Becchi, F.; Borgonovi, N.; Cagnin, E.; Castellari, F.; Miranda, F.; Paiano, M.; Paralovo, E.; Richeldi, M.; Sala, A.; Van Tongeren, E.; Zanetti, F.; Florenzano, A.
abstract
Biology is among the best trans-disciplinary sciences with a strategic role for developing a sustainable strategy of life. The students of the Master degree in Applied and Experimental Biology of Modena University have cooperated to prepare this paper after the course of Applied Botany and Palynology of 2019. In this synthesis, three chapters report on the main ideas and outcomes they have collected from the power-point slide shows they presented in class on the topic of understanding “Long-Term Environmental Changes”. The focus of the three chapters is on the key issues related to sustainability from a biological/ecological standpoint: the analysis of biodiversity, vulnerability assessment and domesticated nature. As biologists of the future, the Master students show us three complementary points of view to consider this crucial topic, from observational methods to predictions for the future.
2020
- L’ambiente delle terramare: territorio e vita di una popolazione dell’età del bronzo ricostruiti tramite la palinologia
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Zappa, J.; Clo', E.; Florenzano, A.; Torri, P.; Furia, E.; Montecchi, M. C.; Mercuri, A. M.; Zerboni, A.; Cremaschi, M.
abstract
Lo studio palinologico e geoarcheologico di due strutture per la captazione dell’acqua (pozzi) rinvenute durante
gli scavi nella Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio (Fig. 1) ha permesso di ottenere dettagli sull’ambiente, l’uso del
suolo e lo sfruttamento del territorio di una civiltà che occupò la Pianura Padana approssimativamente tra 3600 e
3200 anni fa. Quest’indagine rientra nell’ambito del progetto interdisciplinare SUCCESSO-TERRA (PRIN-
20158KBLNB; coord. Mauro Cremaschi - Andrea Zerboni, Università degli Studi di Milano) volto ad indagare i
cambiamenti ambientali e culturali avvenuti nell’area Padana nell’Età del Bronzo.
I pozzi campionati (UUSS 2106 e 6170) sono situati rispettivamente nella recinzione dell’abitato e al margine
settentrionale del fossato che separa i due villaggi costituenti la Terramare. Sono stati prelevati e analizzati 25
campioni pollinici di cui 15 dal pozzo US 2106 (datato dal BM3 al BR1) e 10 dalla struttura US 6170 (datato
BR2/BR1).
I risultati ottenuti dall’analisi pollinica (Fig. 2) hanno fornito informazioni sulle condizioni di vita e l’uso di risorse
vegetali durante le fasi di vita della Terramare e la fase ad essa immediatamente successiva. In accordo con il
quadro generale delle ricerche palinologiche sulle Terramare e in particolare sulla base di quanto noto presso
Santa Rosa, è emersa una diminuzione brusca del bosco, in particolare boschi igrofili, nella fase finale del Bronzo
Recente. Il calo di polline di piante igrofile accompagna questa fase indicando un incremento locale di aridità.
Questo evento è registrato in diversi archivi biostratigrafici, idrologici e sedimentari dell’arco alpino e permette,
quindi, di supporre che un calo nella disponibilità di acqua nei suoli deve aver avuto ripercussioni sugli ecosistemi
e sulle condizioni di vita degli abitanti della Pianura Padana. Il calo di polline di piante arboree denota, inoltre, un
impatto delle attività antropiche nell’area, dovuto all’aumento demografico della popolazione e al conseguente
aumento della richiesta di materie prime per la costruzione e di spazi da dedicare all’agricoltura. Le analisi
polliniche mostrano anche una variazione nella tipologia di cereali coltivati in queste fasi, con il passaggio da
specie a maggiore esigenza idrica (ad esempio, il frumento) a specie meno esigenti (ad esempio, orzo e miglio),
confermando l’avvento di una fase più arida. Questa fase di aridità, unita a una minore fertilità del terreno dovuta
al sovra-sfruttamento, deve aver favorito l’espandersi di aree dedicate a pascolo piuttosto che a coltivazioni.
Il caso delle Terramare risulta pertanto un riferimento per la nostra condizione attuale in cui lo sfruttamento non
sostenibile sta modificando gli ecosistemi in cui viviamo, con ripercussioni sul nostro stile di vita, sulla nostra
salute e sulle nostre abitudini.
2020
- PALYNOLOGICAL APPROACH TO RECONSTRUCT LONG-TERM ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES AND HUMAN IMPACT AT MORGANTINA (SICILY)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Mazzanti, Marta; Torri, Paola; Walthall, Alex
abstract
The palynological research has the potential to reconstruct plant landscape, land-use and ethnobotanical-agricultural exploitation based on the microscopic plant remains unearthed from archaeological sites [1,2]. The first palynological investigation at Morgantina, an ancient Greek and Roman center located in east-central Sicily, was carried out between 2016 and 2019 with the main aim of contributing new insights on ancient foodways and economic activity at the archaeological site. Moreover, the floristic list permits us to infer the main habitats and environmental feautures of the surrounding territory, which might have offered natural resources or spaces for agriculture. In 2018, 30 pollen samples were collected from a 5-meters deep trench that was excavated in the area of the city’s ancient agora. The 2018 trench revealed a stratigraphic sequence that encompassed the entire arc of human occupation at the site, from Neolithic to present day. Pollen, NPPs (palaeoecological bioindicators of local conditions such as fungal and algal remains) and charcoal particles (indicative of local or regional fires) were analysed. Only a third of the samples contained enough pollen to carry out the analyses; notably, there were lowpreserved pollen grains reflecting oxidation (open air context), trampling (local presence of people, or animals) and human activities like the floor preparation in the agora. Palynological data suggest some main features of the landscape next to the site and in the surroundings: open landscape with shrubby Mediterranean vegetation and scattered waterplaces, with synanthropic plants covering most areas including margins of fields and houses. The oldest phases of the pollen sequence show the lowest evidence of human environments. Here, the pastoral indicators may be evidence of an open pastureland browsed by wild animals or even frequented by seasonal pastoral activity. Pollen suggests that human activities have a clear impact on flora (synanthropic species) and cultivation (cereals) starting just before the Roman phases. These results, compared to the regional pollen data [3] and integrated with geo-archaeological investigations provide a long-term perspective on the environmental changes and human impact on the landscape of this central Mediterranean region.
2020
- Palinologia del sito di San Vincenzo-Stromboli (Eolie): una prospettiva di lungo termine sulle trasformazioni ambientali di un’isola mediterranea
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.; Clo', E.; Rattighieri, E.; Levi, S. T.
abstract
Lo studio interdisciplinare palinologico e archeologico del sito di San Vincenzo-Stromboli (Isole Eolie,
Sicilia; Fig. 1) ha fornito importanti evidenze delle trasformazioni ambientali dell’isola in prospettiva
diacronica, testimoniando inoltre la lunga relazione tra l’ambiente naturale e i suoi abitanti. Stromboli è un
vulcano attivo che è stato abitato – non continuativamente – negli ultimi 6 millenni. L’indagine palinologica
condotta su 60 campioni del principale insediamento dell’isola, situato su un vasto pianoro alle pendici nordorientali
del vulcano, ha permesso la ricostruzione paleoambientale in un peculiare contesto dove non si sono
conservati altri reperti vegetali. I dati per una dettagliata ricostruzione diacronica del paesaggio vegetale
dell’isola sono stati ottenuti da 23 campioni (38% di quelli analizzati), datati dalle fasi pre-insediative fino
all’età moderna. La copertura arborea risulta poco estesa per tutto l’arco temporale studiato: querceto misto
(Quercus decidue, Ostrya, Corylus, Fraxinus) e arbusti mediterranei (Olea, Juniperus tipo) sono poco
rappresentati negli spettri, mentre prevalgono ambienti aperti dominati da Poaceae e Asteraceae. Ambienti
umidi sono testimoniati, seppure con fluttuazioni, da alberi igrofili (in prevalenza Salix), limno-telmatofite
(soprattutto Cyperaceae, Phragmites, Typha/Sparganium emersum tipo) e idrofite (Lemna e Nymphaea alba
tipo). Marcati sono gli indicatori di ambienti antropici. Mentre aree pascolate sembrano essere state presenti
nell’isola sin dalla prima occupazione umana (tardo Neolitico), le prime attestazioni di pratiche agricole –
inclusa la cerealicoltura – risalgono all’età del bronzo (XVIII-XV secolo a.C.). Pratiche cerealicole e
viticoltura sono documentate nel periodo tardo-medievale (XII-XIV secolo d.C.), quando si registra anche la
comparsa dell’associazione Erico arboreae – Quercetum ilicis che caratterizza l’ambiente vegetale attuale di
Stromboli. Tale associazione si sviluppa su suoli di natura silicea o fortemente lisciviati in bioclimi da mesoa
supramediterranei, e la sua comparsa nell’isola può essere legata a un cambiamento ambientale
conseguente all’aumentata attività vulcanica. Gli spettri più recenti mostrano un lieve incremento nella
copertura arborea, probabilmente da attribuire alla riduzione della presenza antropica nell’isola. Le
variazioni nella copertura vegetale locale documentate dalle analisi polliniche di San Vincenzo-Stromboli
sono concordi con i cambiamenti ambientali registrati nelle principali biostratigrafie di riferimento per il
Mediterraneo centrale (e.g., Lago di Pergusa in Sicilia). La conoscenza delle trasformazioni ambientali
dell’isola è fondamentale per elaborare una strategia per la tutela della biodiversità basata
sull’interconnessione di habitat naturali ad alta valenza ambientale con gli elementi antropici che ne
caratterizzano il paesaggio tipicamente mediterraneo.
2020
- Palynology of San Vincenzo-Stromboli: Interdisciplinary perspective for the diachronic palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of an island of Sicily
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, A. M.; Cannavò, V.; Clò, E.; Di Renzoni, A.; Florenzano, A.; Rattighieri, E.; Yoon, D.; Levi, S. T.
abstract
This paper presents the results obtained from palynological research carried out at the archaeological site of San Vincenzo-Stromboli (Aeolian Islands, Sicily) during seven fieldwork seasons (2009–2015). The site has had discontinuous occupation since the Neolithic; the main remains are dated to the Bronze Age, late Roman and late Medieval phases. Pollen analyses were carried out on 60 samples taken from different archaeological contexts, and about 1/3 had enough pollen to calculate pollen spectra. The aim of the research was to gain new data on the economy and productive activity of the island, and to reconstruct the landscape focusing primarily on the Bronze Age, and then on the other occupational phases. An interdisciplinary approach integrating different disciplines has facilitated new interpretations about landscape and human activities. Pollen suggests that oak woodland and Mediterranean evergreen vegetation have been part of the natural plant cover of the area since the first occupation. Early evidence of agrarian practices, including cereal cultivation, dates back to the Bronze Age while the current vegetation seems to have originated during the Medieval period.
2020
- The Eurasian Modern Pollen Database (EMPD), version 2
[Articolo su rivista]
Davis, B. A. S.; Chevalier, M.; Sommer, P.; Carter, V. A.; Finsinger, W.; Mauri, A.; Phelps, L. N.; Zanon, M.; Abegglen, R.; Akesson, C. M.; Alba-Sanchez, F.; Scott Anderson, R.; Antipina, T. G.; Atanassova, J. R.; Beer, R.; Belyanina, N. I.; Blyakharchuk, T. A.; Borisova, O. K.; Bozilova, E.; Bukreeva, G.; Jane Bunting, M.; Clo, E.; Colombaroli, D.; Combourieu-Nebout, N.; Desprat, S.; Di Rita, F.; Djamali, M.; Edwards, K. J.; Fall, P. L.; Feurdean, A.; Fletcher, W.; Florenzano, A.; Furlanetto, G.; Gaceur, E.; Galimov, A. T.; Galka, M.; Garcia-Moreiras, I.; Giesecke, T.; Grindean, R.; Guido, M. A.; Gvozdeva, I. G.; Herzschuh, U.; Hjelle, K. L.; Ivanov, S.; Jahns, S.; Jankovska, V.; Jimenez-Moreno, G.; Karpinska-Kolaczek, M.; Kitaba, I.; Kolaczek, P.; Lapteva, E. G.; Latalowa, M.; Lebreton, V.; Leroy, S.; Leydet, M.; Lopatina, D. A.; Lopez-Saez, J. A.; Lotter, A. F.; Magri, D.; Marinova, E.; Matthias, I.; Mavridou, A.; Mercuri, A. M.; Mesa-Fernandez, J. M.; Mikishin, Y. A.; Milecka, K.; Montanari, C.; Morales-Molino, C.; Mrotzek, A.; Sobrino, C. M.; Naidina, O. D.; Nakagawa, T.; Nielsen, A. B.; Novenko, E. Y.; Panajiotidis, S.; Panova, N. K.; Papadopoulou, M.; Pardoe, H. S.; Pedziszewska, A.; Petrenko, T. I.; Ramos-Roman, M. J.; Ravazzi, C.; Rosch, M.; Ryabogina, N.; Ruiz, S. S.; Sakari Salonen, J.; Sapelko, T. V.; Schofield, J. E.; Seppa, H.; Shumilovskikh, L.; Stivrins, N.; Stojakowits, P.; Svitavska, H. S.; Swieta-Musznicka, J.; Tantau, I.; Tinner, W.; Tobolski, K.; Tonkov, S.; Tsakiridou, M.; Valsecchi, V.; Zanina, O. G.; Zimny, M.
abstract
The Eurasian (née European) Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) was established in 2013 to provide a public database of high-quality modern pollen surface samples to help support studies of past climate, land cover, and land use using fossil pollen. The EMPD is part of, and complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives throughout the Eurasian region. The EPD is in turn part of the rapidly growing Neotoma database, which is now the primary home for global palaeoecological data. This paper describes version 2 of the EMPD in which the number of samples held in the database has been increased by 60 % from 4826 to 8134. Much of the improvement in data coverage has come from northern Asia, and the database has consequently been renamed the Eurasian Modern Pollen Database to reflect this geographical enlargement. The EMPD can be viewed online using a dedicated map-based viewer at https://empd2.github.io and downloaded in a variety of file formats at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.909130 (Chevalier et al., 2019).
2020
- The Visibility of Mobility: Coprolites, Dung and Neolithic Herders in Central Saharan Rock Shelters
[Articolo su rivista]
Rotunno, R.; Mercuri, A. M.; Florenzano, A.; Zerboni, A.; di Lernia, S.
abstract
The archaeological landscape of the Tadrart Acacus massif (SW Libya, central Sahara) is made of sites testimony of complex systems of cultural-specific settlement and economic strategies stretching over millennia of occupation. Here, caves and rock shelters represent the main physiographic features exploited by prehistoric herders. Climate fluctuations, settlement patterns and economic strategies regulate the depositional and post-depositional processes documented in the excavated sites. In this regard, the site of Takarkori, thanks to its well-preserved archaeological record, which was extensively excavated, represents a highly valuable archive of past societal activities. We show how a multifaceted analysis of deposits and sediments of anthropogenic and biogenic origin, like dung and coprolites accumulations, may broaden the reconstruction of the cultural dynamics and variability of the Saharan Late Pastoral Neolithic (5700-4650 cal BP). Analysis of spatial distribution coupled with micromorphological investigation increased the reconstruction of the shelter's organisation and use, including its deposit’ formation processes. Pollen analysis highlighted aspects of seasonality among Late Pastoral herders attending the site, also contributing to deepen our knowledge on palaeoenvironment of Middle Holocene Sahara.
2020
- Tombarelle - Botanical materials
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Rinaldi, Rossella
abstract
2020
- Wine consumption in Bronze Age Italy: combining organic residue analysis
[Articolo su rivista]
Pecci, A.; Borgna, E.; Mileto, S.; Dalla Longa, E.; Bosi, G.; Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.; Corazza, S.; Marchesini, M.; Vidale, M.
abstract
The early consumption of wine or other grape derivatives (such as vinegar or must) is suggested from organic residues analysis conducted on Bronze Age pottery recovered from two sites in north-eastern Italy, Pilastri di Bondeno (Ferrara) and Canale Anfora (Aquileia, Udine). Pilastri is part of the Terramare culture of the Po plain, from which the archaeobotanical context has suggested that Vitis vinifera L. was known and used during the Middle Bronze Age. At Canale Anfora Vitis, macro-remains were found in earlier levels of the local stratigraphy. Organic residue analysis conducted by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry allowed the identification of tartaric acid in twenty samples out of thirty-one recovered from different ceramic vessels (e.g., drinking cups, coarse ware pots, presumed storage vessels) found at the two archaeological sites and dated to the 15th-14th centuries BC. Based on integrated studies, we suggest that grape juice derivatives (including wine or vinegar) were likely consumed at the sites. This is the earliest direct evidence of grape derivatives consumption in this area. Combined with the botanical evidence, these findings contribute to our understanding of the emergence of wine consumption in the western Mediterranean.
2019
- Coprolites from Rock Shelters: Hunter-Gatherers “Herding” Barbary Sheep in the Early Holocene Sahara
[Articolo su rivista]
Rotunno, Rocco; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Zerboni, Andrea; Di Lernia, Savino
abstract
Archaeological deposits in rock shelters have enormous informative potential, particularly in arid environments where organic materials are well preserved. In these areas, sub-fossilized coprolites and dung remains have been identified as valuable proxies for inferences about past environments, subsistence economies and cultural trajectories. Here we present a multidisciplinary analysis of bovid (ovicaprine) coprolites collected from the Early Holocene hunter-gatherer occupation at Takarkori rock shelter (SW Libya, central Sahara). Our results show that Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) were managed as early as ~9500 years cal BP, mostly with the rearing of juveniles. Palynological analysis of individual pellets suggests a seasonal confinement of the animals and the selection of fodder. GIS analysis of coprolite distribution also indicates sophisticated strategies of Barbary sheep “herding” and spatial differentiation of specialized areas within the rock shelter, including the construction and use of a stone-based enclosure for corralling animals. These highly structured and organized forms of control
over wild animals are interpreted as a potential co-evolutionary trigger for the subsequent rapid adoption and integration of the incoming pastoral Neolithic economy.
2019
- Environmental changes and human impact during the Middle to Recent Bronze Age in N Italy (SUCCESSO-TERRA Project)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Zerboni, Andrea; Bosi, Giovanna; Brandolini, Filippo; Clo', Eleonora; Mariani, Guido S.; Mazzanti, Marta; Rinaldi, Rossella; Torri, Paola; Cremaschi, Mauro
abstract
This contribution reports on the ongoing interdisciplinary research program SUCCESSO-TERRA (Human societies, climate-environment changes and resource exploitation/sustainability in the Po Plain in the midHolocene: the Terramare culture; PRIN-20158KBLNB, 2017–2020; https://www.successoterra.net) aiming at reconstructing the landscape and landuse transformations that occurred during the development of the Terramare culture (16th-12th century BC) in the Po Plain of Northern Italy. The project joints experts on Geoarchaeology, Palynology and Archaeobotany to study high-resolution archaeological sediments with an interdisciplinary ecological perspective (Cremaschi et al. 2018). The study of sediments and pollen assemblage from both natural archives and selected Bronze Age sites (Terramara of Santa Rosa di Poviglio and Vasca di Noceto, and occupation layers of S. Michele di Valestra) shine a new light on the mutual interconnection between climate change, landuse, and human resilience. The palynological research focused on Santa Rosa di Poviglio and allowed details of some of the complex processesintheagriculturaleconomytobefilledin,suchaswerepracticedonthebasisofwoodmanagement and crop fields (Cremaschi et al. 2016). Pollen diagrams showed oscillations of the curves of deciduous oaks and other woody plants (Carpinus betulus, Corylus, Fraxinus and Carpinus orientalis/Ostrya carpinifolia). The role of trees and shrubs supplying fruits (Prunus and other woody Rosaceae, Cornus mas, and especially Corylus and Vitis) resulted of special interest. The fields included different types of cereals (Avena/Triticum and Hordeum groups, Secale cereale and Panicum). Most of the open landscapes around the villages were used for pastures as suggested mainly by Cichorieae and other pasture pollen indicators. The Anthropogenic Pollen Indicators-API group (Mercuri et al. 2013) are significant in the spectra together with other synanthropic plants, and indicate a continuative human pressure in the area. The last phases of the pollen diagrams show a decrease of woodland together with a reduction in cereal fields suggesting that soil and wood overexploitation might have been among the causes of the Terramare’s crisis and their societal collapse (Mercuri et al. 2006; Cremaschi et al. 2016). The interdisciplinary study will disclose the natural (environmental aridification) and anthropic (overexploitation of natural resources) reasons of the collapse of the Terramare culture, by investigating the environmental changes in the region and their relationships with the different land-use adopted by the Terramare people.
2019
- From influence to impact: The multifunctional land use in Mediterranean prehistory emerging from palynology of archaeological sites (8.0-2.8 ka BP)
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Burjachs, Francesc; Giardini, Marco; Kouli, Katerina; Masi, Alessia; Picornell-Gelabert, Llorenç; Revelles, Jordi; Sadori, Laura; Gabriel, Servera-Vives; Torri, Paola; Fyfe, Ralph
abstract
Archaeobotany is used to discover details on local land uses in prehistoric settlements developed during the middle and beginning of late Holocene. Six
archaeological sites from four countries (Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey) have pollen and charcoal records showing clear signs of the agrarian systems
that had developed in the Mediterranean basin during different cultural phases, from pre-Neolithic to Recent Bronze Age. A selected list of pollen taxa
and sums, including cultivated trees, other woody species, crops and annual or perennial synanthropic plants are analysed for land use reconstructions.
