Stefanie Jacomet

University of Basel | UNIBAS · Department of Environmental Sciences

Pests appear to have accompanied humans and their crops since the beginning of farming. Nevertheless, their study is only rarely integrated into research on farming in prehistory. An assemblage of invertebrates and small mammals was recovered from the waterlogged layers of three wells at the Middle Neolithic site (4250–3700 cal B.C.) of Les Bagnole...

The existence of Mesolithic agriculture is a subject of debate in the archaeobotanist community. So far, reliable and AMS-dated on-site evidence of cereal macro remains are lacking to support the hypothesis. Archaeobotanical analysis of two rock shelters with Mesolithic occupation layers in NE-France and SW-Switzerland, namely Lutter, Abri St. Jose...

Previous reviews of Middle Neolithic agricultural practice (4400-3500 cal bc) in southern France have highlighted a change in crop assemblages after 4000 cal bc, with a reduction of naked wheat and an increase of emmer and partly of einkorn. The recent investigation of three wells from the site of Les Bagnoles (4250-3800 cal bc) in the periphery of...

https://presses-universitaires.univ-amu.fr/bagnoles-a-lisle-sorgue

Circumalpine lakeside settlements have been declared Unesco world heritage in 2011. Their importance is mainly due to waterlogged preservation of organic material and hence the outstanding potential of these sites for performing detailed archaeological studies of prehistoric societies. However, the details of the taphonomic processes (depositional...

Plant foods have sustained human populations for millennia across the globe. Project PLANTCULT: Investigating the Food Cultures of Ancient Europe, funded by the European Research Council aims to investigate plant ingredients, plant foods and their culinary transformation and change through time. Through an interdisciplinary investigation of plant f...

There is an ongoing discussion about how organic material is preserved in settlement layers on lakeshores. Different scenarios have been suggested; was a permanent water cover needed at all times, or were there episodical water level fluctuations? In this paper, we use aquatic and wetland plants to shed light on layer formation processes of complex...

The site of Parkhaus Opéra is located on the north-eastern shore of Lake Zürich (Switzerland) and was documented during a rescue excavation in 2010 and 2011 by the Office for Urbanism, City of Zürich. Two charred bread-like objects were found in late Neolithic Layer 13 of the pile-dwelling, and are investigated using a novel set of analyses for cer...

Cavity measurements of find no. 2907. Raw data of the histogram in Figs 16 and 18. (XLSX)

Particle measurements of find no. 2285. Raw data of the histogram in Figs 13 and 17. (XLSX)

Cavity measurements of find no. 2285. Raw data of the histogram in Figs 14 and 18. (XLSX)

Particle measurements of find no. 2907. Raw data of the histogram in Figs 15 and 17. (XLSX)

Plant foods are closely connected to cultural, social and economic aspects of human societies, both past and present. Food-preparation techniques and the etiquette of consumption involve complex interactions of natural resources and human cultures. During European prehistory, these changes included the shift to sedentism, the cultivation and domest...

Layer taphonomy is one of the major questions in the archaeological research of lakeshore settlements. How fast did these deposits develop? Were they exposed to periodic droughts and decay? Which amount of the originally deposited remains survived until present? Plant macroremains have a great potential as indicators of preservation quality, since...

For the archaeobotanical analysis of waterlogged sediments, which are usually very rich in organic remains, subsampling is often necessary. Subsampling strategies for this kind of material are mostly based on non-empirical experience and have rarely been tested. In this paper, we compare results from small-volume subsamples with those from the larg...

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCa5oKgA0PM ------------ Wash-over sieving is the only sieving method which does not impact fragile archaeobotanical material (Hosch and Zibulski 2003, Zibulski 2010). We present in this movie the general handling of archaeobotanical samples and all necessary steps of the wash-over sieving in order to ext...

This paper provides a reference to estimate the representation of large-sized items (seeds and fruits, mainly) in samples of larger and smaller volume in wetland sites with the aim of proposing a minimum sample size to recover these remains in a representative way. For this, almost 100 samples from a late Neolithic settlement phase found at the lak...

This chapter provides a synthesis of palynological, archaeological, botanical, dendroecological and zoological data on the local development of the environment and landscape under human impact during the Neolithic.

This paper is an in-depth analysis of the taphonomy of the site and in particular of the best preserved layer 13. Few settlements have experienced a comparable interdisciplinary study on the mechanisms that governed the deposition of the archaeological remains.

