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Mercuri et al. Multifunctional HOLOCENE

July 2019
The Holocene

DOI:10.1177/0959683619826631

Authors:

Anna Maria Mercuri

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

Florenzano Assunta

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

Gabriel Servera-Vives

University of the Balearic Islands

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.

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From influence to impact: The multifunctional land use in Mediterranean prehistory emerging from

palynology of archaeological sites (8.0-2.8 ka BP) / 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. - In: THE HOLOCENE. - ISSN 0959-6836. -

29:5(2019), pp. 830-846. [10.1177/0959683619826631]

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For Peer Review

From influence to impa

ct: the multifunctional land

use in

Mediterranean prehistory emerging from palynology of

archaeological sites (8.0-2.8 ka BP)

Journal:

The Holocene

Manuscript ID

HOL-18-0100

Manuscript Type:

Paper

Date Submitted by the Author:

31-May-2018

Complete List of Authors:

Mercuri, Anna Maria; University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Museum of

Palaeobiology and Botanic Garden

Florenzano, Assunta; University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Museum of

Palaeobiology and Botanic Garden

Burjachs, Francesc; Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats,

Humanities; IPHES, Archaeobotany

Giardini, Marco; Sapienza University, Biologia Ambientale

Kouli, Katerina; National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Faculty of

Geology and Geoscience

Masi, Alessia ; Universita degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza Facolta di

Scienze Matematiche Fisiche e Naturali, of Environmental Biology

Picornell, Llorenç; Universitat de les Illes Balears, Departament de Ciències

Històriques i Teoria de les Arts

Revelles, Jordi; Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Departament de

Prehistoria

Sadori, Laura; Sapienza University, Biologia Vegetale

Servera-Vives, Gabriel; Universitat de les Illes Balears, Ciences Historiques

i Teoria de les Arts

Torri, Paola; University Modena and Reggio Emilia, Laboratorio di

Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita

Fyfe, Ralph; University of Plymouth,

Keywords:

sustainable farming, pollen, charcoal, Holocene, Neolithic, Bronze Age

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, 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 oak woods 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

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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 diffused pattern of land use involving a combination

of diverse activities, using trees-cereals-domesticate 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

largely adopted for millennia being more sustainable than the monoculture

and a promising way to develop our economy.

Note: The following files were submitted by the author for peer review, but cannot be converted to

PDF. You must view these files (e.g. movies) online.

Fig. 4 corretta.jpg

Fig. 8 - Off sites.jpg

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From influence to impact: the multifunctional land-use in Mediterranean

prehistory emerging from palynology of archaeological sites (8.0-2.8 ka BP)

A.M. Mercuri

, A. Florenzano

, F. Burjachs

, M. Giardini

, K. Kouli

, A. Masi

, L. Picornell-Gelabert

, J.

Revelles

, L. Sadori

, G. Servera-Vives

, P. Torri

, R. Fyfe

Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia,

Italy

Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain; Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i

Evolució Social (IPHES), Tarragona, Spain; Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain

Laboratorio di Paleobotanica e Palinologia, Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Italy

Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

ArqueoUIB Research Group. Departament de Ciències Històriques i Teoria de les Arts, Universitat de les Illes Balears.

Carretera de Valldemossa Km 7,5, CP07122, Mallorca, Spain

Departament de Prehistòria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL48AA, UK

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, 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 oak

woods 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 diffused pattern of land use involving a combination of diverse activities, using trees-crops-

domesticate 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 largely adopted for millennia being more sustainable than the

monoculture and a promising way to develop our economy.

Key words: sustainable farming, pollen, charcoal, Holocene, Neolithic, Bronze age

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INTRODUCTION

According to FAO/UNEP, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change Special Report on Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (IPCC, 1999), land-use is ‘the

total of arrangements, activities, and inputs that people undertake in a certain land cover type’ (FAO/UNEP,

1999). Land use is thus a concept that depends on both plant cover (Nature) and human activities (Culture).

The availability of natural resources relies on ecological and phytogeographical diversity. At different

latitudes, species distributions are controlled by moisture availability, nutrient supply and light exposure.

Each environment has distinct geomorphological characteristics and soil types which can influence land

cover. Each of these features allows, or may trigger, a certain type of land use. As in the suggestive title

“Fields of Change” edited by Cappers (2005), it is evident that our (cultural – agrarian) land uses have been,

and still are, subjected to transformations under environmental-climatic as well as socio-economic changes.

Several categories of land-use are identified by the IPPC report that point to an Increasing Intensity of Use

(IIU): from deserts, non-forest wooded lands or wetlands, to forestry, land under shifting cultivation,

temporary fallow, permanent pastures, permanent or temporary crops and the modern

(residential/industrial/transportation) facilities.

In the past, and even today, our behaviour must have been determined by the primary needs of our species

(sensu Maslow, 1943) including water, food, clothing and shelter. Plants have been especially responsible

for the development and success of different land-use strategies, from hunting and gathering to crop

cultivation to farming and forestry, to the management and shaping of landscapes. From an ecological

approach (Faegri et al., 1989), the direct and indirect consequences of human activities on the environment

are expected to drive changes in vegetation cover on a long-term perspective. Mercuri et al. (2010: 861)

observed that land uses might have low influence or high impact depending on the scale (space) and

duration (time) of the human presence/action in a given territory; this produces different effects on the

environment. As a result of this human influence or impact on plant cover may be variable and not always

detectable over a large area, far from settlements or productive areas.

Succession from simple to complex forms of land exploitation, local and regional differences, and intensity

of use are often obtained by the comparison between on-site and off-site pollen records. The degree of

understanding of the ecological, formal and cognitive levels of cultural landscapes depends on the

chronology and contexts (Mercuri, 2014). Classically, the synanthropic and cultural plants from

archaeological sites (on-site) provide local signals of the human role in past vegetation history, while off-

site palynology is used as a measure of this role over large areas (Jahns, 1993, 2005; Mercuri et al., 2002;

Colombaroli et al., 2008; Kouli and Dermitzakis, 2008; Vannière et al., 2008; Vescovi et al., 2010; Marinova

et al., 2012; Pepe et al., 2013; Mercuri and Sadori, 2014; Weiberg et al., 2016; Sabato et al. 2015; Revelles

et al., 2018). Human action is evident from archaeology, and human-induced changes in flora composition

and vegetation cover should have occurred earlier near settlements and in the places that today we call

‘archaeological sites’, and then spread to the surrounding area leaving increasingly visible traces in

sedimentary archives (Mercuri et al., 2012). Hence, the study of land-uses may be notably improved by

archaeopalynology: the analysis of pollen from archaeological sites (Faegri et al., 1989). From the one-site

to one-area approach, if the interdisciplinary study of one archaeological site shows local space-time events

and the behaviour of a few people, the integration of data from many sites enables regional and cross-

cultural landscape reconstructions (Mercuri, 2008; see also the multi-point and multi-site sampling

concepts of palynology in Mercuri et al., 2015c: 237; on pollen sampling strategy see also Fig. 2 in Mercuri,

2014).