In general, cultivation has a lower image in palynology than forestry, and past land uses became visible when oakwoods were affected by human activities.
On-site palynology allows us to recognise the first influence of humans even before it can be recognised in off-site sequences, and off-site sequences
can allow us to determine the area of influence of a site. Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites show similar land use dynamics implying oak
exploitation, causing local deforestation, and cultivation of cereal fields in the area or around the site. Although a substantial difference makes the
Neolithic influence quite distant from the Bronze Age impact, mixed systems of land exploitation emerged everywhere. Multiple land use activities exist
(multifunctional landscapes) at the same time within the area of influence of a site. Since the Neolithic, people have adopted a diffuse pattern of land use
involving a combination of diverse activities, using trees–crops–domesticated animals. The most recurrent combination included wood exploitation, field
cultivation and animal breeding. The lesson from the past is that the multifunctional land use, combining sylvo-pastoral and crop farming mixed systems,
has been widely adopted for millennia, being more sustainable than the monoculture and a promising way to develop our economy.
2019
- Landscape, plant remains and ecological data in prehistoric Sicily: a debate in human environmental sciences
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Speciale, Claudia; Giannitrapani, Enrico; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Di Maida, Gianpiero; Florenzano, Assunta; Combourieu-Nebout, Nathalie
abstract
Sicily represents a crucial area in the Mediterranean basin for its geographic position, ecological diversity, cultural heritage, and historical richness. The comprehension of human communities’ dynamics within their environmental context and their mutual connections is with no doubt one key approach for the development of archaeological studies in Sicily, through a real interdisciplinary and multiproxy research where anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic causes could be distinguished and analyzed. Previous studies attempted to investigate the connection between environmental changes and social and cultural dynamics in prehistoric time in Sicily and the possible influence on other Mediterranean cultures (Izdebski et al. 2015; Martini et al. 2009; Mercuri et al. 2011; Pacciarelli et al. 2015; Sadori et al. 2016; Zanchetta et al. 2013). The overall aim of this paper, through a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach, is to review the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic results from lake sediments and the evidence from prehistoric contexts collecting archaeological (notably paleodemographic) and archaeobotanical (i.e. pollen and plant macro-remains) data in Sicily island. The paper will cover the chronological range from the late Pleistocene until the early historical times (~14000 – 2500 BP). National and international researches have been carried out in the last decades on the island to collect data both from lacustrine pollen sequences and archaeological sites. All these studies allow to put together for the first time the paleoecological information and compare them with cultural development of prehistoric human groups to verify how climatic oscillations can have affected prehistoric communities in settlement patterns, socio-economic changes, land use or other human activities.
2019
- Middle- to late-Holocene fire history and the impact on Mediterranean pine and oak forests according to the core RF93-30, central Adriatic Sea
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Rita, Terenziani; Furia, Elisa; Dallai, Daniele; Torri, Paola
abstract
The high-resolution Adriatic RF93-30 core shows changes in its microcharcoal record, which correlate to terrestrial fires from the last 7000 years. Pollen and microcharcoals were transported by wind and fluvial transport from the sedimentary basin, including the Po River and other rivers flowing into the sea off the Italian east coast. Charcoal particles and pollen were counted in the same samples, and the maximum breadth and length of charcoal particles were measured. Microcharcoals with large dimensions were taken as fire indicators occurring along the near coast, as they probably arrived from short distances, the nearest being in Apulia, in southern Italy. The age–depth model was developed within the multidisciplinary PALICLAS project. Several potential fire activity increases (PFAIs) were visible as peaks in the diagram. The oldest PFAIs occurred at the middle Holocene (approximately dated to c. 6730, 5430, 4150 cal BP), others occurred at the late Holocene (c. 3760, 2660, 2240, 2030, 1930, 1510 cal BP) and during the last millennium (c. 900–865, 530, 120–96 cal BP). The two oldest peaks in the diagram, occurring in the 7th–6th millennia, showed the highest contribution of charcoal corresponding to the highest values of arboreal pollen (AP) in the sedimentary record. Although the CHAR peaks did not represent a single fire event, the diagram suggests a good correspondence between paleofire activity and terrestrial vegetation biomass during this early phase. Pollen containing black particles was observed, which suggested some grains were transported in suspension with winds from burned woods. The main unambiguous anthropogenic fire causation would have occurred during the last four millennia. From 4.2 ka, it became hard to disentangle climate and Bronze Age actions. Technology and human activity probably improved the pace of fire events, especially involving oak woods, with evidence of an increase of CHAR during the last millennium.
2019
- Palaeoecological investigation of the Recent Bronze Age site of Este (Padua, N Italy): valuable information from NPPs
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Torri, Paola; Di Mascio, Martina; Bosi, Giovanna; Florenzano, Assunta; Miola, Antonella; Rottoli, Mauro; Mazzanti, Marta
abstract
The study of non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs), combined with pollen and seed/fruit analyses, is a valuable tool for palaeoecological reconstruction of archaeological sites. These proxies have been applied to the archaeologicalsiteofEste–viaComuna,excavatedin2015. Thesite,locatedinthePoPlaininthesouthwestern part of Euganean Hills (Veneto), is archaeologically dated back to the beginning of the Recent Bronze Age (14th-13th century AD) (Bortolami, 2015-2016). Nine pollen samples were collected from a stratigraphical section of a trench opened within a basin/channel characterised by peat layers and alluvial deposits. Pollen and NPPs were counted in the same samples. NPPs wereidentifiedusingmorphotypesdescriptionsandphotographsfromreferenceliterature(e.gvanGeel2001; Gelorini et al. 2011). In general, the pollen sequence shows quite a good presence of pollen (from 28.000 to 140.000 p/g), and outstanding quantities (from 84.000 to 642.000 npp/g) and variety of NPPs. About 130 morphotypes have been identified; among the not identified types, seven NPPs will be proposed as new types to be included in the NPP list. The integrated study of NPPs, pollen and seeds/fruits highlights the system of sources exploitation attested in the site surroundings, and the presence of a water basin representing a useful source for human settlers. Coprophilous fungi testify the presence of animals (van Geel et al., 2003) probably associated with grazing/breeding activities that increase at the same time as woodlands sharply decrease, and cereals and synanthropicspeciesincrease. Algaereflectparticularconditionsofwaterdepthandtemperature(Rieraetal.,2006; Limaye et al., 2016), and also inform about nutrient supply in the basin (van Geel et al. 1994; Di Rita et al. 2010). Conductor elements of tracheophytes have been found often associated with saprobic fungi living on decayed or decaying wood. Particular attention has to be paid to the complementary information provided by some peculiar plant remains, such as Ceratophyllum leaf spines and astrosclereids of Nymphaeaceae.
2019
- Palynological approach to reconstruct pastoral activities: case studies from Basilicata, South Italy
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta; Clo', Eleonora; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
A palynological approach to the study of Mediterranean landscapes is ideally suited for detecting the land-use history and environmental changes that gave rise to the present-day Mediterranean landscape. In particular, the combined evidence of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs, such as fungal spores and algal elements) from archaeological sites is useful for tracing the impact of past human activities on the environment, and also to discriminate past land uses and pastoral practices. In Italy, an outstanding number of studies that include pollen or other plant remains from archaeological contexts (BRAIN database: brainplants.successoterra.net; [1]) have testified to the widespread occurrence of pastoral activities on the peninsula over the last few millennia. This contribution reports on palynological evidence for the impact of centuries of grazing on the vegetation of Basilicata, a region of southern Italy where animal breeding and pastoralism have a long tradition. The integrated analyses of microscopic records from eight archaeological sites (dated from the 6th century BC to the 15th century AD) indicate wide and continuous pastoral activities practiced in the region [2]. The combined evidence from pollen pasture indicators and NPP markers of grazing (mainly coprophilous fungal spores) point out that pastures were the main type of land-use in the territory surrounding each of the eight study sites. As evidenced by the pollen records, this region has long been a grazed area, with more intense pastoral activities documented from the end of the Hellenistic age to the Medieval and Renaissance periods. This research confirms the economic importance of pastoralism in the past communities and its prominent role in shaping the Italian landscape.
2019
- Plants, water and humans: pollen analysis from Holocene archaeological sites on Sai Island, northern Sudan
[Articolo su rivista]
Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Fornaciari, Rita; Garcea, Elena A. A.
abstract
The paper reports on a synthesis of pollen analyses and main archaeobotanical studies carried out on
Early, Middle and Late Holocene sites from Sai Island in the Nile River (ancient Upper Nubia, present
northern Sudan). Multidisciplinary archaeological studies focused on the transitions from hunting-fishinggathering
to pastoralism and later to agro-pastoralism in this area. New palynological data were obtained
from two sites located on the eastern side of the island: an Early Holocene occupational level of a
‘Khartoum Variant’ foraging site (8-B-10C, Level 2; c. 7600–7200 BC), and a Middle/Late Holocene site
dating to the Pre-Kerma/Kerma period (8-B-10A; the later phase is dated c. 1800–1600 BC). These data
integrate the results obtained from two other sites located on the western side of the island (sites 8-B-76
and 8-B-81). Despite the poor preservation of pollen, the integration of data from the studied sites
provides information on the environmental changes and potential for plant exploitation in the eastern
Sahelian-Saharan region. A substantial environmental diversity between the west and east sides of Sai
Island emerges, revealing that in the late Early Holocene and first part of the Middle Holocene the land
near the river was characterised by a mosaic of habitats, with dramatic floods on the eastern side and
seasonal dried-up areas on the western side. This region supplied water even during the dry climatic
phases and provided humans with mosaic habitats within short distances, giving access to plants (useful
for food and other purposes) which lived in swamps and marshes, wooded savannahs, grasslands or
desert savannahs.
2019
- Proposals for rural landscape and archaeological site flora management: the contribution of archaeobotany through the BRAIN network research
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Marta Mariotti Lippi, ; Gianniantonio, Domina; Florenzano, Assunta; Carlo, Montanari; Mariangela, Guido; Valentina, Pescini; Bruna Ide Menozzi, ; Alessandro, Panetta; Roberta, Cevasco; Diego, Moreno; Emilia, Allevato; Davide, Attolini; Gianluigi, Bacchetta; Benatti, Alessandra; Bosi, Giovanna; Clo', Eleonora; Lorenzo, Costantini; Alessia, D’Auria; Gaetano Di Pasquale, ; DI SANSEBASTIANO, GIAN PIETRO; Marchesini, Marco; Silvia, Marvelli; Alessia, Masi; Mazzanti, Marta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rinaldi, Rossella; Sadori, Laura; Marco, Sarigu; Claudia, Speciale; Mariano, Ucchesu; Torri, Paola; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Archaeobotanical data suggest that models of a multiple land use have always contributed to the fruitful management of environmental resources, and this is among the most interesting results obtained from the reconstructions of past landscapes in the Mediterranean. The development of Historical Ecology, an historical approach that promotes interdisciplinary studies involving several research fields (like botany, archaeobotany, history, archaeology, geography, cartography, forestry, geology, climatology, landscape genetics), is carrying out proposals for applications in agricultural management and environmental conservation based on rigorous land use reconstructions. Several members of the BRAIN community are involved in these topics thanks to the interdisciplinary plant-based studies carried out on archaeological sites and other human-influenced contexts (Environmental Archaeology).
2019
- Regional Vegetation Histories: An Overview of the Pollen Evidence from the Central Mediterranean
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Kouli, Katerina; Masi, Alessia; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Sadori, Laura
abstract
Vegetation patterns during the 1st millennium AD in the central Mediterranean, exhibit a great variability, due to the richness of these habitats and the continuous shaping of the environment by human societies. Variations in land use, witnessed in the pollen record, reflect the role that local vegetation and environmental conditions played in the choices made by local societies. The interdisciplinary study of off-site cores remains the key evidence for palaeoenvironmental transformations mirroring the ‘semi-natural’ vegetation, and revealing temporal fluctuations and the amount of human impact on a regional scale.
2019
- The Botanical Record of Archaeobotany Italian Network - BRAIN: a cooperative network, database and website
[Articolo su rivista]
Mariotti Lippi, M.; Florenzano, A.; Rinaldi, R.; Allevato, E.; Arobba, D.; Bacchetta, G.; Bal, M. C.; Bandini Mazzanti, M.; Benatti, A.; Beneš, J.; Bosi, G.; Buonincontri, M.; Caramiello, R.; Castelletti, L.; Castiglioni, E.; Celant, A.; Clò, E.; Costantini, L.; Di Pasquale, G.; Di Rita, F.; Fiorentino, G.; Furlanetto, G.; Giardini, M.; Grillo, O.; Guido, M.; Herchenbach, M.; Magri, D.; Marchesini, M.; Maritan, M.; Marvelli, S.; Masi, A.; Miola, A.; Montanari, C.; Montecchi, M. C.; Motella, S.; Nisbet, R.; Orrù, M.; Peñachocarro, L.; Pepe, C.; Perego, R.; Rattighieri, E.; Ravazzi, C.; Rottoli, M.; Rowan, E.; Sabato, D.; Sadori, L.; Sarigu, M.; Torri, P.; Ucchesu &, M.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
The BRAIN (Botanical Records of Archaeobotany Italian Network) database and network
was developed by the cooperation of archaeobotanists working on Italian archaeological
sites. Examples of recent research including pollen or other plant remains in analytical and
synthetic papers are reported as an exemplar reference list. This paper retraces the main
steps of the creation of BRAIN, from the scientific need for the first research cooperation
to the website which has a free online access since 2015.
2019
- The History of Pastoral Activities in S Italy Inferred from Palynology: A Long-Term Perspective to Support Biodiversity Awareness
[Articolo su rivista]
Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
The present-day Mediterranean landscape is a result of the long-term
human–environment–climate interactions that have driven the ecological dynamics throughout
the Holocene. Pastoralism had (and still has) an important role in shaping this landscape, and
contributes to maintaining the mosaic patterns of the Mediterranean habitats. Palaeoecological
records provide significant multi-proxy data on environmental changes during the Holocene that
are linked to human activities. In such research, the palynological approach is especially useful for
detailing the complexity of anthropogenically-driven landscape transformations by discriminating
past land uses and pastoral/breeding activities. This paper focuses on the palynological evidence for
the impact of centuries of grazing on the vegetation of Basilicata, a region of southern Italy where
animal breeding and pastoralism have a long tradition. A set of 121 pollen samples from eight
archaeological sites (dated from the 6th century BC to the 15th century AD) and five modern surface
soil samples were analyzed. The joint record of pollen pasture indicators and spores of coprophilous
fungi suggests that continuous and intense pastoral activities have been practiced in the territory
and have highly influenced its landscape. The palaeoecological results of this study provide us
with better knowledge of the diachronical transformations of the habitats that were exposed to
continuous grazing, with a shift toward more open vegetation and increase of sclerophyllous shrubs.
The palynological approach gives insights into the vocation and environmental sustainability of this
southern Italy region on a long-term basis.
2019
- The Late Antique plant landscape in Sicily: Pollen from the agro-pastoral villa del Casale - Philosophiana system
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, A. M.; Montecchi, M. C.; Florenzano, A.; Rattighieri, E.; Torri, P.; Dallai, D.; Vaccaro, E.
abstract
Palynological research carried out on two renowned archaeological sites located in central Sicily allows the reconstruction of agrarian landscapes in Late Antiquity. The palynological investigations may improve the resolution of vegetational-environmental events recorded from extra-local palynological sequences by giving information on local plant landscape and human influence in the region. The stratigraphy uncovered from these archaeological sites features very high resolution. Villa del Casale of Piazza Armerina, a monumental villa included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, and the near ‘agro-town’ Philosophiana are key sites to look for the effects of countryside exploitation in the Roman world. They were extraordinary rural complexes from the Roman to Medieval periods. Their long chronology offers the opportunity to investigate land use and economy transformations that occurred in the area at the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The palynological research has been carried out on 40 samples, including archaeological samples dated from the end of 3rd to 7th century AD, and one moss polster collecting present pollen rain. Ornamental and shade plants were concentrated in the luxury villa, while fruit trees and agrarian activities were more evident in the next farmhouse. Late Antiquity is proved to be a critical period of both transition between different cultures and landscape transformations that have lead the past vegetation to the modern landscape of this island. Nevertheless, pollen suggests a continuity of the agrarian landscape during this period. Although changes had occurred, subsequent cultures were progressively incorporated in the agrarian-pastoral landscape management.
2019
- The Long-Term Perspective of Human Impact on Landscape for Environmental Change (LoTEC) and Sustainability: From Botany to the Interdisciplinary Approach
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, A. M.; Florenzano, A.
abstract
The Long-Term Perspective of Human Impact on Landscape for Environmental Change—LoTEC is a special matter for environmental and ecological studies; it is an essential tool to sustainable development and better-informed landscape management decisions.
2019
- The Long-Term Perspective of Human Impact on Landscape for Environmental Change and Sustainability
[Curatela]
Mercuri, A. M.; Florenzano, A.
abstract
The research studies included in this Special Issue highlight the fundamental contribution of the knowledge of environmental history to conscious and efficient environment conservation and management. The long-term perspective of the dynamics that govern the human–climate ecosystem is becoming one of the main focuses of interest in biological and earth system sciences. Multidisciplinary bio-geo-archaeo investigations into the underlying processes of human impact on the landscape are crucial to envisage possible future scenarios of biosphere responses to global warming and biodiversity losses. This Special Issue seeks to engage an interdisciplinary dialog on the dynamic interactions between nature and society, focusing on long-term environmental data as an essential tool for better-informed landscape management decisions to achieve an equilibrium between conservation and sustainable resource exploitation.
2019
- The SUCCESSO-TERRA Project: a lesson of sustainability from the Terramare culture, Middle Bronze Age of the Po Plain (North Italy)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Benatti, Alessandra; Bosi, Giovanna; Brandolini, Filippo; Clo', Eleonora; Furia, Elisa; Mariani, Guido S.; Mazzanti, Marta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Rinaldi, Rossella; Torri, Paola; Zerboni, Andrea; Cremaschi, Mauro
abstract
The SUCCESSO-TERRA Project (Human societies, climate-environment changes and resource exploitation/sustainability in the Po Plain in the mid-Holocene: the Terramare culture; PRIN-20158KBLNB) is a research program aiming at reconstructing landscape and land-use transformations that occurred during the Terramare period in the southern-central Po Plain of Northern Italy.
The project joints experts on Geoarchaeology, Palynology and Archaeobotany to study highresolution archaeological sediments with an interdisciplinary ecological perspective.
The Terramare settlements were banked and moated villages of the Middle and Recent Bronze Ages (1550–1170 cal yr BC). According to the plant record (both micro- and macro-remains), agricultural economy was based on cultivation and exploitation of forests. Pollen analysis suggests wood management, including coppicing, and fruit collection on the wild, the existence of crop fields with different types of cereals and the intercropping with legumes. The most of the open landscapes around the villages were used for pastures as suggested by pasture indicators in pollen spectra.
Our interdisciplinary study will disclose the natural (environmental aridification) and anthropic (overexploitation of natural resources) reasons of the collapse of the Terramare culture, by investigating the environmental changes in the region and their relationships with the different land-use adopted by the Terramare people.
2019
- Tyrrhenian central Italy: Holocene population and landscape ecology
[Articolo su rivista]
Stoddart, Simon; Woodbridge, Jessie; Palmisano, Alessio; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Andrew Mensing, Scott; Colombaroli, Daniele; Sadori, Laura; Magri, Donatella; Di Rita, Federico; Giardini, Marco; Mariotti, Marta; Montanari, Carlo; Bellini, Cristina; Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; Bevan, Andrew; Shennan, Stephen; Fyfe, Ralph; Roberts, Neil
abstract
This paper compares changes in vegetation structure and composition (using synthetic fossil pollen data) with proxy data for population levels (including
settlements and radiocarbon dates) over the course of the last 10 millennia in Tyrrhenian central Italy. These data show generalised patterns of clearance
of woodland in response both to early agriculturalists and urbanism, as well as the specific adoption of tree crops and variations in stock grazing. The
results provide a comprehensive understanding of the development of the anthropogenised landscape of one of the most important early centres of
European civilisation, showing regional trends as well as local variations.
2018
- Le analisi archeopalinologiche (Giardino Palazzo Giardino)
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Torri, Paola; Bosi, Giovanna; Florenzano, Assunta; Mazzanti, Marta
abstract
Le ricerche archeobotaniche nell’ambito dela Pianura Padana, relative al Medioevo e ai primi momenti dell’Età Moderna, hanno da tempo fornito un ampio quadro sulle attività che legano l’uomo alle piante: informazioni che vanno dalle ricostruzioni del paesaggio vegetale (anche negli aspetti meno connessi all’uomo, quali quelli paleoecologici e paleofloristici), alle coltivazioni attuate e anche al loro utilizzo, fino alle ricostruzioni di ambienti speciali quali giardini e orti. Nonostante la disponibilità di fonti scritte, queste ricerche su materiali biologici, oggettivi documenti del passato, hanno dimostrato la loro validità arricchendo, circostanziando e localizzando quanto disponibile attraverso studi prettamente umanistic
2018
- Multiscalar perspectives on Holocene climatic and environmental changes in the Sahara and Nile Corridor, with special consideration of archaeological sites on Sai Island, Sudan
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Hildebrand, E.; Garcea, E. A. A.; Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
This multiscalar study explores Holocene environmental changes
across the Sahara, within the eastern Sahara, and along the Nile in northern Sudan.