The first part of the book contains chapters on Pollen Chironomids Botanical remains (the largest dataset on plant remains from a waterlogged settlement ever collected) Animal bones Small animal remains such as fish, molluscs, mice... Insects Human bones Parasitology Mycology Find distribution mechanisms The second part contains six syntheses on Ta...

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Getreide gehören weltweit zu den wichtigsten Grundnahrungsmitteln. Trotzdem ist wenig darüber bekannt, in welcher Form sie in vorgeschichtlicher Zeit konsumiert wurden. Das am IPNA durchgeführte Arbeitstreffen brachte deshalb internationale Experten und Expertinnen von botanischen Makroresten (Samen, Früchte usw.), Mikroresten ( St...

The record of prehistoric crop cultivation in central Europe dates as far back as 5500 bc. In the pile-dwellings of the north-western pre-alpine forelands, dating roughly from 4300 to 800 bc, favourable taphonomic conditions provide evidence for the ways of cereal cultivation and consumption in unmatched detail. Based on different sets of (bio-) ar...

This article brings together in a comprehensive way, and for the first time, on- and off-site palaeoenvironmental data from the area of the Central European lake dwellings (a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site since 2011). The types of data considered are as follows: high-resolution off-site pollen cores, including micro-charcoal counts, and on-si...

Despite excellent preservation conditions, the taphonomy of wetland settlement layers at lakes in Central Europe (“pile dwellings”, UNESCO world cultural heritage) is not well understood. In order to improve this situation, an SNF-funded project was started by an interdisciplinary team at IPAS (project nr. CR30I2_149679/1). Aim of this project is t...

We present new evidence of the intentional use of cereal by-products at Stare gmajne, an Eneolithic pile-dwelling site in Slovenia, dated approximately 3160–3100 cal bc. The chaff material, which had been used for tempering, was discovered inside one of the largest discovered loom-weights and analysed. Clay, which was used by the dwellers to make t...

Although cereals are among the most important staple foods worldwide, we know little about how they were prepared for consumption in prehistoric times. That is wh international experts on macrobotanical remains (seeds, fruits etc.), microfossils (starch granules and phytoliths), and on use-wear analysis morphotechnology of grinding devices were inv...

A specific sediment sampling strategy was applied to a late Neolithic settlement phase (dendrodated to around 3160 BC) in the pile-dwelling site of Parkhaus Opéra (Zürich, Switzerland). It consisted in a systematic collection of over 2100 large-volume samples (3-10L) in an area of ~3000m2, of which 255 were selected for archaeobotanical analysis. O...

The archaeobotanical (seeds and fruits) dataset of the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula for the Neolithic period is presented and discussed in this paper in order to approach how early farmers produced their crops and how farming spread in the region. Ten crop plants were identified, including cereals (Triticum aestivum/durum/turgidum L., Triticu...

Volume measurements in archaeobotany are not performed uniformly. The goal of this paper therefore is to test the different known methods and to define the obtained differences, in order to make the density values (remains per litre of sediment) for plant macroremains in the samples comparable between sites. Three methods of volume measurement were...

The sieving process has a considerable influence on the subsequently retrieved archaeobotanical data. As known from earlier work, the wash-over method is the most suitable method to extract plant macroremains from waterlogged sediments. This paper presents an experiment in which it was tested if different sievers using this method produced comparab...

The archaeobotanical record of 24 sites from the Neolithic period (5400–2300 cal bc) in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula is evaluated. Remarkable amounts of data have recently been obtained for the early and middle Neolithic phases. Most of the studied sites were dry and they only yielded charred plant material. Among dry sites, several type...

Les données archéobiologiques (botaniques et zoologiques) permettent de reconstituer plusieurs aspects de l’alimentation, de la prédation à la gestion des espaces agro-pastoraux. Dans ce sens, les sites des bords de lacs suisses offrent une information extrêmement riche, en particulier sur l’introduction de l’agriculture et de l’élevage. À la suite...

Earth buildings are among the richest sources of archaeobotanical materials from the recent past. Thus, mudbrick constructions are extremely rich in plant materials, especially chaff, straw, fruits and seeds. Recovery of these remains enables us to gain a comprehensive insight into the contemporary floras of past settlements and their surroundings....

A combined analysis of the faunal and charred plant macroremains from the early Neolithic lakeshore site of La Draga (Banyoles, Spain) is presented. The aim was to characterise the farming strategies practiced by the first Neolithic communities in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula in terms of their degree of intensity. The joint discussion of...

An interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological, historical, and ethnological data is used in the attempt to draw a general image of the role of bladdernut (Staphylea pinnata) in past societies. The purposes encountered in this literature study extend from nutritional and medicinal uses to particular ritual/religious aspects, incorporating a...