Pollen as ‘land-use’ evidence

Starting from general knowledge on botany and ecology, pollen taxa are commonly grouped into sums

useful for environmental and land-use reconstructions. Particular pollen taxa whose presence or

abundance is linked to human presence and land uses have been identified as Anthropogenic Pollen

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Indicators by Behre (1981). They are a substantial, intrinsic part of past pollen diagrams in the

Mediterranean area, because people generated impressive patterns of landscape complexity, and the

flora/vegetation have pervasively been transformed by cultural waves during the Holocene (Zohary and

Hopf, 2000; Mercuri et al., 2011; Roberts et al., 2011). The main sums for environmental reconstructions

are the arboreal or woody plant (AP, with upland forest, mixed deciduous forest, Mediterranean forest or

shrubland and macchia), and the wetland plants (with riverine wood and hydro-hygrophilous herbs) (Kouli

et al., in press). The sum of steppic indicators showing open landscapes, dominated by grasses and steppe

elements (Non-Arboreal pollen, NAP) is quite ambiguous as most taxa can be regarded as composed of wild

steppe and grassland vegetation types or wild synanthropic, i.e. anthropogenic, species (Mercuri et al.,

2013b). For example, the presence of steppe indicators (Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae, Apiaceae) during the

Younger Dryas cool-oscillation, despite the recovery of many settlements in the Italian peninsula (Mussi

and Peresani, 2011), may reasonably be regarded as evidence of natural vegetation favoured by both the

climate and presence of large herds of herbivores needing and maintaining open grasslands until the

Pleistocene/Holocene transition (Burney and Flannery, 2005). Similarly, the AP curve can be a result of

climate (e.g. Sadori et al., 2016) or human action in the case of trees exploitation to wood management

(Mercuri and Sadori, 2014; and see, for example, the wood management of the Terramare culture: Mercuri

et al. 2006a, 2015a). However, unlike off-site records, trends in wild anthropogenic taxa and the AP pollen

sum from archaeological sites can be used as unambiguous indicators of human actions (Mercuri et al.,

2013b: 150).

The main sums for land-use reconstructions are the cultivated plants (trees and other woody species, and

annual or perennial herbs) and the synanthropic plants. Weeds and ruderals growing within farming

contexts and open disturbed ground are the main contingent of wild synanthropic plants (secondary

anthropogenic indicators sensu Behre, 1990). Altogether, pollen from cultivated and synanthropic species

form the sum of Anthropogenic Pollen Indicators (API) associated with human activities (Behre, 1981;

Lopez-Saez et al., 2006; see Mercuri et al., 2013b for ubiquitous pollen taxa in archaeological sites of Italy).

The OJC group, including Olea, Juglans and Castanea pollen, is an important marker of increasing

anthropization in the Mediterranean area (Mercuri et al., 2013a; Florenzano et al., 2017) being sometimes

constituted by the three curves (as in central Italy: Mercuri et al., 2002; Stoddart et al., this issue), or

coinciding with only one or two of these tree pollen. Other woody plants, such as Vitis and Corylus, when

cultivated, may be important cultural markers while the woody plants collected in the wild may be

significant even if rare (e.g. Cornus, Prunus and Rubus).

Cereals (cerealia-type; primary anthropogenic indicators sensu Behre, 1990) are considered among the

clearest signal of agrarian land use. As many cereals are low pollen producers, they indicate crop fields and

agricultural systems in a site/region even if under-represented in pollen spectra. Other sums are more

focused on reconstructing pastoral and breeding activities. The Local Pastoral Pollen Indicators (LPPI) and

Regional Human Activities Pollen Indicators (RHAPI) are indices that are used to infer local pastoral

activities and background human activities respectively (Mazier et al., 2009). The Pollen Disturbance Index

(PDI) includes selected pollen taxa that have been correlated with pastoral activities in the Hellenic

peninsula (e.g. some Sarcopoterium, Plantago and Polygonum species; Bottema, 1982; Bottema and

Woldring, 1990; Kouli, 2012, 2015). Field observations on the current distribution of Cichorieae have

demonstrated that, although the cichory tribe is common in many habitats of southern Italy, its abundance

increases in open habitats including pastures, and the smallest size pollen belongs to species typical of

secondary pastures (Florenzano et al., 2015). High percentages of this pollen in the spectra is thus regarded

as a good indicator of grasslands used for pasture in land-use reconstructions. Increases in other API taxa

can reflect enhanced trampling (Plantago), excrement deposition (Urtica), weeds (Aphanes), fodder and

breeding/pastoral practices (Fabaceae, Asteroideae).

Aim of this paper

The aim of the paper is to show how the anthropogenic pollen indicators may fruitfully be used to obtain

detailed reconstructions on the local land-use types. Prehistoric sites have been selected that cover phases

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of the mid and late Holocene (c. 8000-2800 years cal BP), the period that saw the rise and fall of cultures

from pre-Neolithic to Neolithic, Chalcolithic up to the Middle and Recent Bronze ages in the

Mediterranean. The Neolithic to Bronze ages saw the passage from the adoption of agriculture to advanced

farming cultures. New relationships between human societies and environment were accompanied by

profound changes. The ability to cultivate domesticate species gave to the early farmers an increase of

control on natural events, a new opportunity they obtained also by means of a different type of knowledge

on plants (Mercuri and Sadori, 2014: see the table at p. 508).

Archaeobotany has great potentiality for environmental and palaeoethnobotanical purposes, with samples

collected from almost every type of archaeological item/context (Kouli and Dermitzakis, 2003; Pearsall,

2016; Cappers and Neef, 2012; Mercuri et al., 2015a; Riera et al., 2018). In this synthesis we focus on data

from palynology and vertical sampling. Vertical sampling provides a biostratigraphical analysis and allows

changes in plant assemblages to be identified across long-term sequences. This gives the opportunity to

reconstruct land transformations in a diachronical palaeoecological perspective. Horizontal sampling (not

fully considered here) uses many samples/points from one chronological phase or archaeological site, and

is more helpful to understand intra-site patterns in plant uses such as processing or storage (e.g., Van der

Veen, 2007 for macroremains; Rattighieri et al., 2013 for pollen).