The Early Holocene saw increased moisture across most parts of northern Africa
after c. 10,000 BC, with peak humid conditions 7800–7000 BC. A short but
significant dry interval after c. 7000 BC was followed by wetter conditions around
6000 BC, and then a gradual aridification from 5000 BC. The latter dry phase has
continued until present times. The exceptional environments near the Nile are
known to have seen impressive variations as climate oscillations and flora left
traces in the palaeobotanical record. Multidisciplinary archaeological studies in
this area—including analysis of plant macroremains—have focused on the
transitions from hunting-fishing-gathering (Khartoum Variant) to pastoralism
(Abkan) and later to agro-pastoralism (Pre-Kerma). The palynological data from
four Sai Island sites (8-B-10C, 8-B-76, 8-B-81, and 8-B-10A) and the nearby
mainland site of Amara West (2-R-66) provide new perspectives on local environmental
shifts during this time of profound economic and social change.
Despite poor pollen preservation, the high number of samples enables comparisons
that show both diachronic changes and synchronic variation. Since the
earliest phases, pollen spectra reflect mixed flora from various habitats and some
seasonal variability. During the Early Holocene and the initial part of the Middle
Holocene, dramatic floods on Sai’s east side and seasonal desiccation on Sai’s
west side together created an ecological mosaic that exposed people to several
different habitat types within a short distance. These included swamps and marshes,
wooded savannas, grasslands and desert savanna, providing access to plants
used for food, medicine, and other purposes. Documenting localized patterns of
vegetation variation and change can lay important groundwork for explaining
changes in subsistence and social organization.
2018
- Mutina splendidissima: archaeobotanical data reveal the history of a town
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bosi, Giovanna; Torri, Paola; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rinaldi, Rossella; Florenzano, Assunta; Marchesini, Marco; Mazzanti, Marta
abstract
Modena, situated on the via Emilia, was founded in 183 BC. Described as firmissima et splendidissima by Cicero, the Roman Mutina was one of the most important urban centre of northern Italy. In 2017, on the anniversary of 2200 years from its founding, many events tried to highlight the strong imprint left by the Roman world in the history of the city to the present day. The Laboratory of Palynology and Palaeobotany has cooperated for a long time with the Superintendence of Emilia Romagna and with the Archaeological Ethnological Museum of Modena; on this celebratory occasion the Laboratory contributed to different activities planned with a synthesis of the data obtained from the numerous archaeobotanical analyses performed over the last 20 years on urban and peri-urban sites of the city. ... Archaeobotanical researches carried out on the sites of Modena provided many information useful to reconstruct the environment, farming practices, diet and ritual uses associated to plants in Roman period. Thanks to these data, in addition to products targeted to the scientific community (papers on international journals and conference speeches), it was possible to communicate the results obtained from a rigorous and exhaustive scientific research to a wider and varied audience.
2018
- Palynological approach to pastoral activities reconstruction in S Italy: a palaeoecological contribution to support biodiversity awareness
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
In circum-Mediterranean countries, human impact had a great influence and generated impressive patterns of landscape complexity (Butzer 2005; Mercuri 2014). The study of paleoenvironmental records has fundamental importance for understanding the present-day biodiversity and to define a new approach to the planning for sustainable human-environment interactions in the central Mediterranean area. The combined evidence of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs-NPPs from archaeological records has been especially useful in reconstructing the complexity of landscape transformations that occurred in these lands, continuously exploited for cultivations and pastures. This research deals with palynological approach to reconstruct farming activities in Southern Italy, focusing on pasture indicators allowing the identification of pasture farming and its role in the landscape transformation of this Mediterranean region. ... This research points to the impressive role that pastoralism has had as agent of shaping the Mediterranean landscape in the last 3 thousand years. The palynological data improve knowledge and awareness about biodiversity and the long-term human impact in modern landscapes of Southern Italy.
2018
- Palynological approach to reconstruct cultural landscape evolution: case studies from South Italy
[Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
The joint botanical–archaeological research allows to improve the knowledge on environmental and landuse changes and to investigate transformations of plant landscapes at archaeological sites. In particular, archaeopalynology plays a key role in the full understanding of both past environmental history and human-environment relationships reconstruction. This paper presents the palynological research carried out in the Metaponto area, (Basilicata, South Italy), where many rural sites have been studied in order to reconstruct the origin and evolution of the current landscape. Pollen data bring evidence of the continuative human action that shaped the local vegetation into the modern agrarian landscape, whose onset is placed in the area about three thousand years ago.
2018
- Palynology from Mediterranean archaeological sites for cultural landscape reconstruction
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, A. M.; Florenzano, A.; Torri, P.; Montecchi, M. C.; Rattighieri, E.; Mazzanti, M.
abstract
Palynology is probably the best biological approach to investigate relationships between humans and the environment in the past. The genesis and evolution of cultural
landscapes of the Mediterranean sites is more and more explored by palaeoecologists and archaeobotanists with analyses of on-site and off-site contexts that invariably
contain signs of human presence and activities carried out during millennia of civilizations. The presentation will report in particular on pollen analyses from archaeological sites located in southern Italy. The case studies are selected among interdisciplinary research analyses, with examples of sites from Basilicata (e.g. Pantanello, from the 7th BC) and Sicily (e.g. San Vincenzo di Stromboli, Bronze Age).
2018
- Pollen evidence and the reconstruction of plant landscape of the Pantanello area from the 7th to the 1st century BC
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Florenzano, A.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
Archaeopalynology helps to reconstruct cultural landscapes and human impact of the past.In archaeological contexts, the discipline plays an important role in the investigation of ancient human behavior acting on the environment, and cultural aspects of plant exploitation. Although archaeopalynology faces some challenges (e.g., scarcity of suitable deposits, low pollen quantities and bad pollen preservation),comparisons of pollen data from many sites in the Mediterranean area contribute to the understanding of the past development of habitats and vegetation, including the region of Basilicata in southern Italy. In the particular case of the Pantanello Sanctuary, the excavated contexts were submerged underwater, and the anaerobic conditions allowed a remarkable state of preservation of organic material in the deposits. Thanks to these favorable conditions, Pantanello represents a considerable opportunity for drawing thorough palaeo-environmental and economical reconstructions of the territory during its different occupation phases. At Pantanello, the archaeobotanical investigations were carried out with the main purpose of improving knowledge of the past flora of the area and focusing on plants growing in and around the site. The palaeoenvironmental data obtained from this study contribute to the plant landscape reconstruction of the territory of Metaponto during the Greek and Roman occupation.
2018
- Pollen, NPPs, seeds/fruits, charcoals for reconstructing environmental and cultural changes between 3rd BC and 6th AD in Mutina (Modena)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Riso, F.; Bosi, G.; Torri, P.; Mercuri, A. M.; Rinaldi, R.; Montecchi, M. C.; Benatti, A.; Florenzano, A.; Mazzanti, M.
abstract
Archaeobotanical researches (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, seeds/fruits and charcoals) carried out on the sites of Modena provided many information useful to reconstruct the environment, farming practices, diet and ritual uses associated to plants in Roman period. The research is a key example of integrated archaeobotanical analyses based on archeological sites studied for palaeoenvironmental
reconstruction.
2018
- The Botanical Record of Archaeobotany Italian Network - BRAIN: a cooperative network, database and website
[Articolo su rivista]
Mariotti Lippi, M.; Florenzano, A.; Rinaldi, R.; Allevato, E.; Arobba, D.; Bacchetta, G.; Bal, M. C.; Bandini Mazzanti, M.; Benatti, A.; Beneš, J.; Bosi, G.; Buonincontri, M.; Caramiello, R.; Castelletti, L.; Castiglioni, E.; Celant, A.; Clò, E.; Costantini, L.; Di Pasquale, G.; Di Rita, F.; Fiorentino, G.; Furlanetto, G.; Giardini, M.; Grillo, O.; Guido, M.; Herchenbach, M.; Magri, D.; Marchesini, M.; Maritan, M.; Marvelli, S.; Masi, A.; Miola, A.; Montanari, C.; Montecchi, M. C.; Motella, S.; Nisbet, R.; Orrù, M.; Peña- Chocarro, L.; Pepe, C.; Perego, R.; Rattighieri, E.; Ravazzi, C.; Rottoli, M.; Rowan, E.; Sabato, D.; Sadori, L.; Sarigu, M.; Torri, P.; Ucchesu, M.; Mercuri, A. M.
abstract
The BRAIN (Botanical Records of Archaeobotany Italian Network) database and network
was developed by the cooperation of archaeobotanists working on Italian archaeological
sites. Examples of recent research including pollen or other plant remains in analytical and
synthetic papers are reported as an exemplar reference list. This paper retraces the main
steps of the creation of BRAIN, from the scientific need for the first research cooperation
to the website which has a free online access since 2015.
2018
- The SUCCESSO-TERRA Project: a Lesson of Sustainability from the Terramare Culture, Middle Bronze Age of the Po Plain (Northern Italy)
[Articolo su rivista]
Cremaschi, Mauro; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Benatti, Alessandra; Bosi, Giovanna; Brandolini, Filippo; Clo', Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta; Furia, Elisa; Mariani, Guido S.; Mazzanti, Marta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Rinaldi, Rossella; Torri, Paola; Zerboni, Andrea
abstract
This backstory article deals with the SUCCESSO-TERRA Project (2017–2020), an interdisciplinary
research program aiming at reconstructing the land-use transformations that occurred during the
development of the Terramare culture in the southern-central Po Plain of Northern Italy. Topics
include climate-environment changes, human impact and exploitation of natural resources that
are interconnected topics in human ecology and environmental sciences. These topics can only be
understood in a long-term perspective integrating archaeology, geology, botany and other sciences. The
text includes the theoretical basis, the research strategy and the main methodological approaches given
by geoarchaeology and palynology, the two research sides constituting the partnership of the project.
2018
- The environmental perspective from the Late Antique contexts of Villa del Casale and Philosophiana (central Sicily, S Italy)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Torri, Paola; Florenzano, Assunta; Dallai, Daniele; Vaccaro, Emanuele; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Villa del Casale and Philosophiana are archaeological sites very close from each other and located in Sicily, southern Italy. They are among the best evidence of rural contexts of the Roman period in the island (Vaccaro 2013). These sites have been recently studied with focus to the end of 3rd until the 7th century AD, a time frame that was critical for the transition of different cultures. Archaeological researches, in fact, attest that human activity has strongly interested central Sicily since the beginning of the Roman Imperial Age, and has reached its acme in the Byzantine period. Based on interdisciplinary projects, the on-site palynological analyses allowed to obtain the reconstruction of the agrarian and cultural landscape of this area in the centre of the Mediterranean basin during Late Antiquity. This poster presents the data which were recently published by Mercuri et al. (2017 online). ... Pollen and archaeological information confirm that this central Sicily area had the role of major producer of cereal foodstuffs. Our data support the idea of continuity of the agrarian landscape during the Late Antiquity. In fact, spreading of anthropogenic environments, where tree crops and cereals were cultivated, probably in alternation with pasturelands, marked the land use of this area. In addition and more specifically, ornamental and shade plants were concentrated in the luxury villa, while fruit trees and agrarian activities were more evident in Philosophiana. We assume that the centuries from the 3rd to 7th century AD represent a key phase to understand changes in the past vegetation to the modern landscape of this island (Mercuri et al. 2017 online).
2018
- The palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Bronze Age settlements of the Po Plain (SUCCESSO-TERRA Project)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri Anna, Maria.; Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Clo', Eleonora; Bosi, Giovanna; Rinaldi, Rossella; Zerboni, Andrea; Cremaschi, Mauro
abstract
The contribution shows the palynological research carried out on the three archaeological sites - Noceto, Santa Rosa di Poviglio and Valestra - at the centre of the project SUCCESSO-TERRA. In this research, the environmental and land-use changes have been investigated to understand their relationships over the last millennia.
2018
- The palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio from the Bronze Age to the XVI century AD (SUCCESSO-TERRA project)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Furia, Elisa; Torri, Paola; Cremaschi, Mauro
abstract
Santa Rosa di Poviglio is an archaeological site that has been investigated since more than 30 years under the direction of M. Cremaschi, and recently is at the centre of the national-funded project SUCCESSO-TERRA Human societies, climate-environment changes and resource exploitation/ sustainability in the Po Plain at the Mid-Holocene times: the Terramara. In this project, the environmental and land-use changes have been investigated to understand their relationships over the last millennia. The approach is especially based on on-site palynological analyses (Mercuri 2014) integrated with the study of plant macroremains (seeds/fruits, charcoals). First analyses were focused on obtaining detailed comprehension of the adaptive strategies of the Terramare people during the Late Holocene. Santa Rosa di Poviglio was a terramara during the Middle/Recent Bronze ages (1550–1170 BC; Cremaschi et al. 2016). The interdisciplinary geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical research wants now to reconstruct environmental changes that occurred from the onset of the terramara to the following phases, until the XVI century AD, taking this site as emblematic of the land transformations of the southern-central part of the Po Plain. ... The palynological research showed a transformation in flora composition and plant communities, suggesting a dynamic agricultural economy. The latter was possibly practiced on the basis of wood management and crop fields. At the top of the VP/VG sequence of Santa Rosa di Poviglio, in correspondence with the drying of the moat system, a dramatic decrease of woods may had a twofold causation: increased aridity (natural factor) and intensive land-use (anthropic factor) might have played a fairly synchronous action on vegetation. After the Bronze age phase, the agro-system rapidly decreased or changed typology. In fact, pasturelands spread with much land devoted to grazing. Also the cultivation of hemp is recorded, and a quite expansion of woods during the most recent phases documented by pollen (Grant: PRIN2015 8KBLNB).
2018
- The plant landscape of Roman Tuscany and the peasant agricultural strategies in the Cinigiano area (central Italy)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Rinaldi, Rossella; Florenzano, Assunta; Vaccaro, Emanuele; Bowes, Kimberly
abstract
In Cinigiano (Grosseto, southern Tuscany, Italy), the archaeobotanical study of small rural sites have been investigated to understand the relationships between Roman peasant farmers and the environment of central Italy. The research was carried out within an interdisciplinary project, the Roman Peasant Project, that addressed the lives of Roman rural smallholders (Bowes et al. 2011, 2017). Microscopical and macroscopical plant remains were collected from 8 sites and interpreted in the context of their archaeological and chronological frameworks (Rattighieri et al. 2013; Bowes et al. 2015). The archaeobotanical material describes a period of intensive land use in the late Republican/early Imperial period, with possible use of convertible agriculture strategies. ... Altogether, the archaeobotanical data from the small agro-processing and farm sites show that the Roman-period occupation was mostly marked by a well-developed and complex agrarian landscape. These archaeobotanical data describe a sophisticated micro-management of the land including intensive agricultural systems with cultivation and breeding activities. Pollen evidence points towards a great importance of the animal husbandry as large part of land was allocated to a grazed pasture (Bowes et al. 2015).
2017
- Archaeobotany and the Terramara Archaeological Park of Montale (Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy): Experiences of Public Education. IANSA, VIII (2), pp. 175-186.
[Articolo su rivista]
Bosi, G.; Barbieri, G.; Florenzano, A.; Fraulini, E.; Montecchi, M. C.; Pelillo, A.; Righi, E.; Rinaldi, R.; Zanasi, C.
abstract
The Terramara Archaeological Park of Montale is an open-air museum dedicated to the enhancement of the Bronze Age terramare culture of Northern Italy. Investigation of its rich archaeological record, particularly from the archaeobotanical point of view (seeds/fruits, pieces of wood and charcoal, pollen and charcoal particles), has made it possible to reconstruct the landscape’s evolution and human-plant- animal relationships. This paper aims to present a comprehensive and exhaustive overview of the relationship between archaeology and archaeobotany in order to improve the content and exposition of the Terramara Archaeological Park of Montale, thanks to the fruitful cooperation between the Laboratory of Palynology and Archaeobotany of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Modena.
2017
- BRAIN – cooperative network and website
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, A. M.; Allevato, E.; Arobba, D.; Bacchetta, G.; Bal, M. C.; Bandini Mazzanti, M.; Benes, J.; Bosi, G.; Buonincontri, M.; Caramilello, R.; Castelletti, L.; Castiglioni, E.; Celant, A.; Costantini, L.; Di Pasquale, G.; Fiorentino, G.; Florenzano, A.; Furlanetto, G.; Giardini, M.; Grillo, O.; Guido, M.; Herchenbach, M.; Marchesini, M.; Mariotti Lippi, M.; Maritan, M.; Marvelli, S.; Masi, A.; Miola, A.; Montanari, C.; Montecchi, M. C.; Motella, S.; Nisbet, R.; Orrù, M.; Pena-Chocarro, L.; Pepe, C.; Perego, R.; Rattighieri, E.; Ravazzi, C.; Rinaldi, R.; Rottoli, M.; Sabato, D.; Sadori, L.; Sarigu, M.; Torri, P.; Ucchesu, M.
abstract
In 2015, a paper on the archaeobotany as a key tool ‘for the understanding of the biocultural
diversity of the Italian landscape’ gave rise to a new initiative, the realization of the
first cooperative network of archaeobotanists and palynologists working on archaeological
sites located in Italy. The Botanical Record of Archaeobotany Italian Network has been
introduced at MedPalyno2015 in Rome. Now the BRAIN database is ready as a website at
https://brainplants.unimore.it
The website (programmed by Matteo di Lena, and Federico Camerini) consists of 6 pages,
two of which are dedicated to the database including "Sites" and "References". Site position
and density are immediately visible in a map while three graphs show updated statistics on
the number of sites per Region, or per Cultural period, or per type of Record studied (e.g.,
pollen, seeds or charcoals). References may be sorted in alphabetical order, or by specific
(first) letter or name of authors.
The first set of archaeological or human-related sites studied in Italy is available as an
interactive sheet, and > than 1160 visits have been recorded in the first year of activity. The
number of included sites is increasing, and the website is an user-friendly instrument, easy
to navigate and to be implemented.
The BRAIN network lies in this database which is a useful instrument for both the research
of one single group or for joint researches that will be planned to produce synthesis. The
website is also a good way to publicize the impressive work that has been carried out, and
will continue, in the field of archaeobotany in the Italian on-sites (archaeological) or nearsites
(human-related environmental sites).
2017
- Morphology and discrimination features of pollen from Italian olive cultivars (Olea europaea L.)
[Articolo su rivista]
Messora, Rita; Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Muzzalupo, Innocenzo; Arru, Laura
abstract
Pollen morphology of 14 cultivars of Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. europaea was analysed in order to discriminate main pollen types. The cultivars were selected from the most spread and early flowering crops grown in Italy. Morphometric parameters were observed on acetolysed pollen by means of light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Polar axis (P), equatorial diameter (E), P/E ratio, maximum distance between colpi in mesocolpium, distance between the apices of two colpi, exine thickness, maximum length of lumina in mesocolpium and in apocolpium, and exine reticulum thickness in mesocolpium have been measured. According to P and E, the 14 olive cultivars of this study can be divided into the three groups of small (P: 21.75 µm, E: 22.55 µm; ‘Manna’ and ‘Tonda di Cagliari’), large (P: 25.1 µm, E: 26.1 µm; ‘Pescarese’ and ‘Rotondella di Sanza’) and medium size (P: 23.49 µm, E: 24.54 µm, ‘Carolea’, ‘Grossa di Cassano’, ‘Giarraffa’, ‘Nocellara messinese’, ‘Nocellara del Belice’, ‘Santagatese’, ‘Intosso’, ‘Maiatica di Ferrandina’, ‘Nostrale di Fiano Romano’, ‘Santa Caterina’). Maximum length of lumina and exine thickness are useful parameters for further distinction of olive pollen groups, since these parameters are able to provide a specific pollen profile for each cultivar.
2017
- Palynology of the Terramare, the Middle Bronze age of the Po Plain (SUCCESSO-TERRA project)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, A. M.; Florenzano, A.; Torri, P.; Mazzanti, M.; Clò, E.; Furia, E.; Zerboni, A.; Cremaschi, M.
abstract
In the framework of the national-funded project SUCCESSO-TERRA (Human societies, climate‐environment changes and resource exploitation/sustainability in the Po Plain at the Mid-Holocene times: the Terramara), an interdisciplinary geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical (pollen and macroremains) investigation has been carried out, aiming at reconstructing the land transformations that occurred at the onset, duration, and end of the Terramare culture in the southern-central Po Plain (Emilia Romagna region). The Terramare are archaeological vestiges of banked and moated villages that developed in the central sector of Po River alluvial plain during the Middle and Late Holocene. The project expressively focuses on the Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio and on the Vasca Grande di Noceto. The relationships between the Late Holocene regional environmental and land-use changes have been investigated to obtain a detailed comprehension of adaptive strategies of the Terramare people during the Middle/Recent Bronze ages (1550–1170 years BC; Cremaschi et al. 2016).
