Jaromír Beneš

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• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor (Associate) at University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice

The significance of archaeobotanical research in the early modern period remains underestimated, despite its indispensable role it plays in documenting the spread of useful plants. It also provides insights into the emergence and development of globalised economies. The importation of exotic flora from the New World into the historic centres of Eur...

Biodiversity conservation approaches in Africa have often separated human societies from nature, establishing protected areas with restricted resource use and displacing local communities. However, successful conservation and management strategies demand the integration of social and environmental priorities. To this end, we examined the use of woo...

Ve studii jsou předloženy výsledky multidisciplinárních analýz nálezů z pěti velkých hrobů bylanské kultury, zachycených při výzkumu v trase obchvatu Kolína. Kromě keramických a kovových milodarů byla pozornost věnována antropologickým a archeozoologickým nálezům a reziduím organických materiálů na kovových předmětech. Sledovány byly také konstrukč...

We have compiled data on over 800,000 plant macroremains and their inclusions in pottery from 321 archaeological sites in the forest and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe, spanning from the Baltic to the Urals and which have been collected and studied in over a century of archaeobotanical research. The spatiotemporal distribution of these remai...

We have compiled data on over 800.000 plant macroremains and their inclusions in pottery from 321 archaeological sites in the forest and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe, spanning from the Baltic to the Urals and collected and studied over a century of archaeobotanical research. The spatiotemporal distribution of these remains was analysed usi...

The integration of archaeological, historical and geoarchaeological records represents a significant contribution to research into the medieval landscape. This study focuses on the medieval field system in the deserted village of Debrné, located in northeastern Bohemia, Czechia. The village features a well-preserved croft plužina field system, a ty...

This review delves into the changes in food consumption patterns over time in West Africa, emphasising the significant role played by archaeobotanical studies. West African food consumption has been influenced by various factors such as economic, environmental, and external influences. Our initial studies focused on plant and animal domestication a...

Book in the Czech language, English summary. Full-text PDF. The text of the book is split into four sections. The first section, The Prologue, is devoted to the history of research into the beginnings of agriculture. We consider it very important as without a detailed depiction of the development of concepts and historical research results it is no...

The second part of the monograph on the results of the archaeological research of Werkaure's mastaba (AC 26) and its surroundings in central Abusir focuses on the contexts dating back to the First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, and the first millennium BC. The focus of the work is on analyses concerning the secondary buri...

The Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology (LAPE), of the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (USB) was founded twenty years ago. The department is closely linked with the Institute of Archaeology of the USB in terms of staff and projects, which are mainly focused on the issues of paleoecology, archaeobo...

The reconstruction of the settlement´s hinterland and acquisition of plant resources is one of the crucial questions in the field of environmental archaeology. Our study is focused on the reconstruction of the settlement’s structure and character of the environment from which the site drew resources. These research questions were addressed by the i...

The Czech and English language versions of the book summarise the results of a five-year project by a team of landscape ecologists, archaeologists and historical geographers on the topic of historical field systems (Plužinas) in an accessible way for the general public. The preserved remnants of historical agricultural landscapes are valuable histo...

In 2022, the 19th IWGP conference in České Budějovice offered the results of archaeobotanical research on a global scale at a time characterized in our field as a time of integration of many special methods and collaborating disciplines. The Abstract Book offers primary information on topics and results. The scope of archaeobotanical research today...

The authors present a new, interdisciplinary project focusing on the interaction between people and the landscape within abandoned and populated villages following the founding of Niokola-Koba National Park in south-eastern Senegal. In this article, they assess anthropogenic transformations from geoarchaeological, ethnoarchaeological and ethnobotan...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

The book deals with the development of the field of archaeobotany with an emphasis on Czechia and the surrounding area. It introduces the Czech Republic to foreign readers from a geographical and historical perspective. It provides an overview of the history of archaeobotany and palaeoecology in Czechia and Slovakia from the earliest accidental fin...

Historical field systems are an essential part of the traditional cultural landscape of societies with primarily agricultural subsistence. They embody many functions and values, as they affect the productional, ecological and hydrological functioning of the landscape, its cultural values, the way people perceive the landscape, and their impact on p...

It is an honour and pleasure to invite you to the 19th Conference of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany (IWGP) which will be held in České Budějovice (Budweis in German), the capital of South Bohemia region and centre of academic life. IWGP in České Budějovice will offer the results of archaeobotanical research on a global scale at...

Settlement history is an interdisciplinary topic which connects history, archaeology, paleoecology, historical geography and other scientific disciplines. In Central Europe, one of important questions regards the dating of origin of medieval settlements. In 2020, our team published a study comparing the dating obtained from medieval written records...

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 u...