In this paper, the pollen data from archaeological sites represent different types of Intensity of Use across

four countries within the Mediterranean Basin (Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey; Fig. 1). Where pollen

preservation is poor and thus low numbers of pollen samples are available (as in Closos de ca’n Gaià and

Arslantepe) anthracological data is added to aid interpretation. The sites were settled in very different

environmental contexts, from the shore of Lake Banyoles in NE Iberia (La Draga) to the western

Mediterranean Balearic Islands (Closos de ca’n Gaià), to the alluvial plain of North Italy (terramaras of

Montale and Santa Rosa di Poviglio) to the shore of Lake Orestias or Kastoria (Dispiliò) and the tableland of

eastern Anatolia (Arslantepe) in the eastern Mediterranean. In this synthesis, the archaeological sites have

been considered for their common features that allow general to detailed archaeo-environmental

descriptions, the reconstruction of land-uses in the Mediterranean basin and the general comparison with

off-site pollen data over five millennia.

METHODS

Six prehistoric settlements from four countries facing to the Mediterranean basin have been selected to

present archaeobotanical data from archaeological sites (Tab. 1). The sites located in Italy are part of the

database BRAIN, and the others have been now added in the special section of ‘Extra-Italy’ records

(https://brainplants.unimore.it/). The settlements preserved pollen and macrobotanical remains and have

been studied within interdisciplinary archaeological research programmes. Most of the archaeobotanical

study was carried out on samples taken during archaeological fieldwork: pollen samples were collected

from stratigraphic sequences/trenches or cores, distinguishing between on-site (from the settlement

excavation) and near-site (just next to the site but known to be in the site’s area of influence, the territory

visited every day by the inhabitants). Samples for macrobotanical remains were taken from occupation

layers discovered during the excavations. A charcoal sample includes all the wood fragments corresponding

to one single wood, or those recovered from the fill of small features or single structure (Masi et al., 2018).

Pollen taxa and sums from 227 pollen samples, from 13 sequences/trenches/cores, have been drawn with

Tilia diagrams (Grimm, 2015) plotted against samples or chronology. The list of taxa includes the main

elements of natural land cover (Pinus, Abies, Quercus, Corylus, Alnus; Poaceae), and the known

anthropogenic taxa. The latter include woody plants as OJC (Olea, Juglans, Castanea), and Vitis although

Vitis has different phenology, and therefore different pollen production, in wild and domesticated

subspecies. Anthropogenic taxa also include herbaceous plants such as cereals, Cichorieae, Artemisia,

Centaurea, Plantago, Trifolium type, Urtica. Pollen sums were calculated for Mixed oakwoods,

Sclerophyllous vegetation, Shrubland, Grassland, Wetland, and Weeds/Anthropogenic environments.

Samples were grouped into 90 time-slots from c. 8000 to c. 2800 cal yrs BP to compare the trends

of the main pollen taxa and sums. The time slots are contiguous but not of equal duration. Time-

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slots were established on the basis of radiocarbon dates, stratigraphy-sedimentation rate and

cultural attributions of the layers of each site. Each sample was attributed to one time-slot, and

each time-slot includes samples with a similar age from different sites. Harmonising the pollen

data into time-slots was necessary as the pollen sequences had variable temporal resolution (from

c. 9 to c. 200 years), depending on the archaeological deposits, with the highest resolution

observed in the Terramara’s Bronze age stratigraphies (9-12 years).

Pollen data were ordinated by Principal Component Analysis (using XLSTAT). The PCA uses the

percentage values of taxa that are included in the groups described aboveand was performed

using the sampling points as variables.

RESULTS

The case studies

The datasets selected for this synthesis show evidence of land uses, including changes in arboreal

taxa (Fig. 2), and diachronic evolution of cultural landscape along about 5000 years of human

activities crossing different cultural periods. From the West to East, the sites include La Draga and

Closos de ca’n Gaià from Spain, the terramaras of Montale and Santa Rosa di Poviglio from Italy,

Dispiliò in Greece and Arslantepe in Turkey. Below, after a short description of the archaeological

deposits, and the main results from pollen collected from both on-site and near-site layers,

general trends in land uses in the different Mediterranean regions are reported.

Western Mediterranean: La Draga (Girona)

NE Spain, Catalonia

Early Neolithic Cardial - 7270-6750 cal BP

Settlement sites (open-air pile-dwelling on a lake shore)

Sampling: pollen, NPPs; macroremains: seeds/fruits, charcoal

39 pollen samples from 3 on-site profiles (trenches in archaeological layers)

Key events: AP higher before the settlement and water-rich environment near the Lake Banyoles;

exploitation of woods and cereal field cultivation

The first Neolithic farming societies in the Lake Banyoles area settled in a humid and densely

forested region (predominantly deciduous Quercus and Corylus avellana). The settlement of La

Draga was established in a lacustrine carbonate-sand beach, with alkaline soils poor in nutrients.

The dominant vegetation within and in the near surroundings of the settlement would have been

aquatic (Potamogeton coloratus, Characeae) with hygrophytes (Cyperaceae, Typha latifolia,

Typha-Sparganium, Juncus articulates-type, J. effuses-type, Cladium mariscus and Mentha cf.

aquatica) in a land with high water availability. A riparian forest formed by ash (Fraxinus), willow

(Salix), elm (Ulmus), alder (Alnus), poplar (Populus), elder (Sambucus nigra), laurel (Laurus nobilis)

and wild grape (Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris) surrounded the beach. Ferns (mainly Pteridium

aquilinum) lived in humid environments. Close to surrounding slopes, oak forests grew in deep

humid soils, with dominance of deciduous Quercus, and the presence of hazel (Corylus), lime

(Tilia), pines in the clearances (Pinus), yew in shaded spots (Taxus) and boxwood in the

underbrush and colonising degraded areas (Buxus). Conifer forests existed in the mountains (Pinus

and Abies) and at regional scale Mediterranean sclerophyllous forests would have been developed

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in drier substrates, with evergreen oaks (Quercus ilex-coccifera), wild olive tree (Olea europaea

var. sylvestris), Phillyrea, heather (Erica) and rockrose (Cistus; Revelles, 2017).

At the onset of the settlement, oak was exploited for firewood and raw material for construction

(attested by charcoal and wood remains, with > 1000 oak posts recovered in the 800 m

of the

excavated area; Revelles et al., 2014). Considering the fact that the total extension of the site is

estimated to c. 8000 m

, thousands of poles must have been cut for the construction of the

settlement, with moreover the period of occupation (Revelles et al., 2014; López-Bultó, 2015). The

trunks were cut with adzes, as shown by traces of the tools (Bosch et al., 2008), and dragged to

the settlement. This resulted in significant deforestation, caused soil erosion (Revelles et al., 2016)

and the scale of impact was such that it was visible in off-site records some 500 m from the

archaeological site (core SB2 in Revelles et al., 2015), and in off-site records that reflect the

regional vegetation (Lake Banyoles: Pérez-Obiol and Julià, 1994).