Pollen samples were collected from trenches excavated within the main structures of the archaeological sites (the moat and ditch surrounding the Santa Rosa di Poviglio site, and the infilling of the Vasca Grande di Noceto site). Pollen extraction also includes sieving and heavy liquid floatation to concentrate pollen and non pollen palynomorphs.
Pollen was common and well preserved. A set of anthropogenic pollen indicators, common in the spectra (and in the spectra from other Italian archaeological sites; Mercuri et al. 2013), was considered especially useful to reconstruct agricultural dynamics besides the distribution of wild vegetation (wood and wetland plant associations).
The palynological research showed a transformation in flora composition and plant communities, suggesting a dynamic agricultural economy. The latter was possibly practiced on the basis of wood management and crop fields. At the top of the sequence of Santa Rosa di Poviglio, in correspondence with the drying of the moat system, a dramatic decrease of woods may had a twofold causation: increased aridity (natural factor) and intensive landuse (anthropic factor) might have played a fairly synchronous action on vegetation.
2017
- Segnali di pascolo nei siti di Mutina
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Torri, P.; Mazzanti, M.; Bosi, G.; Montecchi, M. C.; Florenzano, A.; Rinaldi, R.
abstract
Il prato/pascolo a Mutina è documentato da una grande varietà di micro e macro-reperti di piante erbacee, alcune pascolate, con possibilità quindi di accumulo negli escrementi animali (Trifolium e varie Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Poaceae), altre poco o per niente appetite, che dunque si possono diffondere come risposta a un pascolo intensivo (es. Carduus, Cirsium, Cirsium arvense). Le entità che caratterizzano il prato/pascolo sono comprese in buona parte nella categoria degli Indicatori Antropogenici “spontanei”, costituiti da piante nitrofile, indicatrici di luoghi calpestati, oltre che da specie commensali e degli incolti, tutte piante che di solito vanno a formare banche dei semi persistenti.
Allo studio dei reperti di tali entità, si affianca l’analisi delle spore dei funghi coprofili, che proliferano sugli escrementi soprattutto di erbivori, e che danno un’indicazione fortemente locale della presenza degli stessi.
2017
- The agro-sylvo-pastoral system of 3600-3200 years ago (Terramare, Po Plain; SUCCESSO-TERRA project)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; Bosi, Giovanna; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Rinaldi, Rossella; Clo', Eleonora; Fornaciari, Rita; Mazzanti, Marta
abstract
An interdisciplinary geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical (pollen and macroremains) investigation is carried out in the framework of the national-funded project SUCCESSO-TERRA (Human societies, climate, environment changes and resource exploitation/sustainability in the Po Plain at the Mid-Holocene times: the Terramara; PRIN-20158KBLNB). The research is providing significant data on the land transformations that occurred at the onset, duration, and end of the Terramare culture in the southern-central Po Plain (Emilia Romagna region). The Terramare are archaeological remains of banked and moated villages, located in the central alluvial plain of the Po River and dated to Middle/Recent Bronze ages (3600-3200 yr. BP). Pedosedimentary features and biological records from Terramare sites help to shed light on the relationships between Late Holocene regional environmental vicissitudes and land use changes, and allow a detailed comprehension of adaptive strategies of the Terramare people (1).
Pollen samples were collected from trenches excavated within the main structures of the archaeological sites (namely Santa Rosa di Poviglio and Vasca Grande di Noceto sites).
The pollen spectra resulted from both human presence/action and natural vegetation cover in the area. A set of anthropogenic pollen indicators, also common in the spectra from other Italian archaeological sites (2), was considered especially useful to reconstruct the agro-sylvo-pastoral system besides the distribution of wetland plant associations. The palynological research showed a transformation in flora composition and plant communities, suggesting a complex and dynamic agricultural economy based on wood management, fruit collection on the wild, and crop fields. At the top of the sequence of Santa Rosa di Poviglio, in correspondence with a global, dry climatic episode, a dramatic decrease of fields and woods is recorded. Along with aridity, an intensive landuse might have played a fairly synchronous action on vegetation. Data suggest a scenario of an impoverished plant landscape at the end of the life of the Poviglio Santa Rosa village, and connected with the collapse of the Terramare culture.
2017
- The representativeness of Olea pollen from olive groves and the Late Holocene landscape reconstruction in central Mediterranean
[Articolo su rivista]
Florenzano, A; Mercuri, Am; Rinaldi, R; Rattighieri, E; Fornaciari, R; Messora, R; Arru, L
abstract
Modern pollen spectra are an invaluable reference tool for paleoenvironmental and cultural landscape reconstructions, but the importance of knowing the pollen rain released from orchards remains underexplored. In particular, the role of cultivated trees is in past and current agrarian landscapes has not been fully investigated. Here, we present a pollen analysis of 70 surface soil samples taken from 12 olive groves in Basilicata and Tuscany, two regions of Italy that exemplify this cultivation in the Mediterranean basin. This study was carried out to assess the representativeness of Olea pollen in modern cultivations. Although many variables can influence the amount of pollen observed in soils, it was clear that most of the pollen was deposited below the trees in the olive groves. A rapid decline in the olive pollen percentages (c. 85% on average) was found when comparing samples taken from IN vs. OUT of each grove. The mean percentages of Olea pollen obtained from the archaeological sites close to the studied orchards suggest that olive groves were established far from the Roman farmhouses of Tuscany. Further south, in the core of the Mediterranean basin, the cultivation of Olea trees was likely situated approximately 500–1000 m from the rural sites in Basilicata, and dated from the Hellenistic to the Medieval period.
2016
- Archaeobotanical Analysis
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
In the framework of the multidisciplinary analysis carried out at Sant’Angelo Vecchio, a rural settlement located in territory of Metaponto (Basilicata, Southern Italy), the archaeobotanical investigation contributes to a better understanding of the economy of the site and helps to reconstruct the plant landscape of the area during the Hellenistic period. Twenty-eight samples from four pollen sequences and one surface soil sample were selected for pollen analysis in accordance with the archaeological contexts. The 29 pollen samples have been treated according to the routine method in use in the laboratory at the University of Modena. The pollen spectra from the series show some signs of natural environments and considerable evidence of the presence of houses/walls, cultivation, and breeding/pastoral activities near the site. Analyses have shown an intense use of the territory surrounding the site, especially for pastoral or breeding activities. Cultivations of cereal fields would have been made fairly far from the site, while woody plants were only sparingly cultivated. Among them, only some unextended olive groves were present at that time, while vineyards were possibly cultivated near some houses. The most striking feature of the past economy of the site—pastoral practices—has already transformed the landscape into a shrub land where Mediterranean shrubs were well developed after continuous grazing action by herbivores. The pollen data suggest that the exploitation of the territory was more diversified in the past than at present, where the plant diversity seems to have been reduced by a less intense and less varied typology of exploitation. In the past, the more frequent human presence allowed the landscape to be a mosaic of habitats, as fragmentation is among the effects of human action.
2016
- Archaeobotanical research and related ethnobotanical observations in the central and southern Sahara
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Rattighieri, Eleonora
abstract
This paper presents two case studies demonstrating links between archaeobotany and ethnobotany, completed in the south-western and central Sahara desert from 2004 to 2008. The focus is on evidence of plant use from archaeobo- tanical records, mainly pollen. Ethnobotanical data are reported from the literature, interviews, and observations of the local cultural knowledge of Tuareg people. The archaeological sites represent a range of contexts, including the open air necropolis of Gobero in Niger and rock shelters and cave sites of the Tadrart Acacus mountains in Libya. Samples taken from burials at Gobero had very low pollen concentrations. However, four Pastoral burials preserved high percentages of pollen grains of caper and myrtle and a signifi ant presence of grasses. Particular funerary behaviours are suggested. In the Tadrart Acacus, the actions of hunter-gatherers and pastoralists are visible in the archaeobotanical record. Remains of food and medicinal plants, such as fruits of Balanites and pollen of Artemisia, were typically observed in layers corres- pondingtotheearlyandmid-Holocene.HugenumbersofPoaceaefl retsandcaryopsesanddiversefruits,seeds,leaves, and other plant parts accumulated in shelters. Altogether, at least 38 pollen types pertain to plants that were probably used for food and fodder.
2016
- Climate change versus land management in the Po Plain (Northern Italy) during the Bronze Age: New insights from the VP/VG sequence of the Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio
[Articolo su rivista]
Cremaschi, Mauro; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Torri, Paola; Florenzano, Assunta; Pizzi, Chiara; Marchesini, Marco; Zerboni, Andrea
abstract
The sedimentary infilling of the moat surrounding the Villaggio Piccolo of the Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio was analysed in order to obtain palaeoenvironmental inferences from sediments and pollen assemblage. The high-resolution stratigraphic sequence preserves evidence of the environmental changes that occurred in the Po Plain, in Northern Italy, during the Late Holocene. Our interdisciplinary approach permitted to study climatic and anthropic contributions to the environmental changes in this region. The relationships between these changes and land-use changes were investigated focussing on adaptive strategies of the Terramare people during the Middle and Recent Bronze ages (1550e1170 yr BC). The Terramare are archaeological remains of banked and moated villages, located in the central alluvial plain of the Po river. The Terramara of Santa Rosa consists of two adjoining settlements (Villaggio Grande and Villaggio Piccolo); the moat that separates the two parts of the site is c. 23 m large and reaches a maximum depth of 4 m from the extant ground level. The stratigraphic sequence VP/VG exposed by archaeological excavation inside the moat was sampled for pedosedimentary, thin section, and pollen analyses. Chronology is based on archaeological evidence, stratigraphic correlations and radiocarbon dating. Pedosedimentary features and biological records (pollen of aquatics and algal remains) demonstrate that shallow water, probably subjected to seasonal water-level oscillations, has always been present in the moat. In the lower units of the sequence, the laminations indicate standing water, while occurrence of reworked pollen testified the supply of sediments to the plain from catchment zones located in the Apennine. Open vegetation was widespread; economy was based on wood management, fruit collection on the wild or from cultivated woody plants, crop fields with a fairly diversified set of cereals especially increasing in variety during dryness or phases of water crisis. Probably, grapevines were cultivated near the moat, where the wet habitat was favourable to the growing of wild plants. The extraordinary high-resolution of this sequence makes visible the management of woods (including coppicing) at the Middle Bronze and early Recent Bronze ages. The economy of Santa Rosa di Poviglio should have been probably less based on animal breeding than it was in the other Terramare villages already studied for pollen. This research also confirms the chronological correspondence between an environment stressed by dry conditions and the collapse of the Terramare civilization.
2016
- Palynological evidence of cultural and environmental connections in Sudanese Nubia during the Early and Middle Holocene
[Articolo su rivista]
Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Altunoz Hatipoglu, Meltem; Garcea, Elena A. A.
abstract
Pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs have been studied from three archaeological sites (8-B-10C, 8-B-76,
and 8-B-81) on Sai Island, in the River Nile, and one (2-R-66) from the Amara West district, in northern
Upper Nubia of the present Sudan. The research aimed at obtaining information on the environmental
conditions and changes occurring in the area during the Early and Middle Holocene. Archaeologically,
this is a crucial period as it saw one of the most relevant economic transitions from huntingefishing
egathering to animal herding. The archaeopalynological analyses are useful to reconstruct the environment
and plant landscapes that supported human plant selection in this part of North Africa, between
about 8700 and 4300 cal BC. However, pollen was not present everywhere because the sediments were
very poor in organic content, or damaged by the repeated hydrationedehydration cycles determined by
the Nile river floodings. The data obtained, the most consistent from any archaeological site in this area,
are coherent with the regional and interregional palaeoenvironmental data. The interdisciplinary studies
that allowed the correct interpretation of the pollen records presented in this paper included the
archaeological features, and the faunal (mainly gastropod) and algal remains from the same sites. The
state of preservation of most pollen, showing thinned exine, and the remarkable records of the terrestrial
alga Fritschiella outline the seasonality of the area that has been evident in the past as in the present.
Pollen samples included prevailing amounts of grasses and sedges that, with some hygro-hydrophilous
taxa, largely represent the riverine and wetland vegetation of the Nile Valley. They suggest that the land
use was not intensive and was not able to substantially modify the natural cover and cyclic renewal of the
soils and the vegetation. The interdisciplinary evidence from the Sai Island, showing that site 8-B-76 has
been continuatively occupied during the 8.2 ka BP dry phase, proves the key role played by the great
river on attracting humans and supplying resources even, and especially, during the arid oscillations of
the Holocene.
2016
- Plant Responses to Climate Change: The Case Study of Betulaceae and Poaceae Pollen Seasons (Northern Italy, Vignola, Emilia-Romagna)
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Torri, Paola; Fornaciari, Rita; Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
Aerobiological data have especially demonstrated that there is correlation between climate warming and the pollination season of plants. This paper focuses on airborne pollen monitoring of Betulaceae and Poaceae, two of the main plant groups with anemophilous pollen and allergenic proprieties in Northern Italy. The aim is to investigate plant responses to temperature variations by considering long-term pollen series. The 15-year aerobiological analysis is reported from the monitoring station of Vignola (located near Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region) that had operated in the years 1990-2004 with a Hirst spore trap. The Yearly Pollen Index calculated for these two botanical families has shown contrasting trends in pollen production and release. These trends were well identifiable but fairly variable, depending on both meteorological variables and anthropogenic causes. Based on recent reference literature, we considered that some oscillations in pollen concentration could have been a main effect of temperature variability reflecting global warming. The duration of pollen seasons of Betulaceae and Poaceae, depending on the different species included in each family, has not unequivocally been determined. Phenological responses were particularly evident in Alnus and especially in Corylus as a general moving up of the end of pollination. The study shows that these trees can be affected by global warming more than other, more tolerant, plants. The research can be a contribution to the understanding of phenological plant responses to climate change and suggests that alder and hazelnut trees have to be taken into high consideration as sensible markers of plant responses to climate change.
2016
- Realising consilience: how better communication between archaeologists, historians and natural scientists can transform the study of past climate change in the Mediterranean
[Articolo su rivista]
Adam Izdebski, P. h. D.; Karin, Holmgren; Erika, Weiberg; Sharon, R. Stocker; Ulf, Büntgen; Florenzano, Assunta; Alexandra, Gogou; Suzanne, A. Leroy; Jürg, Luterbacher; Belen, Martrat; Alessia, Masi; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Paolo, Montagna; Laura, Sadori; Adam, Schneider; Marie, Alexandrine Sicre; Maria, Triantaphyllou; Elena, Xoplaki
abstract
This paper reviews the methodological and practical issues relevant to the ways in which natural scientists, historians and archaeologists may collaborate in the study of past climatic changes in the Mediterranean basin. We begin by discussing the methodologies of these three disciplines in the context of the consilience debate, that is, attempts to unify different research methodologies that address similar problems. We demonstrate that there are a number of similarities in the fundamental methodology between history, archaeology, and the natural sciences that deal with the past ("palaeoenvironmental sciences"), due to their common interest in studying societal and environmental phenomena that no longer exist. The three research traditions, for instance, employ specific narrative structures as a means of communicating research results. We thus present and compare the narratives characteristic of each discipline; in order to engage in fruitful interdisciplinary exchange, we must first understand how each deals with the societal impacts of climatic change. In the second part of the paper, we focus our discussion on the four major practical issues that hinder communication between the three disciplines. These include terminological misunderstandings, problems relevant to project design, divergences in publication cultures, and differing views on the impact of research. Among other recommendations, we suggest that scholars from the three disciplines should aim to create a joint publication culture, which should also appeal to a wider public, both inside and outside of academia.
2016
- Riscaldamento Globale e Indice Pollinico Annuale di Poaceae: dati pluriannuali dal campionatore aerobiologico di Vignola
[Articolo su rivista]
Clo', Eleonora; Torri, Paola; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Global warming and Annual Pollen Index of Poaceae. Pollen monitoring and climate change are main issues in current applications of Aerobiology. The topic of this research is to link Poaceae airborne pollen variations with climate change and, especially, with global warming. Data from pollen calendars (1990-2004) of the Vignola MO2 monitoring station and information about temperature changes in Italy were both taken into account. In many cases, airborne pollen increase is considered a good bioindicator of global warming. The results of this research confirm this evidence. In fact, there is a direct connection between the increase of Poaceae Annual Pollen Index and the mean temperature increase in the study area: the plants of the family Poaceae responded to temperature increase with pollination increase.
2015
- Are Cichorieae an indicator of open habitats and pastoralism in current and past vegetation studies?
[Articolo su rivista]
Florenzano, Assunta; Marignani, Michela; Rosati, Leonardo; Fascetti, Simonetta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Cichorieae, one of the six tribes of the sub-family Cichorioideae (Asteraceae), produces a well-recognisable fenestrate pollen type. In the Mediterranean area, the significance of high percentages of Cichorieae pollen from archaeological layers is still questioned. We assessed the presence of Cichorieae as indicators of open habitats and pasturelands in current plant communities by comparing data on vegetation composition with pollen spectra from two Hellenistic sites of Basilicata (southern Italy): Difesa San Biagio in the low valley of the river Bradano and Torre di Satriano in the Lucanian Apennines. We also analysed the pollen morphology bringing to the discrimination of size classes within the fenestrate type of Cichorieae. Pollen spectra from the considered archaeological sites have low forest cover (7% on average); Asteraceae and Poaceae are prevalent; Cichorieae account to ca. 23%; coprophilous fungal spores are varied and present high concentrations. In surface soil samples collected near the sites, Cichorieae pollen is about 12%. In current vegetation types, an increasing abundance of Cichorieae was observed from salt marshes, forests and shrublands to open habitats and grasslands. This is coherent with the actual land cover around the study sites and the findings of the archaeological sample that point to an open landscape dominated by pastures and cultivated fields. Our integrated approach confirmed that today Cichorieae are common in secondary pastures and in some types of primary open habitats of southern Italy: hence, high percentages of this pollen can be considered a good indicator of these habitats even in past environment reconstructions.
2015
- Digging up the roots of the Italian flora, 1. Fossil record of Lycopus (Lamiaceae, Mentheae)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Martinetto, E.; Ardenghi, N. M. G.; Arobba, D.; Bertini, A.; Bosi, Giovanna; Caramiello, R.; Castiglioni, E.; Florenzano, Assunta; Maritan, M.; Mazzanti, Marta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Miola, A.; Perego, R.; Ravazzi, C.; Rinaldi, Rossella; Rottoli, M.
abstract
Usually, scholars dealing with modern and past biology of plants develop parallel and overlapping researches, sometimes with poor interchanges. A recent study of the genus Carex showed that the existing knowledge about the fossil record is neglected by people dealing with the biology of this genus, almost ignoring the wealth of information poten- tially useful for their studies that is available in several palaeobotanical collections.
To overcome this missing communication we present the first step of a project aiming at revising and summarizing the fossil record of taxa recorded in the modern Italian flora. The team of authors has been assembled starting from a group of persons working with fossil records (mainly the BRAIN network) who invited experts of modern floristics to analyse and discuss the palaeobotanical data in the light of the knowledge on the modern flora. The focus is on Italy, because of the exceptionally rich plant fossil record of this country. Furthermore, the Italian record ade- quately covers the last 6 Ma, in a less discontinuous way than in other countries. Such analysis addressed to a national perspective does not preclude an expansion to an Eurasian and global scale; this is true for example when analysing evolutionary and historical bio- geography issues, for which a country-scaled analysis may not be successful.
We choose to start this project with Lycopus. This genus has a highly diagnostic morphology of fossilizable parts (nutlets), it has a well-assessed phylogenetic placement and its divergence from the most closely related genera is attributed to relatively deep times.
The fossil record of Lycopus is mainly represented by nutlets, that are easily preserved in sedimentary deposits containing scarcely to moderately altered organic matter, and were formed in waterlogged continental palaeoenvironments. The nutlet morphology is considered to provide diagnostic characters for the distinction of the living species. Contrarily, pollen grains are not easily identifiable at the light microscope, thus they are com- monly included in the Mentha type or in the Lamiaceae undifferentiated grains.
The genus Lycopus includes approximately 16 species, distributed in the northern Hemisphere and in Australia. In Europe, three species are known: Lycopus europaeus L., L. exaltatus L.f. and L. lucidus Turcz. ex Benth., the latter intro- duced in recent times from eastern Asia.
In contrast to the purported “lack of a strong fossil record”, several authors reported fossil fruit records in Europe and West Asia: from the oldest ones of the Oligocene (ca. 30 Mya), limited to West Siberia, through the more frequent Miocene (23- 5 Mya) records, ranging from West Siberia to central Europe, to the abundant Pliocene and Pleistocene records (5-0.01 Mya). The last ones were mainly assigned to the modern species L. europaeus, whereas the Oligocene and Miocene records (plus a few Pliocene ones) were assigned to the fossil-species L. antiquus E.M.Reid.
The Italian fossil records assigned to Lycopus have been reported in a table, where the localities have been listed alphabetically within selected time intervals. The preliminary analysis of these data suggests that several fossil records dating from 4 Ma to 0.1 Mya show a morphology of the nutlet’s collar which is diagnostic for L. europaeus. The occur- rence of fossil nutlets which possibly refer to L. exaltatus is under investigation for a site dating ca. 1.5-1.3 Ma, while the abundant Holocene records, including some archaeologi- cal sites, are only referred to L. europaeus.