Geoarchaeological investigations on the northeastern shore of Lake Ohrid revealed 3.5 m thick deepwater lacustrine sediments overlying terrestrial vegetation macrofossils, worked wood and abundant potsherds dated to the Late Bronze Age (LBA). Distinct contact of deepwater sediment with the sub-aerial weathered limestone bedrock point to a sudden in...

Plužina, historický pojem a v přeneseném slova smyslu výrazný krajinný prvek nejen v České republice, ale i v celé střední Evropě, byla do nedávna z pohledu archeologie opomíjenou součástí historické kulturní krajiny. Zájem archeologů se upínal především na intravilán zaniklých vsí. Až díky pronikání metod environmentální archeologie do terénního v...

A jubilee Volume of IANSA 2020.1 editorial - a reflection on contemporary archaeology and the role of natural sciences

The historical field system of Valštejn represents one of the most extensive historical landscape complexes in the Czech Republic. Archaeological excavation of a former agricultural terrace (now a meadow) revealed the elaborate construction of a wall and stone foundation under the former arable field. This construction probably served for drainage...

Past human activities can be reflected in the elemental composition of contemporary soils. We asked how much historical land-use identified according to historical maps is reflected by the multi-elemental signatures of soils in an originally medieval village abandoned after WWII. Using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, we determined the content of 2...

In various research fields, from archaeology to landscape history and ecology, it is important to know the date of the origin of historical settlements (i.e. towns, villages, hamlets, isolated farms) as precisely as possible. In Central Europe, there are two primary ways to obtain the date when a settlement was founded: “historical dating” (based o...

Download ********* Catalogue Full PDF and ***Plans Full PDF download here: https://nju.jcu.cz/edice/archaeologia/the-neolithic-site-of-hrdlovka ********* This book presents a complex analysis of the Hrdlovka Neolithic settlement in Northwest Bohemia (Czech Republic). As the site was occupied without interruption from the Linear Pottery (Linearband...

The number of species of crop plants in Central Europe increased constantly during the Bronze Age. The structure of the composition of cultivated plants was probably connected to the cultural contacts of human populations. During the Bronze Age (2300/2000–800 BC), the region of South Bohemia (Czech Republic) increasingly became the focus of long-di...

Chemical analysis of archaeological objects is an important part of current investigations. In the presented study, a soil from an archaeological vessel from rescue excavation close to the village Držovice (Central Moravia Region, Czech Republic; findings dated to Eneolithic period) was analyzed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and firstl...

Истражувањата во 2017 година на локалитетот Врбјанска Чука кај Славеј, се надоврзаа на оние од претходната археолошка кампања, иако се добија многу позначајни податоци за стратиграфијата, архитектурата и стопанскиот живот во неолитот, доцната антика и средниот век. Тоа го овозможи мултидисциплинарниот пристап во истражувањата, коишто освен со елеме...

This paper is focused on the Neolithic tell-site of Vrbjanska Čuka in Pelagonia, Republic of Macedonia, where the authors have been performing archaeobotanical research since 2016. Results of the analyses of botanical macroremains and microremains (starch, phytoliths) and faunal microremains collected in season 2016 are presented in the broader con...

Editorial of the Special Issue of IANSA from Conference of Environmental Archaeology in Modena 2018

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 m...

In this study, a soil from two ceramic vessels belonging to Corded Ware culture, 2707–2571 B.C., found in a cremation grave discovered in Central Moravia, Czech Republic, was analyzed using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–mass spectrometry (MALDI–MS) combined with advanced statistical treatment (principal component analysis, PCA, and or...

Archaeobotanical micro-residuals are today a major focus in artefactual and bioarchaeological investigations. Though starch grains analysis may be regarded as marginal, it can be a useful analysis for archaeological research, being a method suitable for the investigation of stone artefacts and ceramic vessels. Soil samples and dental calculus can a...

Book in Czech language, English summary The text of the book is split into four sections. The first section, The Prologue, is devoted to history of research into the beginnings of agriculture. We consider it very important as without a detailed depiction of the development of concepts and historical research results it is not easy to understand th...

Prague Castle belongs to the most important historical sites in Central Europe. Archaeobotanical research here was started at the first half of 20th Century in context of long time archaeological field investigation. Archaeology recorded here the vast knowledge about the historical development stretching from the early medieval hillfort of Czech du...

Contribution comprises of an outline of bioarchaeological studies connected with the Neolithic settlements in the Balkans. A substantial proliferation of environmental studies is recorded in the last decade concerning archaeobotanical and archaeozoological evidence. Main attention is paid to archaeobotanical and archaeozoological studies which cons...