A high presence of cereals (Cerealia-type pollen) is documented in the two occupation phases

described at La Draga. Crop fields could not be in the immediate surroundings of the settlement as

the site was established in a swampy area unsuitable for cultivation. Cereal fields would have been

far enough away to prevent Cerealia-type pollen from reaching the nearby off-site (thus, near site)

SB2 core (Revelles et al., 2014, 2015). The high concentrations of Cerealia-type pollen within the

settlement reflects on-site storage of crops (mixed cereal grains and chaff suggesting domestic

storage were studied by Antolín et al., 2014) and are a by-product of on-site plant processing: at

La Draga spatial association between the highest values of cereal pollen and grinding stones

identified an area of cereal processing (Revelles et al., 2017). The comparison of the pollen records

from this area (Fig. 1) suggests that farming itself caused a limited impact on the landscape, and

that firewood and timber supply was responsible for major landscape transformations at the

extra-local scale (reflected in the near/off-site records: Revelles, 2017).

Western Mediterranean: Closos de ca’n Gaià (Mallorca)

Insular Spain, Balearic Islands

Bronze age (Naviform BA) to Iron age - 3650-2800 cal BP

Settlement, megalithic navetiform house (Navetiform 1)

Sampling: pollen, NPPs; macroremains: charcoal

7 pollen samples from on-site horizontal sampling; anthracological record from 7 archaeological

layers

Key events: land transformation since c. 3350 cal BP related to the agropastoral expansion in

Mallorca; Olea wood resource management

The Naviform culture developed in the Balearic Islands during the Bronze age (from c. 3650/3550

to c.2800 cal BP; Lull et al., 2013). Naviform society constitutes the first sedentary megalithic

culture established on the archipelago, occupying all the islands biotopes. The productive

economy was based on cultivation of cereals and pulses (Pérez-Jordà et al., 2017) and on

sheep/goat, pigs and cattle husbandry, being the former the most numerous livestock (Ramis,

2017). The Closos de ca’n Gaià settlement included at least five domestic structures (navetiforms),

and some of them continued to be occupied throughout Iron Age (Oliver et al., 2017). Navetiforms

were monumental domestic spaces, consisting of large buildings with an elongated floor plan,

were inhabited by domestic groups and represented the locus in which the social life was

centralized (Fornés et al., 2009). In Closos de ca’n Gaià, the Navetiform 1 has been completely

excavated and presents four archaeological phases, ranging from a first occupation previous to the

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building (Phase 1, c. 3650/3550 – 3350 cal BP), two subsequent building layers (Phase 2, c. 3350-

2950 cal BP; Phase 3, c. 2950-2800 cal BP) to the abandonment and subsequent roof collapse

(Phase 4, just after c. 2800 cal BP; Javaloyas et al., 2011). Archaeobotanical data show

agropastoral and wood management strategies at the site.

During the Bronze age the Balearic Islands had predominance of sclerophyllous vegetation (Olea,

Pistacia, Cistaceae, etc.; Fyfe et al. this volume) and crop and pasture fields (Burjachs et al., 2017;

Servera-Vives et al., 2018). The general picture of the plant landscape, as shown by both

anthracological and palynological records from the excavation, is consistent with off-site pollen

records from the Gymnesics (Mallorca and Menorca) for this period, with a mosaic landscape

dominated by macchia/garrigues and open areas (Figs. 2,3). The pre-megalithic occupation of the

site (Phase 1) was perpetuated by the construction of the Navetiform building (Phase 2), a

monumental house that was continuously occupied for several centuries (Javaloyas et al., 2011,

2013; Oliver et al., 2017).

Starting at c. 3350 cal BP there was a general decrease of arboreal pollen matching the expansion

of weeds, synanthropic taxa and grasslands. This correlates with archaeological data for increasing

land use. The exploitation of forest resources for firewood became quite specialized: (wild-)olive

dominates the charcoal assemblages whilst shrubs such as Rhamnus/Phillyrea and Pistacia

lentiscus become less used or available compared to the previous phase.

The integration of pollen and charcoal data mainly suggests that before the building (Phase 1)

landscape exploitation strategies were focussed around use of olive tree and understorey forest

species for firewood provisioning and moderate agropastoral activities in a semi-open

environment surrounding the site. Following a noticeable landscape disruption associated with

Phase 2 (c. 3350 cal BP) pastoral activities expanded and (wild-)olive wood exploitation intensified

for firewood collection. Then, data show a variability in Phase 3 that probably reflects the spatial

distribution of samples within the house, reaching higher values of anemophilous tree pollen in

the front area, near the only entrance to the building (SU 9), compared to the inner one (SU 35).

The high values of anthropogenic pollen indicators and Olea charcoal fragments, found also in the

roof collapse sample (Phase 4), testify to the land uses of the last occupation phase. This sediment

is likely the result of the roof construction/maintenance and the subsequent post-collapse

sedimentation in a context where the neighboring navetifoms of the settlement were still

inhabited after the Bronze age. The overall picture is that the Navetiform culture has had a visible

impact on the local lands, and a regional impact that became therefore visible in the only off-site

record available for Mallorca (Fig. 1; Burjachs, 1994; Burjachs et al., 2017).

Central Mediterranean: Terramara di Montale-Modena and Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio

(Reggio Emilia, North Italy)

N Italy, Emilia Romagna: Terramara di Montale-Modena, Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio-Reggio

Emilia

Middle to Recent Bronze Age – 3600-3170 cal BP

Settlement sites (open-air pile-dwelling, and then villages, in river meanders)

Sampling: pollen, NPPs; macroremains: seeds/fruits, charcoal

83 pollen samples from 3 on-site and one near-site series (trenches)

Key events: AP higher before the settlement of Montale, and water-rich environment near the

rivers in the Po Plain; exploitation of woods and cereal field cultivation

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The Terramare civilization developed in the Po Plain during the Middle and Recent Bronze Age

(1650 – 1170 BC; Bernabò Brea et al., 1997), in a quasi open-land with fertile soils, rich of water

and nutrients from the river floods. Before the onset of terramara settlements the landscape was

largely natural with a fairly sparse, open canopy, forest growing in the area. Woods mainly

consisted of deciduous Quercus and Carpinus betulus prevailing in mixed oak forests with Acer,

Fraxinus excelsior type, Ostrya carpinifolia, Tilia, Ulmus, and Corylus avellana. They were also

mixed with conifer (Pinus and Abies), whose woods were abundant during the early Holocene and

were partly replaced by Fagus in the hills and mountains, and by mixed oak woods in the lower

belts. At the onset of settlements, a sudden decrease of trees in pollen spectra mark the

impressive use of woods for construction of houses (Quercus for piles, and Fraxinus and other

trees for house walls) and palisades (Carpinus betulus; Mercuri et al., 2006a). Thousands of poles

and posts, including charred trunks, have been discovered at the base floor of these

archaeological sites (e.g. Rottoli, 1997). Reduction of Alnus pollen, alongside an increase in hydro-

hygrophytes, has been interpreted as the clearance of river banks and construction of ditches

(Mercuri et al., 2006a:56). The deforestation in the Po Plain was so extensive that it is visible even

in off-site records (e.g. Adriatic Sea core RF93-30 which received sediments from the Po valley:

Mercuri et al., 2012).