The available fossil records firmly demonstrate the long-lasting presence of L. europaeus in Italy and its widespread occurrence in the Holocene. The past occurrence of other exotic or extinct species of Lycopus does not emerge from the fossil record.
2015
- Environment, human impact and the role of trees on the Po plain during the Middle and Recent Bronze Age: Pollen evidence from the local influence of the terramare of Baggiovara and Casinalbo
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Pellacani, Gianluca; Florenzano, Assunta; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Cardarelli, Andrea
abstract
A new interpretation of the crisis of the terramare as being caused by wood loss and water shortages is suggested from on-site pollen analyses. A multi-point sampling strategy in one site, and a multi-site sampling strategy in one area allowed us to obtain a reliable plant landscape reconstruction even though cultural variables strongly influenced the pollen spectra.
Pollen data from two archaeological sites, the Terramara di Baggiovara and the Necropoli di Casinalbo, which are about 1.6 km from each other, close to the Terramara di Montale, offer the chance to understand in depth the land-use at the time of the terramare culture, during the Middle–Recent Bronze Age in Northern Italy. Overall, the sites were inhabited from c. 1650 to c. 1150 BC. They show affinities and dissimilarities as regards natural and cultural backgrounds across the large territory occupied by the terramare.
Baggiovara and Casinalbo pollen diagrams show exceptionally similar mean data, demonstrating how the on-sites with classically human-influenced stratigraphies may be useful for palaeoenvironmental studies. According to pollen data, settlements were built in areas characterised by scarce human presence, and woodland became thinner, or virtually disappeared, following the establishment of the villages. Woody plants provided timber, and then might have been protected to collect fruits. Much of the open landscape around the villages was used as pasturelands, and part was cultivated to grow cereals.
One of the most striking pieces of data arising from this study is the role that woods must have had in the Middle Bronze Age in this area. On the Po plain, forest cover was thin even before the beginning of the terramare, and this attracted people to settle there. However, trees and shrubs also satisfied basic needs, being indispensable for building houses, collecting fruits and providing wood for the fire. The wood loss may have been a factor of crisis that determined the decline of some villages before or during the water deficit that caused the disappearance of this culture.
2015
- Humans and Water in Desert “Refugium” Areas: Palynological Evidence of Climate Oscillations and Cultural Developments in Early and Mid-Holocene Saharan Edges
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; Giraudi, C.; Garcea, E. A. A.
abstract
Saharan anthropic deposits from archaeological sites, located along wadis or close to lakes, and sedimentary sequences from permanent and dried basins demonstrate that water has always been an attractive environmental feature, especially during periods of drought. This paper reports on two very different examples of Holocene sites where “humans and water” coexisted during dry periods, as observed by stratigraphic, archaeological and palynological evidence. Independent research was carried out on the Jefara Plain (Libya, 32°N) and the Gobero area (Niger, 17°N), at the extreme northern and southern limits of the Sahara, respectively. The histories of the Jefara and Gobero areas, as revealed by the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, suggest that these areas were likely to have been visited and exploited for a long time, acting as anthropic refugia, and therefore they have been profoundly transformed. Human presence and actions have conditioned the local growing of plants and selected a more or less synanthropic flora. Today, modern conservation strategies should take into consideration that water reservoirs, which are crucial for the long-term conservation of biodiversity, have provided refugia in the past just as they presently do under global warming conditions.
2015
- La pastorizia nell’economia e nel modellamento del paesaggio mediterraneo. Esempi da siti archeologici del sud Italia
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
Interdisciplinary researches including archaeological, historical and palynological investigations allow detailed reconstruction of the Holocene environmental changes linked to human activities . Microscopic plant remains (pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs-NPPs: algal and fungal spores and cysts, and other microfossils of biological origin) play key roles in palaeoecological reconstruction. The combined evidence of pollen and NPPs from archaeological records is especially useful in discriminating land uses and pastoral/breeding activities. In pollen diagrams , the clearest signal for p astora lism is given by the abundance of plants reflecting a nimal breeding and graz ing areas, such as daisy-family (Cichorieae and Asteroideae). In addition to these pollen pasture indicators, NPPs – with special attention paid to dung-related fungi (e.g. Sordaria, Sporormiella, Podospora and Cercophora) – can be used to assess the presence of past fauna, in particular herbivores. Altogether, the pasture indicators from palynological investigations help to identify pastoral sites and routes otherwise not clear from the archaeological record alone. Archaeological layers from sites dated from Hellenistic to Medieval periods in Basilicata (southern Italy) give a palynological dataset that may be of key relevance for understanding the past pastoralism practised in the area in the las t 2500 years. 121 pollen samples were taken from small trenches, rooms or floors of houses, and spot samples. Data point to an open landscape dominate d by pastures and cereal fields. Important evidence of pastoral farming rises from the joint record of pollen grazing indicators and spores of coproph ilous fungi. This dataset highlight the pressure of pastoralism in the past and support the idea of the importance of the ancient pasture farming a s a major agent of landscape transformation in this Mediterranean region.
2015
- La pastorizia nell’economia e nel modellamento del paesaggio mediterraneo. Esempi da siti archeologici del sud Italia. In: Cambi F., De Venuto G., Goffredo R. (Eds.), Storia e Archeologia Globale 2. I pascoli, i campi, il mare. Paesaggi di altura e di pianura in Italia dall’Età del Bronzo al Medioevo, pp. 245-252. Edipuglia, Bari. ISBN: 9788872287750.
[Altro]
Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
Interdisciplinary researches including archaeological, historical and palynological investigations allow detailed reconstruction
of the Holocene environmental changes linked to human activities . Microscopic plant remains (pollen and non-pollen
palynomorphs-NPPs: algal and fungal spores and cysts, and other microfossils of biological origin) play key roles in
palaeoecological reconstruction. The combined evidence of pollen and NPPs from archaeological records is especially useful
in discriminating land uses and pastoral/breeding activities.
In pollen diagrams , the clearest signal for p astora lism is given by the abundance of plants reflecting a nimal breeding and
graz ing areas, such as daisy-family (Cichorieae and Asteroideae). In addition to these pollen pasture indicators, NPPs –
with special attention paid to dung-related fungi (e.g. Sordaria, Sporormiella, Podospora and Cercophora) – can be used
to assess the presence of past fauna, in particular herbivores. Altogether, the pasture indicators from palynological
investigations help to identify pastoral sites and routes otherwise not clear from the archaeological record alone.
Archaeological layers from sites dated from Hellenistic to Medieval periods in Basilicata (southern Italy) give a palynological
dataset that may be of key relevance for understanding the past pastoralism practised in the area in the las t 2500 years. 121
pollen samples were taken from small trenches, rooms or floors of houses, and spot samples. Data point to an open landscape
dominate d by pastures and cereal fields. Important evidence of pastoral farming rises from the joint record of pollen grazing
indicators and spores of coproph ilous fungi. This dataset highlight the pressure of pastoralism in the past and support the
idea of the importance of the ancient pasture farming a s a major agent of landscape transformation in this Mediterranean
region.
2015
- Pollen and macroremains from Holocene archaeological sites: A dataset for the understanding of the bio-cultural diversity of the Italian landscape
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Allevato, Emilia; Arobba, Daniele; Mazzanti, Marta; Bosi, Giovanna; Caramiello, Rosanna; Castiglioni, Elisabetta; Carra, Maria Letizia; Celant, Alessandra; Costantini, Lorenzo; Di Pasquale, Gaetano; Fiorentino, Girolamo; Florenzano, Assunta; Guido, Mariangela; Marchesini, Marco; Mariotti Lippi, Marta; Marvelli, Silvia; Miola, Antonella; Montanari, Carlo; Nisbet, Renato; Peña Chocarro, Leonor; Perego, Renata; Ravazzi, Cesare; Rottoli, Mauro; Sadori, Laura; Ucchesu, Mariano; Rinaldi, Rossella
abstract
Over the last millennia, the land between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea, characterized by extraordinary habitat diversity, has seen an outstanding cross-cultural development. For the first time, this paper reports on the census of the Holocene archaeological sites that have been studied as part of archaeobotany in Italy (continental Italy, the Italian peninsula and islands) over the last quarter in a century. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, seeds and fruits, woods/charcoals and other plant remains have all been analysed in multidisciplinary researches. A list of 630 sites has been provided by more than 15 archaeobotanical teams. The sites are located across the 20 regions of Italy, and in the Republic of San Marino (356 sites in northern Italy, 118 in central Italy, 156 in southern Italy and on the islands). They belong to several cultural phases: 321 sites are only pre-Roman, 264 are Roman/post-Roman, and 45 sites cover a broader range of time, present in both time spans. Site distribution is plotted in maps of site density according to geographical districts and the main chronological phases. The reference list helps to find analytical data referring to the descriptive papers that may be scattered throughout monographies and specific books on the matter.
2015
- Renaissance Gardens in Northern Italy: archaeobotanical evidence for urban environment reconstructions
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bosi, Giovanna; Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; Mazzanti, Marta
abstract
Archaeobotanical analyses have been carried out on three gardens in Northern Italy that belonged to the important Renaissance families of Este and Gonzaga: the “Duchesses’ Garden” of the Ducal Palace of Ferrara, the garden of Te Palace of Mantua and the green spaces of Giardino Palace of Sabbioneta. Pollen and macroremains from the three sites were studied to ensure a reliable reconstruction of the gardens. At Ferrara, seeds/fruits collected from a discharging pit of the Este Ducal Palace were particularly useful for describing the flora of the garden and the plant landscape of the city1. All the botanical evidences (more than 200 taxa including ornamental plants), integrated to the few historical and iconographic sources, have provided detailed information for reconstructing the features of the garden and the surrounding urban environment between the 15th and 16th century AD2. At Mantua and Sabbioneta, the on-going archaeobotanical studies from the Gonzaga’s palaces give interesting information that enhance the historical data. The preliminary results3 show, for example, the presence of Citrus in pollen spectra from both the sites; this pollen is very rare in archaeological deposits, and confirms the presence of the renowned citrus collection in the Gonzaga’s gardens. Archaeobotanical records from the three urban contexts examined are characterized by the recurring presence of evergreen plants (especially Buxus), which are best suited for the topiary art. These plants have good relationship with the maintenance of the harmony of the garden and does not take account of seasonal variations.
2015
- The Pollen Reference Collection of LPP – UNIMORE
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Torri, Paola; Torri, F.; Florenzano, Assunta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Rinaldi, Rossella; Bosi, Giovanna; Mazzanti, Marta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
The Pollen Reference Collection of the Laboratory of Palynology and Palaeobotany (LPP) of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia is titled to Daria Bertolani Marchetti who carried out to Modena the first slides in 1989. The Reference Collection is organized in the following sections: 1) Envelopes, with pollen from plant material collected in the field or from herbarium sheets, are 3098, and refer to about 1100 different species. 2) Microtubes, contain acetolysed pollen preserved in glycerol jelly, and are about 1440. 3) Slides are mounted with acetolysed and fresh pollen. Therefore, the pollen collection can be used for paleopalynology and actuopalynology. The slides, put into boxes slide rack, are classified according to the morphological criterion (NPC = Number - Position - Character of the apertures - Erdtman, 1969). Their number is about 2000.
In the Reference Collection there are three sections: Reference Collection, containing the reference material, described above; Research Collection, relating to materials and sites studied in the laboratory (ca. 22,000 slides); Educational Collection, containing two types of reference slides: slides with the pollen of a single species and “mixed slides” with more species with the same aperture type, number and position, set up to facilitate the distinction of similar pollen. The Educational Collection includes selected slides with material from research work, e.g. archaeological sites, lake/fluvial sediments, forensic cases, honeys, plant systematics.
The use of the collection has been recently improved by a database designated by F. Torri and P. Torri, to search the reference material by taxonomic criteria and/or morphological characteristics. Users can search the database according to a single criterion or a combination of morphological characteristics commonly used to visually identify pollen: aperture, exine ornamentation, size range. Images of the pollen will be associated to relevant species.
2015
- The evolution of Roman urban environments through the archaeobotanical remains in Modena – Northern Italy
[Articolo su rivista]
Bosi, Giovanna; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Mazzanti, Marta; Florenzano, Assunta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Torri, Paola; Labate, Donato; Rinaldi, Rossella
abstract
The paper reports on the urban archaeobotany of Modena, a town that lies on the southern Po Plain of the Emilia Romagna region, Northern Italy. Founded in 183 BC, it was an important Roman colony known as Mutina. The integrated study of micro- and macro- remains, the interdisciplinary archaeological and botanical approach, and the comparison of on-site / off-site records allow the reconstruction of an urban environment of the past. Pollen and macroremains from four archaeological sites located in and around the ancient walls, along with pollen from an off-site trench, were studied with an integrated approach, aimed at reconstructing the main floristic, vegetational and palaeoecological features of the town and its surroundings between the 6th century BC and the 10th century AD. During the Roman age, the natural plant landscape was characterised by wetlands, thinly scattered mixed oak woods, cereal fields, gardens and other human environments; during the Late Roman and Early Medieval age, the woodlands increased. Some currently rare, or locally extinct, species lived in the area. The fragmentation of the landscape has been evident since the Roman times because pieces of the natural environments have survived near lands strongly modified by inhabitants.
2014
- Appendix D. Archaeobotanical Analyses: Pollen, NPPs and seeds/fruits.
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
The archaeobotanical investigation on selected samples of Fattoria Fabrizio (6th-4th cent. BC, Chora of Metaponto, Southern Italy) was carried out with the primary aim of improving knowledge of the past flora of the area and focusing on plant growing in and around the site. The sampling strategy, laboratory treatments, and analytical tables resulting from analyses of pollen, NPPs, seeds and fruits has enabled a reconstruction of the archaeoenvironment and the agrarian context of Fattoria Fabrizio.
2014
- Archaeobotany at Fattoria Fabrizio
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Florenzano, A.
abstract
2014
- Chapter 7. Archaeobotany at Fattoria Fabrizio. In: E. Lanza Catti, K. Swift, J.C. Carter (Eds.), The Chora of Metaponto 5: A Greek Farmhouse at Ponte Fabrizio, pp. 113-138. University of Texas Press, Austin. ISBN: 9780292758643.
[Altro]
Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
Natural and human environments are intimately interlaced on archaeological sites. Fattoria Fabrizio (4th-6th cent. BC; farmahouse in the chora of Metaponto, Basilicata, Southern Italy) is an excellent example of the continuous interaction between humans and environmental setting. Different types of land use can coexist, and their 'botanical traces', both micro- and macrobotanical remains, are recognizable in the same layers. Pollen and Non-Pollen Palynomorphs (NPPs) are especially useful in discerning these types of actions. The pollen samples of Fattoria Fabrizio were collected from two rooms of the farmhouse, and from a black-gloss kantharos found inside one of the two rooms. Pollen analyses showed evidence for cultivation and animal husbandry.
2014
- Il paesaggio agrario nella
terramara di Baggiovara-Modena (XVII – XVI sec. a.C.).
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Florenzano, Assunta; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Cardarelli, A.; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Benassi, S.; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
The agricultural landscape of the Terramara of Baggiovara “17th – 16th
cent. B.C.”The paper reports pollen data obtained by the analyses of samples taken
from the Terramara of Baggiovara (Modena), dated from 17th to 16th century
BC.Archaeobotanical analyses, integrated with palaeobotanical researches, carried
out in some terramare of the region, gave useful elements for the reconstruction of
the plant landscape and human impact during the middle and late Bronze age of the
alluvional lowland area.Data suggest that the landscape was open with low forest
cover and most land devoted to agricultural activities (small cereal and legume
fields, alternated to extended pastures). The economy was mainly based on animal
breeding rather than cultivations. The pollen spectra show a high presence of
biological records that are pastures indicators, cerealia and other synananthropic indicators. Altogether, all these are important characters of anthropization.
2014
- Palaeoenvironment, land-use and palaeoethnobotany from archaeobotany research in Italy
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Bosi, Giovanna; Mazzanti, Marta; Torri, Paola; Benatti, Alessandra; Florenzano, Assunta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Rinaldi, Rossella
abstract
Plant remains - including pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, seeds and fruits, woods and charcoals - are among the most important biological archives upon which past environmental reconstructions are based. From one hand, plants are known to respond, in fact, to both climate change and human impact. From the other hand, humans collected plants that were available in the territory they explored, and even involuntary they shaped the landscape. As humans lived in a region, ‘cultural transformations of natural habitats’ began, and were the inevitable consequence of human presence in lands. Consequently, changes in flora and vegetation cover may have occurred earlier near settlements and in the places that today we call ‘archaeological sites’. The weak anthropogenic influence on the environment firstly occurred in the vicinity of the settlements, and then became a true local impact. Then, human impact became evident at a larger regional scale depending on the chronological and cultural variables, and on the distance and intensity of activity performances.
In archaeological contexts, humans and their animals largely bring plant micro- and macro- remains to the site and thus cultural variables strongly influence the pollen spectrum and the archaeobotanical record. Far from being a problem, this taphonomical peculiarity is crucial to explore human behaviour and cultural aspects of plant exploitation. A set of palynological / archaeobotanical research has been carried out in the last decades by our research team. In Italy, investigations cover most of the regions from Northern (especially Emilia Romagna), Central (especially Tuscany) and Southern Italy (especially Basilicata and Sicily). Chronology ranges from the Middle Bronze age (e.g. Terramara di Montale), to the Roman and Medieval ages (e.g. Modena; Parma; Villa del Casale), to Renaissance ages (e.g. Ferrara). The research joins multidisciplinary archaeological study to palaeoenvironmental–ecological approach, with focus on the Italian peninsula and its impressive prehistoric and historic archaeological heritage.
2014
- The LPP of Modena and Archeobotany: research in Italy over the last twenty years
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bosi, Giovanna; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Torri, Paola; Mazzanti, Marta; Benatti, Alessandra; Florenzano, Assunta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Rinaldi, Rossella
abstract
The study of pollen, NPPs, seeds and fruits, wood and charcoal from archaeological contexts is essential to investigate the history of man and the environmental changes connected to the anthropic pressure in a territory. The archaeobotanical record is highly influenced by human activity; this feature has to be considered in order to correctly interpret the data, and also it is valuable to obtain detailed informations on relationship between humans and plants from prehistoric to recent times.
Over the last twenty years, archaeobotanical materials from about eighty Italian sites have been studied by our Laboratory; the investigation has focused on regions of Northern (especially Emilia Romagna), Central (mainly Tuscany) and Southern (mainly Basilicata and Sicily) Italy. The sites range in dates from the Bronze Age, Roman Period, Middle Ages, Renaissance, up to the modern age. These investigations have become more multidisciplinary using the paleo-ecological and ethnobotanical approaches. The data have been interpreted as a possible source of information for the understanding of the biodiversity of the past, even for purposes of conservation. A new field is represented by the analysis of ancient DNA (aDNA), which can be a source of new and interesting information, especially on crops.
2013
- ANTHROPOGENIC POLLEN INDICATORS (API) FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AS LOCAL EVIDENCE OF HUMAN-INDUCED ENVIRONMENTS IN THE ITALIAN PENINSULA
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Mazzanti, Marta; Florenzano, Assunta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Torri, Paola
abstract
Pollen data from twenty-six archaeological sites are reviewed to investigate the development of human-induced environments through
the presence of selected Anthropogenic Pollen indicators (APi). the sites are located in six italian regions - veneto, emilia romagna, tuscany,
Basilicata, calabria, and sicily - and in the republic of san Marino. their chronology spans from the Bronze to the renaissance ages, from
approximately 4200 to 500 years BP. the APi which are common in these sites are properly considered important markers of human activity and
anthropization in the Mediterranean area. the most frequent APi taxa in pollen spectra are seven: Artemisia, Centaurea, cichorieae and Plantago are
ubiquitous and therefore they have the major relevance, followed by cereals and Urtica, and by Trifolium type. the spread of plants producing these
pollen grains is sometimes marked by high percentage values in pollen spectra. Pollen records show that, as expected, cereals and wild synanthropic
herbs were widespread near archaeological sites but local differences are evident. ecological and chrono-cultural reasons may be at the base of the
observed differences. in general, the synanthropic plants well represent the xeric environments that developed as a result of the continuous human
pressure and changes in soil compositions. these changes have occurred especially during the mid and late holocene.
2013
- Archaeobotany and the archaeological park “Terramara Montale” (northern Italy): a winner joint-venture.