The research of Vrbjanska Čuka in 2017 continued those started the previous season, but resulted in much more significant data regarding stratigraphy, architecture and economy in the Neolithic, Late Classical period and Middle Age. They were enabled by the multidisciplinary approach by implementing archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, geomagnetic scannin...

Book review.

Background. In 2015, a paper on the archaeobotany as a key tool ‘for the understanding of the bio-cultural 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 I...

Book review

Paper with Czech and German summary deals with topic of the archaeopark Netolice, South Bohemia, Czech Republic, which is developed by teachers and students of archaeology at the University of South Bohemia. The park is situated directly on the early medieval hillfort Na Jánu in Netolice and is build by method of direct reconstruction.

The site Vrbjanska Čuka represents one of the more characteristic Neolithic settlements in Macedonia. It was discovered in 1977, throughout the building works. The excavations campaign were carried in 1979 to 1982, then in 1987 to 1989, whereupon it was confirmed that the site had several cultural layers dating from different periods, Medieval, Lat...

Editorial IANSA 2016.2

The importance of different cereals for human and animal nutrition in different historical periods has been frequently estimated according to the proportion of grains of individual cereal species from the total number of recorded grains in the archaeological assemblage. However, such presentations do not respect the differences in grain size among...

The paper is focused on the period of cultural change at the turn of 6th and 5th millennia BC, when the uniform Linear Pottery Culture (LBK) occupying an extensive area disintegrated in several local groups or cultures, including the Stroked Pottery Culture (SBK) emerging in the regions of Bohemia and Saxony. The data comprising pottery, animal bon...

This paper discusses the grinding stones deposit in feature 838 from the Neolithic site of Hrdlovka, northwest Bohemia, which spatially interferes with the longhouse 8 ground plan. According to the relative chronology, based on an analysis of the ceramics recovered from feature 838, the context belongs to the Late SBK, the last phase of Neolithic o...

The paper is focused on a comprehensive evaluation of medieval cesspit of house No. 7 in Krajinská Street in České Budějovice based on archaeological and environmental evidence. The fill of excavated contained smaller assemblages of pottery, glass, metal artefacts and organic matters – wood and charcoal dated to the High Middle Ages. Intact organic...

The changes in Central Europe at the end of the Linear Pottery Culture (LBK) are one of the most discussed issues in recent Neolithic archaeology. The initial uniformity, which was reflected in some aspects of material culture, seems to have fallen apart into smaller regional cultures. This paper aims to present recently analysed Stroked Pottery Cu...

Welcome to the first issue of IANSA 2015. Here, we present three general articles and the first series of papers connected with the activity of the Papaver Centre (one of which is a thematic review). This centre was founded in 2013 at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (Czech Republic), where it brings together natural scientists a...

Papaver Centre was constituted in 2013 at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Czech Republic. The name of centre represents common and interesting genus of plants which is distributed from Northern Africa across Europe to the polar latitudes. The aim of the Papaver Centre is to develop ties within the interdisciplinary team consist...

A thousand years old 105 cm deep deposit of bat guano in the Domica Cave (southern Slovakia, Slovak Karst National Park) has been discovered for science, and three samples were analysed for pollen to identify the bats’ preferred foraging habitats and for insect remains to identify their diet. The bat species concerned, Rhinolophus euryale, is rare...

The history of the barley use as a raw material for malt- and beer production in middle ages and early modern era was still in the environment of the czech lands constructed solely on the basis of archival records and historical pictures. Less importance was given to archaeological finds. Unjustly neglected remained finds of botanical macro remains o...

Dear colleagues, It has been already ten years when group of several Czech palaeoecologists, archaeobotanists and archaeologists met together for the first time under the platform called the Archaeobotanical Working Group. It was in 2005. After several very simple and modestly organized meetings our group was transformed into the Conference of Envi...

Chapter from book by J. Krejčí et al. deals with macroremain analysis of mud bricks from the Old Kingdom strata of Wercaure tomb in Abusir, Egypt. The main goal of this study is to use data from mud bricks for environmental and agricultural reconstruction. At the same time, we aim to determine differences among mud bricks, in particular archaeologi...

The article presents the methodological approach used in the case of a Neolithic building complex, where the subject of investigation is the long tripartite house III from the Hrdlovka site in the Czech Republic. A method of chronological analysis is suggested and demonstrated. The site located in northwest Bohemia was excavated in the area of an o...

This volume contains a series of papers devoted to geoarchaeology and zooarchaeology. In accordance with a decision made two years ago, the geographical scope of articles in Interdiscipliaria Archaeologica (IANSA) is not limited. This fact is demonstrated by the first paper describing interrelations between El Niño climatic phenomenon and human occ...