Each terramara consisted of a fortified village, with rows of houses surrounded by an embankment

and a ditch. Its area of influence (the territory exploited and/or cultivated) was dependant on the

size of the settlement, its distance from other sites and the chronological phase (Cardarelli, 1988).

Terramaras were close to each other (> 220 sites have been discovered only in the province of

Modena), one per 9-10 km, and sometimes per 2 km, with population estimates of c. 150,000

people in the later phase (Cremaschi, 1997; Cardarelli, 1997). Terramara di Montale is amongst

the best studied sites. It had eleven occupational phases, with houses often destroyed by fire, and

was settled in a south-eastern position, near the Apennines. Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio had

two main phases, developing from a ‘small village’ (Villaggio Piccolo-VP) to a ‘large village’

(Villaggio Grande-VG).

A high presence of cereals (Cerealia-type pollen) is documented in all the sites (Mercuri et al.,

2006b). Cereals were grown close to each village as their pollen records (Cerealia-type) are always

detected in near-site sequences, and high values in on-site sequences are connected with plant

transport and processing near the houses (Fig. 4). Some plots were cultivated for fodder

(Fabaceae, including Lotus, Medicago, Melilotus, Trifolium) or left for fallow/grazing in the area of

influence; the area of influence was surrounded by forests supplying wild fruits and defensive

functions (Mercuri et al., 2015c). Comparison of on-site and near-site (P3) pollen records suggests

that cereal fields were mostly cultivated towards the west around Montale, possibly in rotation or

intercropping with legume fields (Mercuri et al., 2006b) whereas domestic animals were kept

inside the settlement (presence of dung, and archaeozoological remains) and browsed grasses and

fodder plants in small parcels and pastures rich of Cichorieae, all within the area of influence.

Trees and wood management have a special role in this society, and first signals of Vitis cultivation

emerged (Mercuri et al., 2006a, 2015a; Cremaschi et al., 2016). At the end of the Recent Bronze

Age, this society rapidly vanished, probably forced by a combination of climatic, environmental

and socioeconomic causes (Cremaschi et al., 2016).

Eastern Mediterranean: Dispiliò (northern Greece)

N Greece; Neolithic-Chalcolithic – 7750-5150 cal BP

Settlement site (on lake shore)

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Sampling: pollen, NPPs, phytopliths; macroremains: seeds/fruits, charcoal

86 pollen samples from 2 on-site and one near-site series (cores)

Key events: exceptional location and long-time continuative occupation, at the shore of Lake

Orestiás; cereal field cultivation in a diversified kind and intensive exploitation of natural resources

Dispiliò, near Lake Orestiás, also known as Lake Kastoria, is the first lake settlement systematically

investigated in Greece. According to joint archaeological and radiocarbon data (Facorellis et al.,

2014), the site was occupied for about 2000 years, from the Middle Neolithic (7500 cal BP) to the

Chalcolithic (5500 cal BP) representing one of the earliest locations with unambiguous evidence of

human disturbance in Greece. Earlier agropastoral activities associated with the Early Neolithic

communities have been observed starting from at least 8300 cal BP in eastern Macedonia (Glais et

al., 2016).

The establishment of the Dispiliò settlement (c. 7500 cal BP) took place within a landscape

characterised by dense woodland cover. Mountainous coniferous forest and smaller areas with

Fagus forest existed on the higher altitudes around the lake basin, whereas mixed deciduous oak

forests with Carpinus orientalis/Ostrya type, Corylus, Crataegus monogyna and Ulmus covered

intermediate and lower altitudes. Human activities resulted in the development of a mosaic of

habitats in the surrounding area, reflected by local pollen assemblages that correspond to

different kinds, or intensity, of exploitation of natural resources in space and time (Kouli, 2015).

Three periods of retreat of natural woodland and of major anthropic disturbance have been

recognized, especially at intermediate altitudes. These are correlated with the three periods of

major constructing activities described by the archaeological study (Hourmouziadi and Yagoulis,

2002; Sofronidou, 2008). Two of them, corresponding to the Middle Neolithic (c. 7200 cal BP,

ending with the destruction by ﬁre of the settlement; Karkanas et al., 2011) and Late Neolithic II to

Chalcolithic (c. 6000 cal BP) show evidence of intensive cultivation. Two episodes of woodland

recovery are characterized by decrease of anthropogenic indicators in pollen spectra, representing

a pause of pastoral activities between the major construction phases.

The inhabitants of Dispiliò were both agriculturalists and animal herders, but the kind and

intensity of those activities were not consistent through time. Following the establishment of the

settlement, cultivation produced abundant cereal pollen in the deposits, and cultivation remained

one of the major activities of the Neolithic society. Pastoralism seems to have been a significant

and diachronic activity, more intensively practiced in the first phases of the settlement. The peak

of animal breeding is recorded at c. 6400 cal BP, reducing in importance afterwards while the peak

in evidence for cereal cultivation is during the ﬁnal occupation period of the Late Neolithic II-

Chalcolithic. The on-site / near-site comparison demonstrated that cereal fields were cultivated in

the close vicinity of the houses, in “garden-like” fields (Mangafa, 2002), whereas herds were kept

around the settlement and not inside (Kouli, 2015).

Eastern Mediterranean: Arslantepe (Anatolia)

E Turkey; Late Chalcolithic, Late Uruk, Early Bronze Age – 6650-3950 cal BP

Settlement site (layered tell)

Sampling: pollen; macroremains: seeds/fruits, charcoal

12 pollen samples from on-site (short trenches); anthracological record from 7 archaeological

layers

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Key events: several sudden changes of populations followed one another in the settlement,

implying continuous changes in occupation patterns and land-use

Arslantepe is located in the modern Malatya plateau, a region characterized by low precipitation

both today and during prehistory. A large hydrogeological karst catchment supplies water to the

plain allowing extensive agriculture since at least the Chalcolithic age (Masi et al., 2014). The site

was settled several times at the same place, forming a tell in an open landscape characterized by

trees such as deciduous and semi-deciduous oaks (Quercus sp.), elms (Ulmus), ashes (Fraxinus),

and shrubs as junipers (Juniperus). The presence of a spring at the base of the tell and of a number

of others in the close surroundings, favoured the growth of alders and poplars.