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bosi, Giovanna; Florenzano, Assunta; Rinaldi, Rossella; Barbieri, Giovanna; Fraulini, Elisa; Zanasi, C.
abstract
The Archaeological Park and Open-Air Museum Terramara Montale, opened in 2004 under the direction of the Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Modena, was built in the homonymous archaeological area, in which several years of excavation have brought to light finds of the terramare civilizations settled in the Po plain during the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC). Along with several archaeological remains, the large amount of archaeozoological and archaeobotanical finds allowed to obtain more detailed information about the everyday life of the inhabitants of the site, useful to reconstruct the environment and the history of the terramara.The archaeobotanical research (eg. Mercuri et al., 2006a, 2006b) has brought a great surplus value to the realization of the Park; the green area of the Open-Air Museum has been realized following the indications obtained from palynological, carpological and xylo-antracological analyses. Panels show the landscape cat the time of the village. Moreover, the study of archaeobotanical remains has been essential to understand the man-plants interactions (for fortifications, houses and furniture, crops and agricultural practices, plants food, weavings and textiles) during the life of the settlement. Thanks to the archaeobotanical analyses, the Park creates workshops, activities and demonstrations of experimental archaeology to involve the visitors of all ages in ethnobotanical aspects of the site: The environment at the time of terramare - Demonstration of the techniques employed to reconstruct past environments; Archaeobotany for kids - All at work sieving soils, collecting and identifying fruits and seeds of plants cultivated or collected in the Bronze Age; The woodworking - With the original essences, demonstration of manufacturing techniques employed to realize different tools; Building without bricks: the houses of the terramara - Demonstrations of experimental archaeology: how create weaves with reeds, branches and leaves, and daub surface of plaster on the walls of the houses; The bread cycle - From cutting the wheat, to beating, milling, cooking and tasting the final product; Archaeology of flavors - Exhibition on finds and panels about food, along with activities and tastings; Archaeology of wine - The use of fermented beverages through the archaeobotanical evidences; Weaves of plant fibers and marsh grasses - Demonstration of processing techniques of vegetal fibers to make baskets, ropes, nets and mats; A thread pull another thread - Observation of the functioning of the reconstructed looms and realization of colored linen bracelets using the Bronze Age techniques; The park in blue - The use of ford, madder and mignonette in dyeing techniques of flax.
2013
- Archaeobotany of urban sites: the macro (seeds, fruits, wood) and microremains (pollen, charcoal particles, NPPs) from Mutina – Roman Age, northern Italy.
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Bosi, Giovanna; Florenzano, Assunta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rinaldi, Rossella; Torri, Paola; Mazzanti, Marta
abstract
Recent drillings of cores taken from the town of Modena (Emilia Romagna, northern Italy) have permitted to reconstruct the Holocene vegetation history of this areas based on pollen, charcoal particles and non pollen palynomorphs. Radiocarbon datings, TOC and lito-stratigraphical analyses were carried out. The cores include layers referring to the Roman period that saw the foundation of the town (183 BC). Contextually, a large set of investigations on archaeobotany of archaeological sites of Roman age (2nd century BC – 6th century AD) have been studied for macro and microremains.
The set of the very well-preserved plant records and the high number of off-site and on-site locations studied in the same town give firm data for a detailed reconstruction of the urban environment. This is one further proof of the great interest that these integrated research of archaeobotany of urban sites has to understand history and ecology of modern cities. Current and past biodiversity, land use and relationship between on-site and extra-urban environments, palaeoethnobotanical features and traditional uses of plants are only part of the issues that can be inferred from these studies.
2013
- Dal polline nei sedimenti alla ricostruzione del paesaggio e dell’economia di Torre di Satriano
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Il lavoro presenta le indagini palinologiche condotte su campioni scelti provenienti dal sito archeologico di Torre di Satriano (Basilicata). le analisi polliniche forniscono le prime informazioni utili alla ricostruzione del paesaggio vegetale dell’area intorno al sito durante le fasi di VI sec. a.C. All’analisi del polline sono state affiancate analisi sugli indicatori biologici paleoambientali (NPPs - Non Pollen Palynomorphs), reperti microscopici che permettono una ricostruzione paleoambientale di dettaglio.
2013
- ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE GREEK COLONIAL SYSTEM IN SOUTHERN ITALY: POLLEN AND NPPS EVIDENCE OF GRAZING FROM THE RURAL SITE OF FATTORIA FABRIZIO (VI-IV CENT. BC; METAPONTO, BASILICATA)
[Articolo su rivista]
Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; J. C., Carter
abstract
this paper reports a study case showing integrated analyses of microscopic records from an archaeological site of southern italy. pollen and non pollen palynomorphs-Npps were found in archaeological layers and were basic in reconstructing both the past environment and the economic activities of the site. the site, Fattoria Fabrizio, is a modest 4th-cenury bc farmhouse of the chora (rural territory) of the Greek city (polis) of Metaponto (basilicata). pollen analyses in addition to the study of Npps have been particularly worthwhile for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoeconomical reconstructions of this site and others in the chora. the pollen spectra delineate an open plant landscape, with scanty woodlands and presence of local wet environments. Olea pollen is fairly well represented in all samples, suggesting that this tree was an important element of the agricultural economy of the chora. shrubby grasslands and a well-developed macchia characterized the territory, probably as result of grazing activities by sheep and goats. accordingly, the high percentages of poaceae and cichorieae pollen, together with coprophilous fungal spores (such as Sordaria type and Sporormiella type), suggest that pastoral activities were widely practiced. the low number of cerealia pollen grains suggests that the inhabitants’ fields covered small areas or were quite far from the farmhouse.
2013
- Environmental and ethnobotanical data inferred from pollen of Gobero and the dried lakebeds in the surrounding area.
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Massamba N’siala, I.; Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
In the framework of a multidisciplinary research, pollen data from the site of Gobero and its surroundings were helpful to reconstruct some features of the plant landscape of the region at the time of occupation by Pre-Pastoral and Pastoral populations, in early and mid-Holocene phases, respectively. Samples were collected from the burial excavations and the desiccated lakebeds of the area. The latter ones correspond to layers of lacustrine events stratigraphically determined in the Gobero basin. As usual in arid land deposits, most of the samples did not contain pollen, and others had deteriorated pollen and low concentration values. Nevertheless, pollen spectra were obtained from 39 samples. They showed a low biodiversity. Ficus and Ziziphus-type were the most common woody taxa, together with Capparis, Combretum-type, Myrtus and Salvadora persica. Spectra were herb-dominated, with a prevalence of Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae, and Cyperaceae, together with Asteraceae and Plantago. Hygro-hydrophytes such as Typha, Juncus, Nymphaea and Potamogeton evidenced local wet environments. In fact, the landscape was a mosaic of xeric and wet environments, prevalently covered by a savanna or grassland vegetation. The environment was wetter in the early Holocene than in the midddle Holocene. In a few cases, the pollen from some burials suggested that plants could have been collected to transport grasses, myrtle and capers to the site, in order to lay them near the human bodies, showing a possible thousands-year-old behaviour of using plants as grave goods.
2013
- Erratum to The European Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) project (Veget Hist Archaeobot, 10.1007/s00334-012-0388-5)
[Articolo su rivista]
Davis, B. A. S.; Zanon, M.; Collins, P.; Mauri, A.; Bakker, J.; Barboni, D.; Barthelmes, A.; Beaudouin, C.; Birks, H. J. B.; Bjune, A. E.; Bozilova, E.; Bradshaw, R. H. W.; Brayshay, B. A.; Brewer, S.; Brugiapaglia, E.; Bunting, J.; Connor, S. E.; de Beaulieu, J. -L.; Edwards, K. J.; Ejarque, A.; Fall, P.; Florenzano, A.; Fyfe, R.; Galop, D.; Giardini, M.; Giesecke, T.; Grant, M. J.; Guiot, J.; Jahns, S.; Jankovska, V.; Juggins, S.; Kahrmann, M.; Karpinska-Kolaczek, M.; Kolaczek, P.; Kuhl, N.; Kunes, P.; Lapteva, E. G.; Leroy, S. A. G.; Leydet, M.; Saez, J. A. L.; Masi, A.; Matthias, I.; Mazier, F.; Meltsov, V.; Mercuri, A. M.; Miras, Y.; Mitchell, F. J. G.; Morris, J. L.; Naughton, F.; Nielsen, A. B.; Novenko, E.; Odgaard, B.; Ortu, E.; Overballe-Petersen, M. V.; Pardoe, H. S.; Peglar, S. M.; Pidek, I. A.; Sadori, L.; Seppa, H.; Severova, E.; Shaw, H.; Swieta-Musznicka, J.; Theuerkauf, M.; Tonkov, S.; Veski, S.; van der Knaap, P. W. O.; van Leeuwen, J. F. N.; Woodbridge, J.; Zimny, M.; Kaplan, J. O.
abstract
2013
- Olea, Juglans and Castanea: the OJC group as pollen evidence of the development of human-induced environments in the Italian peninsula
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Mazzanti, Marta; Florenzano, Assunta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rattighieri, Eleonora
abstract
Pollen data from three off-site records and twenty-six on-site (archaeological) sites are reviewed to investigate the development of cultural landscapes through the history of the olive, walnut and chestnut trees in the Italian Peninsula from the Late Glacial to late Holocene. The spread of these trees, which have been gathered or cultivated since ancient times, though not marked by high values in pollen diagrams, is an important indicator of increasing human activity and anthropization in the Mediterranean area.
The sum of Olea, Juglans and Castanea percentages in pollen spectra constitutes the OJC curve. The off-site records discussed are core RF93-30 from the Adriatic Sea (last 7000 years), and cores PALB94-1E of Lago Albano and PNEM94-1B of Lago di Nemi, two lakes in the Latium region (last 13,000 years). The on-site records are located in several regions (Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicily) and in the Republic of San Marino. Their chronology spans approximately from the Bronze to the Renaissance ages, from 4200 to 500 years BP. The simultaneous presence of OJC in the off-sites and in all the archaeological sites confirms that these trees were widespread in the Italian peninsula during the last four millennia. The OJC pollen sum shows low values but it is common in Bronze age sites from northern Italy, when their percentages increase in the off-site records. In Hellenistic and Roman times, there are sharp increments of their curves in the off-sites, and values of Olea are especially high in archaeological sites of southern Italy. The highest values of OJC, especially due to Castanea, are found in the different types of records in the Middle ages. Juglans is significant but less common in both the archaeological sites and the off-sites.
The cultivation of walnut and chestnut trees in pre-Roman times may have included local stands. The nurturing for wood may have had negative effects on pollen fallout while the flowering of plants was favoured to obtain fruits.
As humans exploited the natural resources they interfered with the distribution of useful plants. The development of human environments in a modern sense, however, is a relatively recent phenomenon. It has largely caused the expansion of complex agrarian landscapes, including fields, pastures and groves.
2013
- Palinologia e Archeobotanica applicate allo studio del paesaggio mediterraneo: modellamenti e impatto antropico durante i cambiamenti ambientali dell’Olocene
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Bosi, Giovanna; Mazzanti, Marta; Torri, Paola; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella; Olmi, Linda; Florenzano, Assunta; Rinaldi, Rossella; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Benatti, Alessandra; Buldrini, Fabrizio; Fanetti, D.
abstract
La complessità odierna del paesaggio mediterraneo è il risultato di dinamiche di interazione ‘natura-cultura’ che ne hanno determinato e condizionato l’evoluzione. La ricerca interdisciplinare basata sull’integrazione di dati botanici, ecologici, geomorfologici e archeologici offre la possibilità di ottenere una conoscenza approfondita di tali interazioni, congiungendo l’osservazione dell’ambiente attuale a quella delle sue trasformazioni nel passato. La prospettiva diacronica olocenica attraversa le fasi più cruciali di tali trasformazioni, dalla creazione di spazi per coltivazioni e insediamenti, all’abbattimento di boschi e deviazione di corsi d’acqua, alla importazione di nuove culture e ampia diffusione di sinantropiche a marcare gli insediamenti umani (1,2,3).
Palinologia e archeobotanica sono da anni al centro della ricerca del Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica di Modena. Il poster illustra i principali siti studiati nella penisola italiana e nelle isole, e una rassegna di articoli scientifici redatti in questi ultimi anni sul tema dell’applicazione di queste materie allo studio del modellamento del paesaggio mediterraneo, con particolare attenzione all’azione antropica.
Dati archeobotanici (polline, NPPs, semi/frutti, legni/carboni) sono stati ottenuti da oltre 70 siti archeologici, mentre dati pollinici sono stati ricavati o sono in studio da 10 carotaggi (in ambiente terrestre e marino). Le analisi polliniche spesso mostrano significativi valori di indicatori antropici [sensu Behre (4)]. I primi agricoltori vivevano in insediamenti stabili circondati da un’area di influenza nella quale agire continuativamente su un’area limitata. Ma è dall’età del bronzo che le testimonianze della presenza di ambienti sviluppati grazie all’influenza antropica diventano chiaramente leggibili nella combinazione di polline di cereali e sinantropiche spontanee. In seguito, nei diagrammi pollinici crescono le curve degli alberi coltivabili/coltivati (Olea, Juglans, Castanea) (5). Alcuni recenti lavori di analisi su semi e frutti hanno mostrato la incontestabile validità dei reperti carpologici da sito archeologico per studi di tipo etnobotanico (6, 7, 8).
Il confronto tra lo studio di siti archeologici (in-sito) e carote marine o continentali (extra-sito) permetterà nei prossimi anni di comprendere l’impatto dell’insediamento umano, per definizione locale, a livello regionale o su vaste aree.
2013
- Piante & Uomo: etno e archeobotanica in Europa
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bosi, Giovanna; Mazzanti, Marta; Torri, Paola; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Rinaldi, Rossella; Florenzano, Assunta; Rattighieri, Eleonora; Olmi, Linda; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella; Buldrini, Fabrizio; Fanetti, D.; Benatti, Alessandra; Maritan, M.
abstract
A Modena esiste una lunga tradizione di ricerche archeobotaniche. Il Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica nel 2012 ha festeggiato in tal senso venticinque anni di attività continuativa, anche se la sua fondatrice, Daria Bertolani Marchetti, avviò questo settore per l’Emilia Romagna già all’inizio degli anni ’60 con un lavoro legato a frequentazioni umane di circa 4000 anni dal presente sul Monte Cimone.
Nell’ultimo decennio, oltre ad implementare l’esistente, si è cercato di stabilire contatti e rapporti di ricerca con diverse realtà italiane e straniere, per aumentare le competenze e le conoscenze anche nel campo specifico dell’et- nobotanica, disciplina che indaga in maniera privilegiata il rapporto, nel passato e nel presente, tra uomo e piante. Le nostre ricerche si sono quindi particolarmente indirizzate verso i campi d’indagine riguardanti agricoltura, alimentazione vegetale e in generale utilizzo da parte dell’uomo delle piante per vari scopi, dalla preistoria fino all’attuale.
Il Progetto PaCE dell’Unione Europea (Plants and Culture: seeds of the Cultural Heritage of Europe – Culture programme 2007-2013, EACEA 09/2006) ha rappresentato una sorta di sintesi di questo nuovo indirizzo. Il progetto ha coinvolto 30 gruppi di ricerca provenienti da 12 paesi europei, portando la mostra trans-europea ad esso collegata in 28 diverse location e coinvolgendo oltre 300000 visitatori. A distanza di sei anni dalla sua prima esibizione, la mostra PaCE è ancora presente in alcune sedi quali università e musei in Grecia, Polonia e Turchia, e la sua versione virtuale è visitabile al sito: www.plants-culture.unimore.it/virtual_exhibition.htm
2013
- THE TRANS-EUROPEAN EXHIBITION “PaCE – PLANTS AND CULTURE IN THE HISTORY OF EUROPE”
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Sadori, Laura; Bosi, Giovanna; Florenzano, Assunta; M., Giardini; A., Masi; Mazzanti, Marta; Olmi, Linda; Rinaldi, Rossella
abstract
The project PaCE-Plants and Culture: seeds of the Cultural Heritage of Europe (Culture Programme 2007-2013, EACEA 09/2006) has promoted and still promotes the green cultural heritage common to Europe. PaCE project was proposed with the main idea of creating an interdisciplinary cooperation on the scientific and humanistic cultural heritage of Europe; this was performed by contacting institutions of several countries, involving research centres and museums, searching for a wide international work group and a common interest which went beyond geographical and chronological frontiers. The net of PaCE consisted of 30 teams belonging to 12 countries.
The main successful action of this project was the performance of the trans-European PaCE Exhibition, translated in 11 languages and exhibited in 28 locations in different countries.
From September 2008 to today, the exhibition has been set in 10 European countries (Norway, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Italy, San Marino, Spain) and approximately at least 320,000 persons have visited it. Since the beginning of 2009 the virtual exhibition is available on the web (http://www.plants-culture.unimore.it).
Different botanical cultures, which are part of the history of European countries, are represented. The project has valorised the relationships between plants and people as cultural markers, and has improved the knowledge on the evolution and the history of the green cultural heritage.
2013
- The European Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) project
[Articolo su rivista]
Basil A. S., Davis; Marco, Zanon; Pamella, Collins; Achille, Mauri; Johan, Bakker; Doris, Barboni; Alexandra, Barthelmes; Celia, Beaudouin; Anne E., Bjune; Elissaveta, Bozilova; Richard H. W., Bradshaw; Barbara A., Brayshay; Simon, Brewer; Elisabetta, Brugiapaglia; Jane, Bunting; Simon E., Connor; Jacques Louis de, Beaulieu; Kevin, Edwards; Ana, Ejarque; Patricia, Fall; Florenzano, Assunta; Ralph, Fyfe; Didier, Galop; Marco, Giardini; Thomas, Giesecke; Michael J., Grant; Jöel, Guiot; Susanne, Jahns; Vlasta, Jankovská; Stephen Juggins Marina, Kahrmann; Monika Karpińska, Kołaczek; Piotr, Kołaczek; Norbert, Kühl; Petr, Kuneš; Elena G., Lapteva; Suzanne A. G., Leroy; Michelle, Leydet; José Antonio López, Sáez; Alessia, Masi; Isabelle, Matthias; Florence, Mazier; Vivika, Meltsov; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Yannick, Miras; Fraser J. G., Mitchell; Jesse L., Morris; Filipa, Naughton; Anne Birgitte, Nielsen; Elena, Novenko; Bent Odgaard Elena, Ortu; Mette Venås Overballe, Petersen; Heather S., Pardoe; Silvia M., Peglar; Irena A., Pidek; Laura, Sadori; Heikki, Seppä; Elena, Severova; Helen, Shaw; Joanna Święta, Musznicka; Martin, Theuerkauf; Spassimir, Tonkov; Siim, Veski; Pim van der, Knaap; Jacqueline F. N., van Leeuwen*; Jessie, Woodbridge; Marcelina, Zimny; Jed O., Kaplan
abstract
Modern pollen samples provide an invaluable research tool for helping to interpret the Quaternary fossil pollen record, allowing investigation of the relationship between pollen as the proxy and the environmental parameters such as vegetation, land-use, and climate that the pollen proxy represents. The European Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) is a new initiative within the European Pollen Database (EPD) to establish a publicly accessible repository of modern (surface sample) pollen data. This new database will complement the EPD, which at present holds only fossil sedimentary pollen data. The EMPD is freely available online to the scientific community and currently has information on almost 5000 pollen samples from throughout the Euro- Siberian and Mediterranean regions, contributed by over 40 individuals and research groups. Here we describe how the EMPD was constructed, the various tables and their fields, problems and errors, quality controls, and continuing efforts to improve the available data.
2013
- The archaeobotanical research for the reconstruction of the cultural landscape of the Bradano valley and the Metapontine area (southern Italy).
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
The territory along the Bradano river (Basilicata region, southern Italy) is rich in archaeological sites belonging to different chronological phases and contexts (Hellenistic, Roman and Medieval period). This area is a good example of the continuous and long-time interaction between humans and environment that is at the base of the shaping of cultural landscapes in the Mediterranean basin.
In order to investigate environmental transformations that occurred under cultural pressure of the different people (Oenotrians, Greeks, Romans) who occupied this vast territory, archaeobotanical research has been carried out on samples collected from archaeological contexts, mainly farmhouses, places of worship and fortified settlements. Pollen and seeds/fruits were collected from 7 sites while charcoals or wood remains have not been found.
The low carpological assemblage found in samples collected from enclosed spaces gave only evidence of weeds and ruderals, and also some contamination from recent contexts was found. Contrarily, pollen was successfully extracted from archaeological layers and therefore the palynological investigations were suitable to obtain plant landscape reconstructions of this area.
A set of 121 pollen samples were taken from structures and layers of exposed sequences opened within the archaeological contexts. Pollen spectra describe a territory covered by open areas, with arid grasslands, scanty woodlands and presence of local wet environments. Clear signs of plant exploitation and cultivation, breeding and settlements were present in the sites.
The Oenotrian indigenous settlements were located in the hilly area along the Bradano river, and their economy was mainly based on grazing / breeding, and partly on cultivation of trees (olives) and cereal fields. Agricultural activity seems to have been more intensive in the estuary areas that was occupied by farmhouses of the Greek colonial system. Pollen spectra of Roman and Medieval sites delineate an open plant landscape with deciduous forest along fringe areas. High percentages of Poaceae and Cichorieae, together with coprophilous fungal spores, strongly suggest that pastoral activities were commonly performed and still represented the major economy.
Altogether, data suggest that this territory has been intensively exploited in the past, and human activities have produced the fairly xeric environment that has characterized this area until today. Therefore the current landscape may be truly considered the result of the intense exploitation that had occurred in the past.
2013
- The archaeology of ancient pastoral sites
in the territory of Montescaglioso (4th - 1st century BC).
An interdisciplinary approach
from the Bradano valley (Basilicata - southern Italy)
[Articolo su rivista]
D., Roubis; C., Colacino; S., Fascetti; S., Pascale; V., Pastore; F., Sdao; G., De Venuto; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; A., Miola; N., Panarella
abstract
This paper discusses a complete set of hoplite armour (panoply), found in tomb 672 at Chiaromonte (Basilicata),
consisting of a “Corinthian” helmet, front and back greaves, bronze protection for the left forearm, and an iron sword.