Version of the Preusz et al. 2014 with 3D picture, which should be open directly with Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader. Abstract of the article: The South Bohemian town of Český Krumlov, a UNESCO world heritage site, the former residence of the noble family of the Rosenbergs, is a unique mirror of the Bohemian Renaissance and Baroque. Extremely rich a...

The South Bohemian town of Český Krumlov, a UNESCO world heritage site, the former residence of the noble family of the Rosenbergs, is a unique mirror of the Bohemian Renaissance and Baroque. Extremely rich archives, maintained by both the town and the nobility, were for a long time the only sources providing evidence about the everyday life during...

The monograph evaluates the results of the archaeological research in the area of the Fifth-Dynasty Tomb AC 26 (formerly known as Pyramid Lepsius no. 23) and Late Sixth-Dynasty structures AC 32 carried out by the Czech Institute of Egyptology during three archaeological seasons from 2006 until 2009. The publication focuses on archaeological context...

Objectives This contribution is not meant to be a complete review of the subject. Rather, it aims to point out some basic issues connected with the Neolithic longhouse phenomenon. The-se are briefly discussed on the basis of the lit-erature along with authors' own data from the Neolithic site of Hrdlovka, Czech Republic, which chronologically belon...

Article describes archaeobotanical investigations in Santa Severa (ancient submerged port Pyrgi, Italy) namely infill of the well 112, dated archaeologically to the Etruscan period. Analytical study that was undertaken during September 2013 highlights possibility of systematic studies of those features estimating their contribution in area of subsi...

The site of Hrdlovka (NW Bohemia) was excavated during salvage actions between 1987 and 1991. The site offered 16 complete Neolithic houses (from 71 partially recorded houses registered in trenches). One-half of houses could be dated to the Stroked Pottery period. Main goal of the project is to analyse the Neolithic components in context of current...

In terms of origin, grasslands in Central Europe can be classified into (i) natural grasslands, predetermined by environmental conditions and wild herbivores; (ii) seminatural grasslands, associated with long-term human activity from the beginning of agriculture during the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition; and (iii) improved (intensive) grasslands,...

During Early Modern period animal farming was an important part of the urban economy. Traces of this relationship of towns people to animals can therefore be traced not only in historical reports, but also in archaeological contexts. Due to discovery of animal bones during the archaeological research of house no. 55 in Latrán in Český Krumlov, a te...

The royal town of Chrudim is situated in Eastern Bohemia. The Hradební street excavation in Chrudim was an extensive and complex archaeological event ever excavated in the town centre. The cesspit 938 was very well preserved. Circularly constructed stone feature was 1,7 m in diameter and 6,5 m deep. The cesspit originally contained a soft infill,...

Souběžná anglická předmluva

Editorial of IANSA 2013.2 concerning scientific approach in archaeology and 19th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. Article discusses the role of scientifically based archaeology in current research.

(Paper in Czech with German summary) The paper presents the results of analysis of a small amount of randomly selected charcoal and caryopses from feature 1 at Slepotice in the Pardubice region and animal bones from Roman period features investigated at the same settlement. In addition to alder and oak charcoal, the collection of discovered macrore...

Laboratory profile. Ten years anniversary of the research laboratory.

Until now, relatively little attention has been paid to the origin and history of grasslands in Central Europe and to the sources of information that can be used for such study. The aim of this review was to discuss the origin of natural and semi-natural grasslands in Central Europe. Without any written records, grassland history can be studied usi...

Small archaeological excavation in Volary town outside the church of Saint Catherine was made in 2001. In trench 12 incomplete skeletons with several other 1–4 individuals as admixture were unearthed. Burials have been dated according to stratigraphy, material equipment and local history context in the 16th – 17th century. Anthropological investiga...

The life and professional career of Marek Zvelebil (1952–2011) unexpectedly came to an end in Sheffield one year ago. Our journal commented on this sad event immediately in the form of an obituary. We made mention of Marek Zvelebil's important research advances as well as certain key events in his life. The scientific impact of his well-known conce...

This paper describes distribution and use of barley in prehistory and the Early Middle Ages in the context of the development of agriculture and landscape. Study focused on Central Europe, but also other European areas. Based on the analysis of archaeobotanic findings of barley, an interesting history of this key crop can be traced – from the intro...

In the Early Modern period, Prague Castle was not only the core of the Bohemian Kingdom, but also one from centres of the economic and political life for all of central Europe. In recent decades, archaeological excavations discovered valuable features and deposits with archaeobotanical assemblages containing unusual and exotic plants, some of them...

The paper introduces results of the survey of the Lake of Abusir, performed by the Czech Institute of Egyptology over the last few years. A detailed sedimentological description of four trenches located within the area of the so-called Lake of Abusir is given, together with the micromorphological results of selected strata, molluscs and archaeobota...