The palynological data comes from seven archaeological phases ranging from Late Chalcolithic 1–2

(6500 cal BP, VIII period) to Early Bronze Age III (4000 cal BP, VID2 phase). Contrasts between the

charcoal and pollen records for tree taxa reveal important aspects of landscape exploitation. The

pollen rain/human mounds show only low quantities of arboreal pollen. The human selection of

timber appears to be quite clear: the charcoal record shows a dominance of deciduous Quercus

followed by hydrophilous (Alnus, Populus, Tamarix) and hygrophilous (Fraxinus, Ulmus) trees (Fig.

3; Sadori et al., 2006). These abundant taxa are either poorly represented in the pollen record

(deciduous Quercus) or not present at all (Alnus). Castanea, Juglans and Corylus, present in the

pollen samples, are not found either in the charcoal or seed records.

The results indicate that woody plants were mainly exploited from woody steppe / shrubland in

which Rosaceae played an important role, and from the riparian vegetation. Mountain taxa such

as Juniperus, and Pinus play only a minor role. The selection of the timber appears mainly linked to

the different cultural and socio-economic traits of the Arslantepe communities. Palaeoclimatic

reconstruction based on stable carbon isotope demonstrated that environmental changes played

only a marginal role in the different wood exploitation (Masi et al., 2013a,b; Vignola et al., 2017,

2018). Charcoal analysis shows important changes in plant use not matching the environmental

changes. The different occurrence of taxa according to the depositional context highlights that the

hydrophilous plants prevail in building structures, with the exception of the c. 4900–4500 cal BP

period: isotope data demonstrate that during this period there was an increased humidity;

nevertheless, there was a prevalent use of woodland-steppe plants (Masi et al., 2018).

There are no off-site pollen records for reconstructing extra-local or regional vegetation. The

closest is the lake Van record (300 km far from Arslantepe) with tree pollen between 40 and 50%

during Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age levels (Wick et al., 2003).

DISCUSSION

Comparing data, sites and land-uses

The detailed data from the archaeobotanical studies described here provide information about

the ‘small histories’ of land use in single sites from different regions. However, major common

themes in plant exploitation can be revealed by the comparison of the main pollen curves from all

sites, and show the variability of this history at a regional scale.

The percentages of total AP and Quercus pollen (Fig. 2) outline the role of trees in prehistory as a

substantial and indisputable natural resource (for fuel, construction, metallurgy, tools and

ploughs, and wild fruit picking). The different diagrams show similar general patterns: a) the

trends of decrease of woodland cover (also possibly reflecting climatic changes?); b) declines in

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trees at the onset of settlement; c) notable declines in oaks in particular within the deforestation

events (e.g. at La Draga and in the terramare); d) alternative cycles of retreat and recovery of

woodland depending on intensity of human activities (e.g. at Dispiliò); e) elevated local

representation of oak pollen due to the transport of wood into the site (e.g. Arslantepe, where

oaks prevails also in the anthracological record: Fig. 3). Human-related declines in AP/Quercus

match usage for house/palisade buildings and fuel for metallurgy, while other activities, such as

fruit collection, may rely on tree survival and wood management. Care for the survival of trees

may have been the case of high pollen values of Juglans at Arslantepe, or of Corylus and Vitis at

the Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio. The different local availability of the Mediterranean

vegetation caused the large use of Olea wood at Closos de ca’n Gaià (Fig. 3).

The trends of both the OJC tree sum and the Cereals vs. Cichorieae herb sums are among the best

indicators of land use (Fig. 4). There are signals of cultivation and pastoral activities in all the sites,

but their representation is variable. OJC are present but sporadic, fragmentary evidence in the

archaeological sites (except the only Olea in Closos de ca’n Gaià). This seems to be in contrast with

what may be visible in some off-site records (Mercuri et al., 2013a; Stoddart et al., this issue).

Cultural trees were grown or cultivated far from the settlements: they were cared for, managed

but not transplanted near the sites, and sites seem to have not been settled near stands of these

(even wild) trees. At a regional scale, the increase of the OJC curve appears later, around 3000-

2700 cal BP in off-site records, when arboriculture begins in central Italy (Mercuri et al., 2002;

Stoddart et al., this issue; Langgut et al., this issue).

Instead of trees, crop fields were established and cultivated close to the sites. Representation of

cereals in on-site records can be very high due to plant processing from the very start of use of the

site (as at La Draga and Montale), or during the life of the settlements (e.g. Dispiliò and

Arslantepe). The regularly opposite trends of cereal and cichory pollen (at La Draga, Montale,

Dispiliò; Fig. 4) marks the alternation (either replacement or rotation) of crop fields and pastures

as alternative/complimentary land uses over these prehistoric times in different contexts and

countries. Whilst increases in cichory may suggest abandonment of fields, it appears to

correspond to a real alternative (pastoral) land-use. This practice, even if casually introduced and

then maintained, had the advantage of adding manur to soils (from the dung of browsing animals)

following some years of high nitrogen-demanding cereal cultivation.

All the sites were settled near wet environments, surrounded by grasslands and mixed oakwoods,

and with variable amount of synanthropic taxa (Figs. 5,6).

The PCA, based on individual taxa, besides all the sums considered above, provides further data

comparison showing that the wild and synanthropic pollen taxa cluster differently along the Axis 1

and Axis 2 principal component functions (Fig. 7). The samples are organized mainly by vegetation

types and fall along a forested to an opened landscape gradient. Interestingly, the samples of each

site cluster within the ordination plot, with little overlap between sites. This shows that sites have

their own features and suggests that Neolithic and Bronze age sites have different focuses on land

uses and cultural skills.

The sites with a higher number of samples (La Draga, Poviglio, Dispiliò and Montale) show an

elongated distribution in relation to Axis 1, representing the highest variability probably related to

the long term vegetation and land-uses changes. As described, the gradient along Axis 1

represents a transition from more forested (lower values) to more open vegetation (higher

values). The Neolithic lakeshore sites of La Draga and Dispiliò cluster along more forested

landscapes according a gradient ranging from the more wooded environments (especially La

Draga) towards more opened landscape (Dispiliò). Both sites are linked to crops and forested

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landscapes according to their position on Axis 2, rather than pasturelands. The Italian Bronze Age

sites of Poviglio and Montale cluster differently: on Axis 2 the first site is linked to pastureland and

wetlands while the second mainly to grasslands and anthropic environments. The position of their

samples on Axis 1 shows a predominantly open landscape. Closos and Arslanstepe show positive

values in Axis 1 indicating their relation to more opened areas. Both sites are characterized by

open woodlands with scattered pasturelands and crops.