The tomb group can be compared to other tombs with panpolies at Chiaromonte, datable to the 6th century BC on the
basis of other contexts in the region containing “Corinthian” helmets. Furthermore, the archaeological evidence from
Chiaromonte is used to contextualize this important indigenous settlement centre against the backdrop of the “North-
Lucanian” and the “Oinotrian” cultures. Finally, 6th-century Chiaromonte is related to the political and military system
of Sybaris, mentioned by ancient sources, but so far scarcely attested “on the ground.” The author argues that the elite
of Chiaromonte served in the cavalry of Sybaris.
2012
- A marine/terrestrial integration for mid-late Holocene vegetation history and the development of the cultural landscape in the Po Valley as a result of human impact and climate change
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Mazzanti, Marta; Torri, Paola; L., Vigliotti; Bosi, Giovanna; Florenzano, Assunta; Olmi, Linda; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella
abstract
Marine/terrestrial integration of pollen data contributes to the reconstruction of thetiming of climate-human forces that shaped cultural landscapes in the Italian peninsula. The paperfocuses on the relation between natural and human landscapes, and the development of the culturallandscape from the Bronze age to the Medieval and modern times. Two records were studiedwithin independent projects: the marine core RF93-30, central Adriatic, with a sediment sourcearea including the Po Valley, spans the last 7000 years; material from the Terramara di Montalethat was settled in the Po plain from approximately 3550 to 3200 cal B.P. The original chronologyof the marine core was developed by using the magnetic inclination of the secular variation recordand two 14C datings carried out on benthic and planktic foraminifera (at 527 and 599 cm of depth).Its pollen record shows a gradual irreversible trend towards increasing aridity since 5700 cal B.P.and, just after around 5100 cal B.P., Picea decline and Quercus ilex type increase marked less coolconditions. Human impact introduces rapid changes, as the decrease of silver fir, thinned by thereduction of precipitations and further cut before/at the early Bronze age, followed by the fall ofoaks. The latter started after around 3900 cal B.P., and became evident at around 3600 cal B.P.The gradual landscape openness and forest clearance correspond to the onset of Middle Bronzeage settlements in the Po Valley, and to the development of the cultural landscape in the region.The impact of terramaras includes wood management by coppicing, and patching of the territory inpastures and fields. Xeric environments (Cichorioideae), resulting from the continuative humanpressure, spread since the Recent Bronze age. In the multi-causal explanation for the decline ofterramaras event, we suggest that climate would have been less important in the decline than in theonset phases. The further human landscapes were mainly traced by the trends of Olea, Juglans and Castanea while modern times were marked by the findings of Zea mays
2012
- Cichorioideae-Cichorieae as pastureland indicator in pollen spectra from southern Italy
[Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; Rattighieri, Eleonora; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Cichorioideae with fenestrate pollen are among the most important markers ofpasturelands. The pollen type mainly includes members of the Cichorieae tribe, and this is the actualtribe identified in pollen spectra from the Italian peninsula. The paper presents a brief review ofpollen presence of Cichorieae in archaeological sites of southern Italy. Particularly, the case study ofSant’Angelo Vecchio, a Hellenistic site located in Metaponto (Basilicata) is reported. Four classesof Cichorieae can be distinguished based on the maximum diameter length: < 18 μm (Hieraciumtype), 18-25 μm, 26-44 μm, ≥ 45 μm (Scolymus type).
2012
- Indagini archeobotaniche sui riempimenti delle buche da rifiuti e del pozzo nero di via Cavestro a Parma (X - XI sec. d.C.)
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Bosi, Giovanna; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Pederzoli, Aurora; Torri, Paola; Florenzano, Assunta; Rinaldi, Rossella; Mazzanti, Marta
abstract
Archaeobotanical analyses were carried out on pits and latrine, dated to the 10th – 11th centuries AD, from the site of Piazza Garibaldi. According to archaeological data, the site was a market square in Mediaeval times. Data from pollen and seeds/fruits were useful for both palaeoenvironmental and palaeoethnobotanical reconstruction, and together with NPPs including parasite remains contributed to add details on the function of the site. In the Middle Ages, cereal fields, together with legumes, grapevines and fruit trees to be grown in the area, together olive trees and Prunoideae. The analyses of plant and parasite remains in four pits and one latrine suggested that their infillings consisted of waste, human and animal excrements, deteriorated vegetable food and marcs. Human parasite eggs of Ascaris and Trichuris were found in the latrine, while parasites of animals were found also in the pits.
2012
- Indicatori microscopici di pascolo per ricostruzioni di paleoeconomia e paleoambiente: polline, spore di funghi coprofili e uova di parassiti
[Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Torri, Paola; Florenzano, Assunta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; A., Miola; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Le modifiche apportate dall’attività umana al paesaggio vegetale sono ben documentate dal polline prodotto dalle diverse comunità vegetali. Tra i reperti pollinici gli Indicatori Antropogenici sono par¬ticolarmente significativi e permettono di rintracciare l’attività delle popolazioni passate. Si tratta di polline pro¬dotto da specie coltivate, nitrofile o indicatrici di luoghi calpestati e di pascolo. Lo studio di tali Indicatori è affiancato all’analisi delle spore di funghi coprofili e delle uova di parassiti. Le in¬formazioni così ottenuteche permettono di individuare e comprendere meglio le attività umane come l’allevamento di bestiame e la pastorizia.Sono qui illustrati due casi studio (progetto PICAR - PRIN08): A - Piano Locce, in area montana (L’Aquila-Abruzzo), B - Valle del Bradano, in contesti archeologici (Basilicata). A - La ricostruzione paleoambientale di Piano Locce, basata sull’analisi pollinica, ha permesso di ricostruire la storia del paesaggio vegetale a partire da 36.000 anni dal presente.Prima dell’Olocene, la conca di Piano Locce è caratterizza da una vegetazione a steppa nella quale, nei momenti di minor rigidità del clima, erbivori selvatici pascolano liberamente. Questa ipotesi è sostenuta dall’associazione di spore di funghi coprofili con uova di parassiti intestinali (Dicrocoelium) e ammassi di granuli pollinici o“pollen clumps”. Durante l’Olocene, le spore di coprofili sono sempre presenti con un andamento oscillante ma tendenzialmente in crescita. Il loro incremento percentuale, che si verifica in alcuni momenti dell’Olocene, suggerisce un utilizzo della conca anche da parte di animali domestici. I due picchi che si osservano nella parte più superficiale della sequenza sono messi in relazione con la notevole presenza di ovini legata al fenomeno della transumanza che si sviluppa durante il periodo romano e medievale. B - La Valle del Bradano è caratterizzata da una notevole ricchezza di siti archeologici che vanno dall’età del Bronzo all’età Medievale. Tra essi Difesa San Biagio e Altojanni hanno restituito evidenze di pratiche di pastorizia/allevamento nell’area durante i periodi ellenistico, romano e medievale. In particolare, polline di Cichorioideae, Chenopodiaceae e Brassicaceae, assieme a spore fungine di coprofili quali Sor¬daria tipo, Sporormiella e Podospora tipo, segnano la prevalenza di attività pastorale durante il periodo ellenistico a San Biagio. Una maggiore biodiversità caratterizza le fasi cronologiche di Altojanni, dove gli spettri pollinici risultano dominati da Asteraceae e Poaceae. Alle spore di Sordaria tipo e Podospora tipo si aggiungono spore di funghi con diversa ecologia quali Chaetomium e Valsaria variospora tipo. Il contesto ambientale e microarcheobotanico sono in accordo con le evidenze archeologiche che, per questo sito, documentano la presenza di aggeri che delimitavano spazi nei quali gli animali domestici, probabilmente bovini, stabulavano durante il periodo medievale.
2012
- Palinologia applicata al sito di San Vincenzo - Stromboli (Bronzo Medio) per uno studio di ricostruzione archeoambientale
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
E., Rattighieri; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Levi, SARA TIZIANA
abstract
\
2012
- Palinologia applicata al sito di San Vincenzo-Stromboli (Bronzo Medio) per una ricostruzione archeoambientale
[Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rattighieri, Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Levi, SARA TIZIANA
abstract
Il seguente lavoro presenta i primi risultati della analisi palinologiche condotte nelvillaggio preistorico di San Vincenzo a Stromboli, risalente all’età del Bronzo Medio 1-2 (primametà del II millennio a.C.). L’analisi palinologica si è concentrata soprattutto sui campioniriferibili al Bronzo e ha permesso di ottenere indicazioni sull’attività produttiva all’internodell’abitato. In particolare i significativi valori di indicatori di pascolo (ad es., Trifolium e sporedi funghi coprofili), la scarsa presenza di Olea europaea e l’assenza di cereali suggerisconoun’economia basata principalmente sull’allevamento di animali domestici.
2012
- Palynology of archaeological sites: the example of economy and human impact of the Metaponto area (6th-1st century BC)
[Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Most of the biological archives, including pollen, upon which past environmental reconstructions are based, responds to both climate change and human impact. The latter is clear and visible by definition in layers from archaeological sites thanks to the plant remains trapped in sediments.
The Metaponto area has been investigated by the Institute of Classical Archaeology of the University of Texas, under the direction of Prof. J.C. Carter.
Grazing / breeding and agricultural activities practised around the farmhouses of the Greek colonial system shaped the landscape. Open grasslands were surrounded by shrubby grasslands and a maquis, probably more extended than today, characterised this territory in the past.
2012
- Pioggia pollinica e qualità dell’aria: polline di Olea negli uliveti dal caso studio della regione Basilicata (sud Italia).
[Articolo su rivista]
Florenzano, Assunta; Benassi, Silvia; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Gli uliveti sono un elemento fondamentale del paesaggio dell’Italia meridionale. In queste regioni, il polline di Olea è uno dei principali elementi biologici diffusi in aria e ha un notevole impatto sulla salute dell’uomo, poiché è stato riconosciuto tra le principali cause di allergia respiratoria nell’area mediterranea.Il lavoro presenta lo studio palinologico di uliveti della Basilicata, regione nella quale l’olivicoltura è ampiamente diffusa. Sono stati analizzati campioni di suoli superficiali prelevati al centro (IN) e a diverse distanze (OUT) dagli uliveti per valutare la rappresentatività del polline di Olea nell’area interessata dagli impianti.Pur essendo influenzate da diversi fattori (estensione dell’uliveto, età degli alberi, stadio al quale si trova il periodo di fioritura, presenza di polline da specie sovrarappresentate, lavorazione del terreno, distribuzione di altri uliveti nelle aree circostanti), le quantità di Olea rinvenute nei campioni sono strettamente legate alla distanza dall’uliveto. In generale, le percentuali di questo polline sono molto elevate al centro dell’uliveto (ca. 55% in media per gli uliveti più estesi) e decrescono fortemente a 500 m (ca. 6%, con un abbattimento di ca. 90%), per rimanere pressoché costanti a 1000 m. Il confronto con i dati aerobiologici dell’area (biennio 2005-2006, stazione ARPAB di Matera) conferma che il polline di Olea aerodiffuso (7-11%) è meno abbondante ma in proporzione comparabile a quello al suolo (13%).I dati raccolti forniscono un’ulteriore prova dell’importanza del polline di Olea in Basilicata, suggerendo inoltre un elevato rischio allergenico per i soggetti atopici nel raggio di 1000 m intorno agli uliveti.Pollen rain and air quality: Olea pollen in the olive groves (the case study of Basilicata, a region of southern Italy) - Olive trees are key elements of the cultural landscape of southern Italy. Olea pollen is therefore one of the main component in the biological aerosol and it is known to have important impact on human health for pollinosis in Mediterranean countries. The paper reports pollen analyses from olive groves distributed in Basilicata, a region facing the Ionian Sea, where agriculture is still largely spread. The aim of the study is to evaluate the representativeness of Olea pollen in soil samples, taken at different distances from sources. Five olive groves (A-E) have been selected along a SE/NW transect along the Bradano river, taking into consideration that they should have been at significant distance from the other olive groves of the same area. Six samples per each olive grove have been taken in the following way: a) two IN samples, including one surface sample, and one sample collected by pinches; b) four OUT samples, including two samples taken at 500 m far from the centre of the olive grove, at N and W directions and two samples taken at 1000 m, at N and W directions. Olea pollen was found in good amount in all samples but its percentages were very variable depending on several factors: olive grove extension, age of the trees, gap between period of sampling and start of pollination (April), abundance of pollen from overrepresented taxa in the spectra (Pinus), occurrence of particular agricultural practices (ploughing), spread of several olive groves or presence of wild olive specimens in the same area.Moreover, the distance of the point of sampling from the trees plays an important role in olive pollen representativeness. As expected, the highest percentages of this pollen are found at the centre of the olive groves, and then dramatically fell at 500 m, and remained fairly constant at 1000 m. The more extended olive groves (A, D) show the highest values of Olea pollen at the centre (ca. 55% on average). This high value sharply drops to ca. 5% at 500 m. Therefore, the decrease of this pollen may be estimated of about 87-92% in the first few hundred meters from the sources.Comparison w
2012
- Polline di Cichorioideae quale indicatore di pascolo negli spettri dell'Italia Meridionale
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta; Torri, Paola; E., Rattighieri; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
\
2012
- The Significance of Intestinal Parasite Remains in Pollen Samples from Medieval Pits in the Piazza Garibaldi of Parma, Emilia Romagna, Northern Italy
[Articolo su rivista]
Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Pederzoli, Aurora; Torri, Paola; Bosi, Giovanna; Olmi, Linda; Rinaldi, Rossella; Mazzanti, Marta
abstract
This paper presents the study of parasite remains recovered in pollen samples collected from archaeological layers. Laboratory treatment enabled us to ob- tain very high concentrations of both pollen and parasite eggs from the same samples. The case study of the site of Piazza Garibaldi in Parma, a town in the Po plain, is reported. The site was a sacred area in Roman times and a market square in Medieval times (10th–11th century A.D.). Pollen, seeds, and fruits from the latter phase were collected from four Medieval pits and one cesspit. After a palynological treatment including sieving, floating, and light acetolysis, abundant quantities of parasite eggs were extracted. Human and animal parasite eggs belonging to Trichuris, Ascaris, Taenia/Echinococcus, Capillaria, Dicrocoelium, and Diphyllobothrium were found. The analyses of an- imal and plant remains identified in the same samples suggested that the pit infillings consisted of waste, human and animal excrements, deteriorated plant food, and refuse of grapes. Therefore, parasite remains help the inter- pretation of archaeobotanical data in identifying human behaviors and site functions.
2011
- Il paesaggio agrario nella terramara di Baggiovara – Modena (XVII – XVI sec. a.C.)
[Poster]
Florenzano, Assunta; Rattighieri, Eleonora; A., Cardarelli; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Le terramare hanno rappresentato uno dei più importanti fenomeni demografici, economici e sociali della penisola italiana nell’età del bronzo. Nella Pianura Padana centrale, l’area in cui si sviluppò la cultura terramaricola, l’alta concentrazione di insediamenti ha profondamente influenzato l’evoluzione dell’ambiente. Le evidenze polliniche descrivono, infatti, la presenza di un paesaggio agrario già ampiamente occupato da superfici coltivate, sviluppatesi a seguito di una forte riduzione delle aree forestate. L’impatto antropico delle terramare nel paesaggio della pianura è legato allo sfruttamento intensivo del territorio. Gli abitanti delle terramare costruirono i loro villaggi in siti con particolari caratteristiche geomorfologiche e in vicinanza di corsi d’acqua. Gli abitati, circondati da un fossato e un argine erano costituiti da case ordinate regolarmente lungo stradine ortogonali, nelle prime fasi spesso erette su impalcati aerei. Ogni villaggio era dotato di un territorio, corrispondente all’area utilizzata per lo sfruttamento delle risorse vegetali e per la pastorizia. Baggiovara (MO) - Opera Pia Bianchi (campagna 2009 - Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Emilia Romagna - Direzione: Andrea Cardarelli- Giuliana Steffé, esecuzione scavi: Coop. ARS/Archeosistemi - Reggio Emilia) era inserita nel sistema socio-economico terramaricolo già nella fase iniziale delle terramare (inizio Bronzo Medio). Le sequenze polliniche mostrano un calo graduale della copertura arborea a partire dall’impianto della terramara. Il progressivo incremento di cereali e cicorioidee, che rappresentano rispettivamente i campi e i pascoli, è accompagnato a un aumento significativo di piante di ambienti umidi. Oscillazioni dei valori di cicorioidee in alternanza a cereali segnalano la probabile ‘rotazione’ dei pascoli con i campi, pratica che favoriva la concimazione dei terreni e ne garantiva la rigenerazione.
2011
- Indicatori di pascolo microscopici: polline, spore di funghi coprofili e uova di parassiti.
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Torri, Paola; Florenzano, Assunta; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Miola, A.; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
The paper reports two study cases showing integrated analyses of microscopic records (pollen, co- prophilous fungi and parasites remains) which are of basic importance to reconstruct past breed- ing and pastoral activities in Italy. The sites are located at Piano Locce (1225 m a.s.l., Barisciano, L’Aquila) in a depression in a mountain area and in the Bradano Valley (about 150-500 m a.s.l., Basilicata) in a hilly area rich in archaeological sites.The pollen-based palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of Piano Locce provided the history of plants landscape from around 36.000 years BP. Before the Holocene, a steppe vegetation and a grassland characterized the area where wild animals freely browsed. This assumption is strongly supported by the association of spores of coprophilous fungi with intestinal parasites eggs (Dicrocoelium) and pollen clumps. The trend of coprophilous fungi and pollen assemblages including Anthropogenic Indicators shows that, after the wild animals browsing, a fairly continuous presence of domesticated animals, prevalently ovicaprines, interested the area in the Holocene.The archaeological sites of Difesa San Biagio and Altojanni in Bradano Valley showed evidences of ovicaprine-farming and cattle breeding during Hellenistic and Mediaeval periods. In particular, Cichorioideae, Chenopodiaceae and Brassicaceae pollen and spores of coprophilous fungi (such as Sordaria type, Sporormiella and Podospora type) attest the predominance of pastoral activities dur- ing the Hellenistic period at San Biagio. A greater pollen biodiversity characterizes Altojanni, where spores of the coprophilous fungi were associated with spores of fungi with a different ecology as Chaetomium and Valsaria variospora type. The environmental and microarchaeobotanical contexts are in agreement with archaeological evidences that attest the presence of domestic animals, prob- ably cattle, maintained in this site during Middle Ages.
2011
- Plant micro-and macroremains from urban roman context of Northern and Central Italy
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
L., Sadori; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Bosi, Giovanna; Florenzano, Assunta; M., Giardini; A., Masi; Mazzanti, Marta; Rinaldi, Rossella; C., Pepe; D., Sabato
abstract
In Italy, archaeobotanical research from urban contexts dated to the Roman period, if compared with results from other areas under the influence of Romans, is rather scanty.
Available analytical data suggest that the landscape of Rome during the Imperial period in the area of the Seven Hills kept natural conditions. Archaeological levels rich in charcoal interpreted as traces of a fire, probably the Nero’s one (64 AD) were found in the founding of Tabernae belonging to Domus Tiberiana, facing via Nova, at the foot of Palatine hill. Charcoals belong both to native and imported trees. Recent archaeological excavations brought to light seedbeds (dating back to the 1st century AD) of the garden of Horti Luculliani. Pollen suggested an open natural environment, where deciduous and evergreen arboreal elements were accompanied by spontaneous herbs. Romans used also exotic trees like palms as decoration elements of important monuments like the mausoleum of Antinous at Villa Hadriana near Tivoli. Near Rome, the town of Portus arose and developed together with the imperial harbour. Two sediment cores taken in the area indicate that since the 1st century AD a typical Mediterranean coastal environment was present, with coexistence of deciduous and evergreen elements. Clear signs of increasing human presence linked to the expansion of the town are evidenced by both pollen and seeds/fruits since the 3rd cent. AD.
In the Emilia Romagna region, the archaeobotanical analyses of two towns permitted to explore palaeo-environmental and ethnobotanical features of colonies located more northern in the Italian peninsula. At the time of its foundation, around the 3rd century BC, Parma, hosted a sacred area in the place that today is the central square of Piazza Garibaldi. Votive plant offerings were recorded. The association of opium poppy seeds and cereal pollen suggested that the area was mainly dedicated to Ceres, the goddess of crops and soil fertility. Mutina, today Modena, was founded in 183 BC and became soon a strategic center of economic relevance. The seeds and fruits from six sites showed a rich biodiversity (454 taxa) especially including records from wetlands and human environments. A significant amount of seeds of Linum bienne/usitatissimum and Reseda luteola was interpreted as an evidence of the long-time tradition of textile industry carried out in this area.
2011
- Pollen integrated to archaeological data for the study of the fortified settlement of Altojanni (Bradano Valley, Grottole – MT, Southern Italy).
