Mauro Paolo Buonincontri

The development of the international project "Pursuing Public Health in the Preindustrial World, 1100-1800," funded by the Australian Research Council (DP220102914), offered the Siena Unit research team the opportunity to investigate the topic of pre-modern public health, so far largely centred on cities, by studying the case of the rural community...

In central Italy, the Charterhouse of Calci hosts the Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa. This monumental monastery was founded in 1366 by Carthusian monks. The Charterhouse has experienced various transformations over the centuries, until its abandonment in the 1970s. Since 2018, interdisciplinary archaeological research focused on t...

Fagus sylvatica is one of the most representative trees of the European deciduous broadleaved forests, yet the impact of changing climatic conditions and anthropogenic pressures (anthromes) on its presence and distribution in the coastal and lowland areas of the Mediterranean Basin has long been overlooked. Here, we first analysed the local forest...

Two stages of high-discharge fluvial deposition during the last phase of the Late Holocene are recorded in the infilling of a palaeochannel in the distal reach of the Pecora river, a small catchment along the Tyrrhenian coast of Tuscany (Central Italy). Facies analysis shows an abrupt change from high sinuosity gravelly-sandy river (III-I millenniu...

Charcoal analysis, applied in sediment facies analysis of the Pecora river palaeochannel (Tyrrhenian southern Tuscany, Italy), detected the occurrence of past fire events in two different fluvial landforms at 800–450 BC and again at AD 650–1300. Taking place in a central Mediterranean district adequately studied through palaeoenvironmental and arch...

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 paper, we propose the application—for the first time in the Mediterranean area—of the combination of the study of chemical residues in floors and ceramics, with the aim of providing information about the activities carried out in archeological buildings. We chose the Garum Shop at Pompeii to test the method. In fact, due to the peculiarity...

Although domestication of the grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) has been extensively documented, the history of genotype selection and evolution of vineyard management remain relatively neglected fields of study. The find of 454 waterlogged grapevine pips from a well-dated Etrusco-Roman site in the Chianti district (Tuscany, Central Italy) is an extrao...

Detailed methodology adopted for molecular analysis. Ancient DNA extraction, PCR, capillary electrophoresis and data analysis procedures are reported. (DOCX)

Microsatellite markers used for archaeological grape pips genotyping. Locus name, primer sequences (5’–3’), tested annealing temperatures (Ta) and references are reported. The asterisked loci amplified in aDNA analysis. (DOCX)

Anthracological analysis was carried out in the archaeological site of Punta di Zambrone on the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria in southern Italy. Archaeological excavation documented at the site settlement deposits dated mainly to Early Bronze Age (EBA, 21st–18th century BC) and the Recent Bronze Age (RBA, 13th to early 12th century BC). In the phase...

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...

This paper presents the preliminary results of the analysis of charcoal remains from the Neolithic cinnabar mine of Spaccasasso. Cinnabar is a mineral that was used as a pigment by different cultures worldwide since the Neolithic period. Firesetting was one of the most common mining techniques used for breaking rock to extract ores and minerals fro...

A multiproxy approach based on archaeobotanical, organic residue and isotopic analyses was carried out on materials from 12 Medieval archaeological sites in Tuscany (central Italy), in order to provide a diachronic overview of local diet in rural and urban sites from the mid-eighth to the fourteenth centuries AD. Archaeobotanical analyses were appl...

Under the aegis of the ongoing international Oplontis Project we carried out organic residue analyses on thirteen samples from eleven Dressel 2–4 amphorae recovered at Villa B at Oplontis (Torre Annunziata, Southern Italy) in order to identify their content and to characterize their visible lining. Although the content of Dressel 2–4 amphorae is us...

This paper presents the results of inter-disciplinary work drawing on archaeobotanical and archaeometric studies to trace the agroforestry landscape and the supply economy at the vicus of Thamusida in north-west Morocco at the border of the Roman Empire. The available data indicate the self-sufficiency of the settlement in both forestry and agricul...

Ancient cultural practices are still maintained in the vineyards of Ischia, shaping a particular cultural landscape and defending a valuable heritage that is rapidly vanishing elsewhere. In other areas of Italy, the methods of cultivation and the range of grape varieties have been simplify ed and standardized, but here the rare survival of traditio...

Il Progetto SINERGIA ("Sistemi Innovativi per la produzione di energia Rinnovabile attraverso la Gestione di Impianti di Arboricoltura a ciclo breve") è stato concepito con lo scopo di collaudare e promuovere presso gli operatori del settore agro-forestale le tecniche più idonee per la gestione di piantagioni arboree a turno breve e documentare le...

Anthracological analysis has been carried out in the Medieval site of Miranduolo, a rural settlement in southern Tuscany with a sequence of occupation between the 7th and 14th century AD. Between the 7th and mid-9th century AD, during the phase of a Lombard farming village, the strong presence of Castanea sativa as timber for building showed that c...

Anthracological analysis has been carried out in three sites located on the Tyrrhenian coast of central Italy (ancient northern Etruria: the castle of Donoratico, the town of Populonia and the port of Alberese), spanning between the Roman Republican Period and the Late Middle Ages (3rd century bc–13th century ad). The integrated comparison of three...

Plant macrofossil (carpological) and morpho-metric analyses were carried out on plant remains from the medieval castle of Miranduolo, Siena, a rural settlement in central Italy with a long sequence of occupation between the 8th and the 11th centuries A.D. The presence of Triticum aestivum/durum and Vicia faba var. minor from the first phase of the...

The Colline Metallifere district (southern Tuscany, Italy) has been for centuries, at least from the Etruscan period, a major producer of iron, base- and precious metals. In the Middle Ages exploitation was particularly focused on Cu-Pb-Ag(Zn) deposits for coin production. Starting from the IX-X cent. AD a number of castles were built by aristocrat...

In order to detect land use and forest cover changes from the 3rd century BC to the half of the 13th century AD in a coastal/sub-coastal area of northern Maremma, charcoal analysis were carried out on two archaeological sites dated between Roman period and Late Middle Age. From the 3rd century BC to the end of Roman Age (6th century AD), the vegeta...

Cultural landscapes were prominent during the Early Roman period when agronomic knowledge allowed the spread of intensive land exploitation in most of the available land. The aim of this contribution is to explore whether for the Campania region (Southern Italy) archaeoenvironmental data would support continuity or change in the cultural landscape...

The aim of this work in progress is to study vegetation and forest cover changes in a large area in Southern Tuscany (Central Italy) by means of charcoal analysis with an innovative multiple site approach. Charcoal remains come from six archaeological sites, dated between the 6 th -5 th c. BC to the 15 th c. AD, from Etruscan period to Middle Age....

This line of research was developed following the recovery of some Vitis vinifera L. seeds from medieval excavations ir the castle of Miranduolo (Chiusdino, SI) and in Via de' Castellani in Florence: these latter ones showed characteristics of waterlogged conservation, suitable for recovery of ancient DNA.

The Miranduolo (Siena) castle’s excavation has highlighted a considerable number of structures used as foodstuff warehouse. Inside the defended area, near to the lord’s family house, behind the wall, an area used for the storage of food was found. Among the cereals prevail naked wheats, Secale cereale, Hordeum vulgare, Triticum monococcum and occas...