The PCA confirms the different relationships with the environment during the Neolithic and the

Bronze age, underlying an increasing importance given to wood exploitation over time.

From Neolithic to Bronze age land use

In the earliest times, hunter-gatherers had a ‘less permanent’ interference with vegetation

dynamics because both humans and plants were part of the same ecosystems. Although

intermediate forms of environment exploitation between gathering and food production have

been recognised in the Levant and the Sahara (Willcox et al., 2012; Clarke et al., 2016; Mercuri et

al., 2018), evidence for this in Mediterranean records is weak and still hard to investigate. The

increase of sedentism resulted in communities exploiting the same territory over long periods of

time, agriculture expansion and technological development, causing a deeper transformation of

the landscape (Mercuri et al., 2011).

Despite the different chronological phases and social organization, and based on the

morphological and botanical geographical features, the trend of landscape transformation in the

different Mediterranean regions may be regarded as having some similar trends. First,

anthropogenic influence on plant cover, soils and waters firstly occurred in the vicinity of

settlements, and all archaeological sites preserve evidence of anthropogenic pollen indicators.

Second, actions on the environment and development of forestry alongside agriculture caused the

expansion of human influence on the environment, and the local pressure expanded toward a

regional impact, becoming recognisable in off-site records more distant from the archaeological

sites (Mercuri et al., 2010; Kouli, 2015). Human impact at a regional scale depends on the cultural

variables, demography, distance from the settlement sites and the intensity of activities

undertaken. Holocene climate variability and instability, forest clearance and management, wood

exploitation for metallurgy, crop cultivation, animal breeding and pastoralism are the primary

agents that have transformed land cover in the Mediterranean landscape. Palynology from

archaeological sites (so-called on-site palynology) is essential to recognise the first influence of

humans, as activities begin in/close/next to the occupied/settled sites. It also allows us to

recognise and categorise the type of land-use activities undertaken, sometimes also inferring its

intensity by combining archaeobotanical data with archaeo- and geo-data.

The sites of La Draga (7270-6750 cal BP) and Terramara di Montale (3550-3200 cal BP) show

similar land-use dynamics implying oak exploitation, causing local deforestation, and cultivation of

cereal fields in the area or around the site. Despite the different chronology and culture, tree

decreases and the subsequent soil erosion were so extensive that evidence can be found even

beyond the sites (Oldfield et al., 2003; Revelles et al., 2015). Nevertheless, there are clear

differences between the Neolithic influence and the Bronze age impact.

According to Revelles (2017:441) Early Neolithic human actions have been recorded at different

degrees of intensity on local and extra-local scales in the area of Lake Banyoles (the region in

which La Draga is situated). The signal of farming is only identifiable in on-site records, confirming

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the limited impact of cereal cultivation by the first farmers. Whilst deforestation is not visible in

the core from Lake Banyoles, it is in core SB2, closer to La Draga (Fig. 8). The core SB2 can thus

reflect the scale of the area of influence of the settlement and can be considered as a ‘near-site’

core. This mirrors different pollen production, distance of the pollen sources from the site,

transport of plants into the site and intensity of the human action in transforming the landscape

(Mercuri, 2014). The process of deforestation was not monotonic, as broadleaf deciduous forests

recovered during the later Neolithic after the end of human pressure in northeast Spain (Revelles,

2017; Fyfe et al., this issue). In north Greece, similar woodland dynamics occurred during the

settlement development and Neolithic land-use at Dispiliò, following occupation and temporary

abandonment phases but again the process is not visible in the off-site core of Lake Dojran (Fig. 8;

Kouli, 2015), or in the woodland vegetation clusters of northern Greece (Weiberg et al., this issue).

Three thousand years later, in eastern Anatolia, groups of people at Arslantepe exploited the oaks

and hydro-hygrophilous trees, not only searching for the most available (those arid highlands were

almost treeless or covered by shrublands), and were highly selective of the timber most suitable

for building and fire. In northern Italy, the terramare villages settled on the Po Plain. Because

settlements need space and houses, considerable deforestation supplied timber for houses,

palisades, furnaces and tools. Population levels and technological skills gave this culture both the

motivation and ability to deeply shape the landscape, changing the river courses and the

distribution of woods and open spaces (Cremaschi, 1997; Cardarelli, 1997). This transformation

became irreversible leaving traces in off-site pollen diagrams distant from the area (Mercuri et al.,

2012). Terrestrial cores such as lakes of Albano and Nemi show evidence of rapid forest changes,

probably reflecting the proximity of other archaeological sites present in the peninsula (as shown

by BRAIN). These lakes can be, therefore, classified as near-sites as, for example, the Bronze age

‘Villaggio delle Macine’ is still visible at the shores of Lago Albano.

In the later Bronze age phases, the people of Closos de ca’n Gaià selectively exploited (wild) olive

wood and other sclerophyll maquis species for different purposes, confirming that local wood was

a very good, versatile, natural resource and the inhabitants of Mallorca learned how to exploit it

(Picornell-Gelabert & Servera-Vives, 2017), possibly also spreading plants.

Transport of trunks might have been a hard task, and thus may be reasonably considered a local

(near-site) activity and, as mentioned above, the manipulation of trees has left marked signals in

pollen diagrams. In the Mediterranean, however, off-site records often contain anthropogenic

pollen indicators and archaeological survey demonstrate that human traces are spread all over

entire regions (Mercuri et al., 2011; Roberts et al. this issue; Weiberg et al. this issue). From the

Neolithic onwards, it is difficult to find records that are wholly ‘natural’. Traces of human influence

or impact can be found even in sequences collected at 30-40 km distance from one particular site,

both because of the proximity of other sites, and of the regional spread of the impact in the areas

of influence of the archaeological sites which increases through time.

The off-site records are useful in demonstrating that natural sequences in the Mediterranean area

are rare due to the long history of presence and land-use by the civilizations that occupied these

territories even before the Neolithic. For example, off-site records can intercept anthropic signals

when i) the sites are close to archaeological sites (e.g., lake shores settled by pile dwellings: Lago

Lucone, Valsecchi et al., 2006; Lago Mezzano, Sadori, submitted), ii) the human action is

extensively spread in the area, and iii) the cores collect sediments from regions modified by

human activities (Adriatic RF93-30 shows unambiguous signs of land-use in the Po valley; Mercuri

et al., 2012), iv) the land-use is definitively turned to a land-cover transformation at regional scale

(e.g., Mensig et al., 2018). All considered, the archaeological sites discussed in this paper testify to

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a diversified set of land uses at each cultural phase. At La Draga people practised forest

exploitation and cereal cultivation, at Dispiliò people performed husbandry and farming, whilst

people at Arslantepe stored impressive quantities of cereals and exploited oaks. The terramare

culture was able to manage the forest, and performed a diversified agriculture with crop

cultivation and animal breeding at the same site, while the Navetiform groups practised a

combined activity of understory and olive tree exploitation with pastoral activities.