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Roubis, D.; Sogliani, F.; Rattighieri, Eleonora
abstract
Studi archeobotanici per la ricostruzione del paesaggio culturale in Basilicata, sulla base di polline e non pollen palynomorphs da siti archeologici
2011
- Primi risultati archeobotanici per lo studio sulla ricostruzione ambientale del sito del Bronzo medio di san Vincenzo, Stromboli
[Abstract in Rivista]
Rattighieri, Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Levi, SARA TIZIANA
abstract
Analisi archeobotaniche condotte a Stromboli
2011
- Seeds/fruits, pollen and parasite remains as evidence of site function: Piazza Garibaldi - Parma (N Italy) in Roman and Mediaeval times
[Articolo su rivista]
Bosi, Giovanna; Mazzanti, Marta; Florenzano, Assunta; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella; Pederzoli, Aurora; Rinaldi, Rossella; Torri, Paola; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Archaeobotanical analyses were carried out on layers from the site of Piazza Garibaldi in Parma, a town located in the plain of Emilia Romagna, in northern Italy. The layers dated to the 3rde2nd centuries BC, around the time of the foundation of the Roman town, and to the 10the11th centuries AD. According to archaeological data, the site was a sacred area in Roman times, while it was a market square in Mediaeval times. Data from pollen and seeds/fruits were useful for both palaeoenvironmental and palae- oethnobotanical reconstructions, and together with NPPs including parasite remains contributed to add details on the function of the site in the different chronological phases.Since Roman times, woods have grown far from the site, and human activities highly influenced the landscape. Cereals, legumes and hemp were cultivated together with figs, grapevines, and a number of medicinal, vegetables and spice plants. Altogether, data confirmed the presence of votive offerings, and particularly the association of opium poppy and cereals suggested that they were mainly offered to Ceres, the goddess of crops and soil fertility.In the Middle Ages, cereal fields, together with legumes, grapevines and fruit trees continued to be grown in the area, but olive trees and Prunoideae revealed a different arboricultural economy. The analyses of plant and parasite remains in four pits and one latrine suggested that their infillings consisted of waste, human and animal excrements, deteriorated vegetable food and marcs. Human parasite eggs of Ascaris and Trichuris were found in the latrine, while parasites of animals were found also in the pits.The interpretation of archaeobotanical data was so tightly linked to the archaeological context that similar spectra must be differently interpreted in the two chronological phases.
2010
- Cultural landscape and human impact reconstruction by an archaeobotanical-biological approach
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Mazzanti, Marta; Bosi, Giovanna; Torri, Paola; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella; Olmi, Linda; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Rinaldi, Rossella; Gianassi, Elisa; Buldrini, Fabrizio; Florenzano, Assunta; M., Guerzoni
abstract
The project PICAR (Cultural landscaPe and human Impact in Circum-mediterranean countries: multidisciplinary Archaeobotanical research for environmental, phylogeographic, climatic and virtual Reconstructions; Programmi di Ricerca Scientifica di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale 2008FJCEF4 - Italy) focuses on cultural landscape reconstructions and on the recognition of plants related to anthropic presence or activities in a territory (collected or cultivated economic plants; useful, including those that are currently neglected, plants; wild synanthropic plants). The focus is on the knowledge of the general response of environmental dynamics to human impact in the past, and on how different environments changed under the pressure of different civilizations. This communication will report some examples of the multidisciplinary archaeobotanical studies that the research team of the laboratory of Modena has carried out in the last years, mainly dealing with contexts from Italian archaeological sites. Pollen and macroremains analyses were and are commonly integrated with archaeological data. This methodology allows comparisons between different times and geographical areas giving new hints to human landscape reconstructions, by comparing in which way humans exploited plant resources in their territories, adapting them to the changing environment under the changing Holocene climate, and by transforming soils and vegetation according to their cultural needs.
2010
- Educational Activities proposed for tha trans-european exhibition "PaCE - Plants and Culture in the History of Europe"
[Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Olmi, Linda; Bosi, Giovanna; Rinaldi, Rossella; Florenzano, Assunta; Buldrini, Fabrizio; Montecchi, Maria Chiara; Torri, Paola; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella
abstract
For the PaCE exhibition set at the “Foro Boario” (Modena, 8th-30th November, 2008) some educational activities were adaptable to different age groups, based on experiences long established in our Botanical Garden. All activities were based on the idea of a “trip”: the visitors make a trip in several European countries through the most representative plants and traditions related to them. The aims are to show the importance of plants in building an European identity and to improve the enhancement of the local identities across space/time changes of the relationship between man and plants. The activities proposed are based on the concept of “Europe portrayed through plants, with the hope that the roots of our past become the seeds of our future”.
2010
- Pollen from archaeological layers and cultural landscape reconstruction: case studies from the Bradano Valley (Basilicata, southern Italy)
[Articolo su rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Florenzano, Assunta; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella; Olmi, Linda; Roubis, D.; Sogliani, F.
abstract
The article aims at presenting some aspects of environmental reconstruction through pollen analysis from archaeological contexts. The anthropogenic pollen transport into archaeological sites is regarded as an interesting tool to improve knowledge on flora and vegetation in the area of influence of sites. The zoophilous plants can be found more easily than in the regional airborne pollen rain where anemophilous pollen is generally overrepresented. Moreover, pollen from archaeological contexts is mainly a result of the cultural landscape shaped by human activities. Two case studies from the Bradano Valley (Basilicata, southern Italy), rich in archaeological sites dating altogether from the Middle Bronze Age to the Medieval age, are reported. Difesa San Biagio and its surroundings is one of the biggest settlements of the area, settled in early times by Enotrians. Altojanni is an extended area mainly frequented in Hellenistic, Roman late Imperial and Medieval times. A very open landscape, and clear signs of plant exploitation and cultivation, breeding and settlements were present in the two sites. Though samples are disturbed and preservation problems are sometimes observed, the main characters of pollen spectra are recurrent. High percentages of Poaceae and Cichorioideae, together with coprophilous fungal spores, strongly suggest a long tradition of pastoral activities. These case study examples suggest that human activities would have produced a fairly xeric environment.
2010
- The Holocene plant landscape of Gobero: palynology applied to palaeo-environmental and palaeo-ethnobotanical reconstructions
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; E., Garcea; C., Giraudi; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella; Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
Gobero (600 m asl; 16°55’N – 9°30’E) is a paleolake surrounded by early-mid Holocene archaeological sites (1). It lies on the western edge of the Ténéré Desert, in central Niger, about 600 km NW of the Lake Chad. Approximately two hundred human burials on the edge of the paleolake provide a uniquely preserved record of human occupation in the Sahara under severe climatic fluctuation during the Holocene (2). The area of Gobero is presently in the hyperarid climate region of the southern Sahara (3). The permanent vegetation, including small shrubs and tufted grasses, is restricted to wadis and depressions where groundwater is close to the surface. Desert/sub-desert and ephemeric floras grow under scanty and variable precipitations (18 ±15.8 mm per year).The archaeological sites are situated in a closed depression with an endorheic drainage pattern. Some ephemeral streams, having small catchment areas extending immediately north and north-east of the sites, flow into the depression. During Holocene humid periods, a lake was formed inside the Gobero basin and, when the humidity was at its maximum, a spillway connected Gobero with the lake Chad. Based on stratigraphical-archaeological data and direct dating of human burials, two occupational phases are identified that correspond with two humid intervals, dating to the early and mid-Holocene, respectively. The older occupants, with a hunting-fishing-gathering subsistence basis, were buried in hyperflexed positions, and represent the most ancient known cemetery in the Sahara, between about 9700 and 8200 cal BP. The younger occupants adopted cattle herding and were of shorter stature with semi-flexed burials and grave goods including animal bones and ivory ornaments, between about 6900 and 4700 cal BP (1, 4). The site was also used as a habitation, as indicated by over 10,000 stone artefacts and over 4,000 ceramic fragments.In the framework of a large-scale multidisciplinary research, pollen data from the site of Gobero and its surroundings provided a primary contribution to reconstruct the past plant landscape of the region. The site also offers an incomparable set to study the evolution of a fragile and vulnerable environment, in which climate changes have played a crucial role for plants, animals and human’s survival. Samples were collected from the burial fillings and from desiccated lakebeds. Pollen spectra were obtained from 39 samples. They showed a low biodiversity. Ficus and Ziziphus-type were the most frequent pollen from woody plants, together with Capparis, Combretum-type, Myrtus and Salvadora persica. Spectra were herb-dominated (mainly Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Cyperaceae, together with Asteraceae and Plantago). Hygro-hydrophytes (Typha, Juncus, Nymphaea cf., Potamogeton) were common. The landscape was a mosaic of xeric and wet environments, covered by a grassland vegetation. The environment was wetter at the early Holocene than at the mid Holocene. In a few cases, pollen from burials has suggested that plants were collected to transport grasses, myrtle and capers as grave goods in the cemetery, possibly a thousand-years ancient behaviour of positioning plants near dead persons. 1) P. Sereno et al. (2008) PLoSONE 3(8), e2995, 1-222) National Geographic magazine, September 20083) F. White (1982), The vegetation of Africa, UNESCO 4) Garcea (ed.) in prep. Gobero: the No-Return Frontier Archaeology and Landscape at the Saharo-Sahelian Borderland. J. African Archaeology
2010
- The city of Parma (Emilia Romagna - Italy). Seeds and fruits, pollen and parasite remains from layers dated to Medieval Age
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta; Pederzoli, Aurora; Mazzanti, Marta; Bosi, Giovanna; Rinaldi, Rossella; Torri, Paola; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
Archaeobotanical analyses have been carried out on the site Piazza Garibaldi of Parma, a city located in the Po plain in Emilia Romagna, a region of Northern Italy. The studied layers were dated to the 4th - 2nd cent. BC, i.e. around the time of the Roman foundation of the city, and to the 9th – 12th cent. AD. In Roman times the site was probably a sacral area, while in Medieval Age it was a market square. Concerning Medieval Age, the archaeological structures which were archaeobotanically studied included four pits and one latrine. Pollen, seeds/fruits and parasite remains were useful for both palaeoenvironmental and palaeoethnobotanical reconstructions. Analyses of plant and parasite remains suggested that the infillings consisted of waste, human and animal excrements, deteriorated vegetal food and marcs. Pollen samples were treated according to a method using Na-pyrophosphate, HCl 10%, filtration, acetolysis, heavy liquid separation, HF 40%. Eggs of intestinal parasites belonging to Trichuris, Ascaris, Taenia, Capillaria, Dicrocaelium, Diphyllobotrium genera were observed during pollen analyses. Eggs of Ascaris and Trichuris are present in large amount in all samples. Eggs of Ascaris are extremely abundant in the medieval sites in Europe, and they are considered a faecal pollution indicator. Ascaris lumbricoides and A. suum (human and pig parasite respectively) have morphologically similar eggs. Contrarily, eggs of Trichuris trichiura (human parasite) are statistically considerably smaller than those of T. suis (pig parasite). Therefore, 100 eggs of genera Trichuris were measured and data were statistically analyzed. Concerning the latrine are all distributed around the mean size value of T. trichiura. The combination of T. trichiura and Ascaris sp. is typical for human escrements (Bouchet et al., 2003). Thus may be assumed that this latrine was not used for animal faeces. Interestingly pollen from entomophilous plants was common in the latrine, possibly partly due to human consumption of honey (Pearsall, 2008). Concerning pits, Trichuris eggs showed a wider size range and probably belong to both the species. Moreover, eggs of other animal parasites (Capillaria, Dicrocoelium dendriticum, Diphyllobothrium) were found in small amount. The combination of human and animal parasite eggs and the large amount of Graminae pollen, suggest that pits placed in the market square were used to eliminate plant and animal waste products.References Bouchet F., Harter S., Le Bailly M., 2003. The state of the art of paleoparasitological research in the old world. Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz 98(Suppl. 1): 95-101.Pearsall D.M., 2008. Paleoethnobotany. A handbook of procedures. Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2010
- The city of Parma (Emilia Romagna, Italy) in the Roman and Medieval Periods: seeds and fruits, pollen and parasite remains
[Abstract in Rivista]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Bosi, Giovanna; Florenzano, Assunta; Rinaldi, Rossella; Torri, Paola; Pederzoli, Aurora; Mazzanti, Marta
abstract
Archaeobotanical analyses have been carried out on the site Piazza Garibaldi of Parma, a city located in the plain of Emilia Romagna, a region of Northern Italy. The studied layers were dated to the 4th - 2nd cent. BC, i.e. around the time of the Roman foundation, and to the 9th – 12th cent. AD. In Roman times the site was probably a sacral area, while in Medieval Ages it was a market square. Pollen and seeds/fruits data were useful for both palaeoenvironmental and palaeoethnobotanical reconstructions. Oak woods and hygrophilous woods grew far from the site, while human activities highly influenced the environment in early times. Cereals, legumes and hemp were probably cultivated together with chestnut trees, fig trees, grapevines and Pomoideae. Moreover, a number of medicinal/ vegetables/spices plants were present. Papaver somniferum, Coriandrum sativum, together with Fragaria vesca, were characteristic in the carpological record. Altogether, archaeobotanical data well correspond to votive offerings to several gods, and particularly some of them including opium poppy and cereals would have been offered to Demeter/Ceres, the goddess of crops and soil fertility. Concerning Medieval Ages, the archaeological structures which were studied included four pits and one latrine. Analyses of plant and parasite remains have suggested that the infillings were made by waste, human and animal excrements, deteriorated vegetal food and marcs. In particular, human parasite remains (belonging to the genera Ascaris and Trichuris) were found in the latrine, while also parasites of animal (such as species of Capillaria, Dicrocoelium dendriticum, Diphyllobothrium) were present in pits. Pollen from entomophilous plants (such as Digitalis purpurea which lives wild today only in Sardinia) were common in the latrine, possibly also due to human consumption of honey. Cultivated fields of Triticum aestivum/durum/turgidum, T.monococcum, T. dicoccum and other cereals, together with legumes, grapevine and fruits trees, were grown in the area. Some olive trees were probably cultivated in the hills. Many wild species were found in the deposits, including Agrostemma githago and Thymelaea passerina. The archaeobotanical record from the Medieval Age revealed two main ‘agro-ethno-botanical’ features this city: a) a particular consideration for Prunus spinosa whose fruits are still today collected and prepared as an alcoholic drink (“Bargnolino”); b) a low consideration and importance of Cucumis melo in the economy of this area with respect to other areas of Emilia Romagna (e.g., provinces of Ferrara and Ravenna ).
2010
- Una ricostruzione archeoambientale del sito di San Vincenzo, villaggio del bronzo a Stromboli
[Articolo su rivista]
Rattighieri, Eleonora; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Levi, SARA TIZIANA
abstract
Il lavoro presenta i risultati preliminari ottenuti dalle analisi archeobotaniche condotte nel villaggio di San Vincenzo a Stromboli. L’abitato è costituito da un villaggio preistorico risalente all’età del Bronzo Medio 1-2 (prima metà del II millennio a.C.). L’analisi di 10 campioni palinologici è stata finalizzata alla ricostruzione del paesaggio vegetale coevo e successivo alla fase di vita del villaggio preistorico e ha permesso di ottenere indicazioni sull’attività produttiva all’interno dell’abitato. In particolare, La significatività degli indicatori di pascolo (ad es. Trifolium e spore di funghi coprofili), la scarsa presenza di polline di Olea europaea e l’assenza di cereali suggerisce che l’economia della popolazione locale fosse principalmente basata sull’allevamento di animali domestici. L’ambiente doveva essere decisamente deforestato con significativi caratteri di antropizzazione.
2009
- Exploiting a monastic territory: a multi-disciplinary approach using GIS and pollen analysis to study the evolution of medieval landscape of the Jure Vetere monastery (Calabria Italy).
[Capitolo/Saggio]
Roubis, D.; Sogliani, F.; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Accorsi, C. A.; Mazzanti, Marta; Bosi, Giovanna; Florenzano, Assunta; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella
abstract
Lo sfruttamento di un territorio monastico: un approccio multidisciplinare con l’utilizzo del GIS e delle analisi polliniche per lostudio dell’evoluzione del paesaggio medievale del monastero di Jure Vetere (Calabria-Italia).Nelle pagine che seguono analizzeremo i dati relativi all’ambiente naturale e le modalità di sfruttamento del territorio dell’insediamentomonastico di Jure Vetere, sorto nell’altipiano silano della Calabria (1100 m s.l.m.), tra gli ultimi anni del XII secoloe i primi decenni del XIII. Si tratta dei due periodi cronologici (Periodi I e II) riferibili alla frequentazione medievale delComplesso Architettonico A, così come essa risulta dalle ricerche multidisciplinari condotte sul sito dall’IBAM-CNR dal 2002fino al 2005. Del complesso Architettonico A sono stati riconosciuti due episodi costruttivi: il Corpo di Fabbrica 1 e il Corpo diFabbrica 2. Alla fine del Periodo II si verificano il definitivo trasferimento della comunità monastica e l’abbandono del sito. Diparticolare importanza si è rivelato lo studio di ricostruzione paleoambientale relativa al territorio circostante, prima e durantel’epoca della frequentazione del monastero nonché dopo il suo abbandono, ottenuto su base palinologica. Tali analisi hannoconsentito di ricostruire l’ambiente e il paesaggio vegetale del pianoro dove era stato fondato il protomonastero, fornendo i datinecessari per la lettura interpretativa delle dinamiche di sfruttamento delle risorse vegetali da parte della comunità monastica.Le analisi dei manufatti archeologici e degli ecofatti eseguite sul GIS hanno permesso di calcolare il costo di spostamento in terminidi tempo e di avanzare una proposta di classificazione dei diversi tipi di suoli potenzialmente sfruttabili attorno al sito. L’elaborazioneinformatica dei dati ha suggerito quindi di riconoscere due principali aree di provenienza delle materie primarie esecondarie necessarie alla vita nel monastero: un bacino interno funzionale allo sfruttamento totale intensivo delle risorse, unbacino esterno per le attività lavorative sussidiarie a carattere estensivo (suoli per orti e seminativi, aree a vocazione pastoralee aree per lo sfruttamento dei boschi). Infine, in una prospettiva del proseguimento futuro delle ricerche, si forniscono alcuneindicazioni riguardo i possedimenti ubicati a lunga distanza dal sito e sono avanzate ipotesi in merito ai terreni per il pascolo invernale,i tenimenti con colture e i punti di sosta lungo i tragitti di collegamento.
2009
- Human-plant relationships in the Garamantian culture (Fezzan, Libya, Central Sahara)
[Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Mercuri, Anna Maria; Bosi, Giovanna; Olmi, Linda; L., Mori; E., Gianassi; Florenzano, Assunta
abstract
This paper reports archaeobotanical data which can help understand the relationships between humans and plants in Garamantian times in Fezzan. This region of the Central Sahara was inhabited by a sedentary population, the Garamantes, who exploited wells in the oasis and developed a network of sites controlling the Saharan caravan routes, as attested by archaeological and epigraphic sources since halfway through the 1st millennium BC. The research on pollen and plant macrofossils has been carried out from a multidisciplinary perspective on Garamantian settlements belonging to different occupational phases. Phoenix dactilyfera and Hordeum vulgare are the best represented plants in the archaeobotanical record, together with other fruits such as grapes and figs. Therefore, palms and cereals would have been the most characteristic crops cultivated by the Garamantes, and markers of the Fezzan landscape at that time. Plants were planted in the oasis, along channels and in gardens, or imported by trade and exchanges. It emerges that the Garamantes knew the limits and potentialities of the environment they inhabited, which was already in its current hyperarid climatic phase.
2009
- La ricostruzione dell’ambiente di Difesa San Biagio in età ellenistica (Basilicata orientale).
[Articolo su rivista]
Florenzano, Assunta; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Roubis, D.
abstract
L’abitato di Difesa San Biagio, insediamento enotrio della valle del Bradano nell’immediato entroterra metapontino, rappresenta uno dei siti che meglio documenta i principali aspetti culturali della Lucania orientale e le trasformazioni indotte nelle popolazioni autoctone dal contatto con le città della Magna Grecia. Il lavoro presenta la ricerca archeopalinologica condotta a Difesa San Biagio, finalizzata alla ricostruzione archeoambientale del territorio in prossimità del sito archeologico e alla conoscenza delle specie botaniche presenti e/o utilizzate nell’abitato enotrio. I dati pollinici hanno consentito di tracciare un quadro culturale completo dell’insediamento di età ellenistica: situato in un’area con una bassa copertura boschiva e con una vegetazione costituita principalmente da aree a pascolo, basava la sua economia prevalentemente sulla pastorizia/allevamento, seguita da coltivazioni arboree (olivo) e cerealicole, i cui prodotti erano trattati nell’abitato all’interno di una struttura destinata a funzioni produttive. The village “Difesa San Biagio” is a Enotrius settlement in the Bradano Valley (Metapontino hinterland). This is one of the sites that best covers the main aspects of the culture of eastern Lucania and of the changes induced in peoples from contact with Magna Grecia cities.This work presents the archaeopalynological research conducted in “Difesa San Biagio”, with the aim of making an archaeo-environmental reconstruction of the land near the archaeological site and improve the knowledge of botanical species present and / or used in the Enotrius village. The pollen data allowed the drawing of a complete cultural context of the Hellenistic age settlement.
2009
- Osservazioni etnobotaniche sulle risorse utilizzate dagli abitanti della zona sahariana: Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrader
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella; Olmi, Linda; Florenzano, Assunta; Mercuri, Anna Maria
abstract
.
2009
- Ricostruzione ambientale del territorio della Valle del Bradano in età ellenistica (Basilicata orientale)
[Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Florenzano, Assunta; MASSAMBA N'SIALA, Isabella; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Roubis, D.
abstract
.