The ancient lake settlement tradition is not characteristic of one particular geographical area or time period, but it is spread over various European regions and dates from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages (Menotti and O’Sullivan 2013). Already in the 19th century, lake settlements were discovered in the Baltic region as well as elsewhere. Althoug...

Abstract: We present new evidence of an intentional use of cereal by-products at Stare gmajne, a Late Neolithic (Eneolithic) pile-dwelling site in Slovenia (dated app. 3150 – 3100 cal. BC). The chaff material for tempering loam-weights was discovered inside one of the largest discovered weights, and analysed. Clay, which was used by the dwellers to...

The SNF project 'Formation and taphonomy of archaeological wetland deposits: two transdisciplinary case studies and their impact on lakeshore archaeology' aims to develop new methodolocical standards for a better understanding of layer formation processes in archaeological wetland deposits. The site belongs to the 111 sites of the Unesco World Heri...

Excellently preserved animal bone and antler artifacts are numerous among the archaeological finds in Neolithic Alpine lakeshore settlements. Use-wear and production traces on the surface of these artifacts include cuttings and hammer or grinding traces; there are also large bright and shiny areas. We have explored the origin of such shiny surfaces...

De 2005 à 2011, une équipe d'archéologues français et suisses est venue chaque année effectuer une fouille dans un modeste abri sous roche du Jura alsacien, l'abri Saint-Joseph à Lutter. Ils y ont découvert de nombreux vestiges témoignant d'occupations multiples qui s'échelonnent entre 8500 av. J.-C., à l'ère des chasseurs-cueilleurs, et les premiè...

This paper presents the multi-disciplinary sampling strategy that has been applied at the archaeological site of La Draga during the last three fieldwork campaigns (2010–2012). A preliminary evaluation of the results is presented in order to discuss the efficiency of the strategy in answering the outlined scientific questions. The strategies applie...

This paper presents the multidisciplinary sampling strategy that has been applied at the archaeological site of La Draga during the last three fieldwork campaigns (2010–2012). A preliminary evaluation of the results is presented in order to discuss the efficiency of the strategy in answering the outlined scientific questions. The strategies applied...

Waterlogged sites represent an invaluable source of archaeological data. Houses dated to exact calendar years by dendrochronology yield countless artefacts and well preserved organic remains. In 150 years of research, a wealth of economic, environmental and chronological information on the circumalpine Neolithic and Bronze Age has been accumulated....

The part of environmental archaeology which concerns the study of plant macroremains (mainly seeds and wood) preserved on, or in association with, archaeological sites is archaeobotany or paleoethnobotany. It is mainly interested in the activities carried out by past populations, of which by far the most important one is subsistence. This means: wh...

The Oxford History of Wetland Archaeology is a comprehensive survey of global wetland archaeology. Well known for the spectacular quality of its surviving evidence, from both an archaeological and environmental perspective, wetland archaeology enables scholars to investigate and reconstruct past people's dwellings, landscapes, material culture, and...

We present the results of a plant macroremain study of the late Neolithic lakeshore settlement Stare gmajne (SG) at Ljubljansko barje, Slovenia, with cultural horizons that ended around 3330 and 3110 cal. b.c., as obtained by dendrochronological and radiocarbon dating of the most frequent construction timbers of Quercus sp. (oak) and Fraxinus sp. (...

The Mespilus (medlar) fruit tree, non-native in Europe, is generally believed to have been introduced to central Europe during the Roman occupation of the region. Archaeobotanical remains of medlar are generally rare, resulting in a patchy knowledge of its early distribution. We here report the earliest finds of Mespilus seeds of the 2nd century a....

Landschafts- und Ressourcennutzung sind nicht nur klimatisch, topographisch oder wirtschaftlich determiniert, sondern sie sind auch von unterschiedlichsten soziokulturellen Faktoren abhängig. Ob und in welcher Weise die archäologische Forschung soziokulturelle Aspekte in die Rekonstruktion neolithischer Landschafts- und Ressourcennutzung einbezieht...

Neolithic lake shore settlements offer excellent preservation conditions for organic finds (e.g. wood, botanical remains, animal bones, etc.) which mostly occur in uncarbonised form. These organic remains provide exact dendrochronological dating and detailed information about nutrition of the people and their environment. We use this excellent data...

This paper presents the first comparable overview of different recovery techniques used for waterlogged Neolithic sediments in the surroundings of the Alps in the last decades. Such an investigation became necessary because it was not known which parts of plants and types of remains were absent or completely underrepresented due to inappropriate re...