CONCLUSIONS

Archaeobotany and the interpretation of data from on-site studies demonstrate that land use has

been a multifaceted process involving original and repetitive human behaviour. Since the Neolithic

and into the Bronze age people have adopted a diffused pattern of land use involving a

combination of diverse activities performed in the same territory. The most recurrent

combinations included wood exploitation, field cultivation and animal breeding, and the set of

activities provided the ensemble of timber/fuel, crops/food, milk/meat, respectively. Considering

that land-use is a subsector of the human impact, this conclusion confirms that “human impact is a

collective concept including the ensemble of adaptive strategies, technological outputs and

interferences between cultural needs and natural ecosystem dynamics” (Mercuri et al.,

2015b:136).

The presence of cultures in Mediterranean lands is impressive. Each lived in different territories

with their own characteristics and identity. The archaeological approach tends to consider one

activity – one type of economy – one adaptation strategy prevalent over others in a way that each

culture seems to have been centred on one type of land-use. However, pollen and other plant

records tell us that different land-uses co-existed at the same site in the Mediterranean.

Although it is true that different land use activities were performed by different cultures,

archaeobotanical data show that different uses of natural resources have been performed by the

same culture (and we can also argue that possibly different people, as today, were involved in

different works, depending on the social organization and degree of specialisation within

communities). This skilful way allowed communities to exploit the full spectrum of natural

resources offered by the Mediterranean biodiversity, and helped people to cross the

environmental instability of the mid and late Holocene. Local signals of the different land-uses are

evident at each site, confirming that this has been an ancient and common pattern, even when

they are not evident or soft/thinner in the off-site records where we cannot be sure that the same

land space was used for different purposes.

Agriculture and forestry have become progressively more specialised and intensive in the

Mediterranean, and are facing global environmental and economic challenges in common with

many other regions of the world. The lesson from the past is that the multifunctional land-use,

combining sylvo-pastoral and crop farming mixed systems, is probably more sustainable than

monoculture and a promising way to develop the rural economy. Multifunctional land use is not

only recognisable at regional scale (where may be ambiguous because plant records in one point

synthesize a large area) but it is especially evident in pollen and charcoal/macrobotanical records

at the site scale. The multifunctional exploitation of the area of influence in each site can be

regarded as a clever strategy that acted on reducing the pressure on the environment of

permanent settlements facilitating the life of sedentary people. What is generally considered a

recent and just lost strategy of traditional agriculture, in use during the last two centuries, seems

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to have been an important practice and very adaptive human behaviour in the instability of the

mid and early-late Holocene of the prehistoric Mediterranean.

Acknowledgements

A.M.M. planned with A.F. and wrote the main text; J.R. and J.B. studied La Draga; K.K. studied Duspiliò; L.S., A.M.,

M.G. studied Arslantepe; L.P.G. and G.S.V. studied Closos de ca’n Gaià; A.M.M., P.T., A.F. studied terramaras; R.F.

promoted the teamwork, and improved the English; A.F., L.P.G. and G.S.V. elaborated data; A.M.M., L.S. and G.S.V.

prepared the diagrams. All authors shared data, wrote the relevant parts of the text, read and approved the final

manuscript. The research on the terramare culture is part of the activity of the project SUCCESSO-TERRA (Human

societies, climate/environment changes and resource exploitation/sustainability in the Po Plain at the Mid-Holocene

times: the Terramaras; Ministero del'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca PRIN-20158KBLNB) entrusted to A.M.M.

The research at Closos de ca’n Gaià has been founded by Ajuntament de Felanitx, Consell Insular de Mallorca and the

research project financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness: “Archipelagos: landscapes,

insular prehistoric communities and connectivity strategies in the western Mediterranean. The case of the Balearic

Islands during the recent prehistory (2500–123 BC) (HAR2015, 67211-P)”. The work of G.S.V. has been founded by

“Programa Vicenç Mut d'Incorporació de Personal R+D+I (Pla de Ciència, Tecnologia, Innovació I Emprenedoria 2013-

2017) de la Vicepresidència I Conselleria d'Innovació, Recerca i Turisme del Govern de les Illes Balears i el Fons Social

Europeu (PD-018-2017)”. The work of L.P.G. has been funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of

Spanish Government (Juan de La Cierva Program: IJCI-2015-24550). ). The work of K.K. was funded by EU &

GSRT/Greece (PENED95ED1983) and NKUA project (KA14168).

A.M., M.G. and L.S. wish to acknowledge Marcella Frangipane and Francesca Balossi Restelli for the continuous advice

in the study of the plant remains from Arslantepe; a special thank is due to Cristiano Vignola for his help in pollen

sampling.

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Legends

Tab. 1 – List of the archaeological sites reported as case studies in this paper.

Fig. 1 – Location map showing the sites reported in this paper (*) including six archaeological sites:

1) La Draga, 2) Closos de ca’n Gaià, 3) Poviglio, 4) Montale, 5) Duspiliò, 6) Arslantepe, and ten

off/near-sites: A) Lake Banyoles; B) SB2 Banyoles; C) Les Palanques; D) Sobrestany; E) S’Albufera

d’Alcúdia; F) Lake Mezzano; G) Lake Nemi; H) Lake Albano; I) RF93-30; J) Lake Dojran

Fig. 2 – Percentage pollen diagrams from the six archaeological sites: AP and Quercus %

Fig. 3 – Anthracological diagrams based on anthracological analysis of the sites of Arslantepe,

Turkey (Masi et al., 2018), and Closos de can Gaià, Mallorca (Picornell-Gelabert and Servera-Vives

2017). Results at Closos de can Gaià are presented with percentage (%) of charcoal fragments per

taxon at every archaeological layer (Stratigrafic Units) and occupation phase of the Navetiform 1

building. Results at Arslantepe are presented with percentage (%) of charcoal weight per taxon at

every archaeological layer of the site. Dots represent values <3%."

Fig. 4 – Percentage pollen diagrams from the six archaeological sites: OJC, Cereals and Cichorieae

Fig. 5 – Percentage pollen diagrams from the archaeological sites: pollen sums of Neolithic sites

Fig. 6 - Percentage pollen diagrams from the archaeological sites: pollen sums of Bronze samples

Fig. 7 – Principal Component analysis (PCA) of selected pollen taxa and sums from the six

archaeological sites included in this paper (samples are plotted as variables). Axis 1 separates the

samples along a woody landscape gradient (from forested towards more open environments),

while Axis 2 groups them mainly by vegetation types (pasturelands and riparian forests against

more forested environments and crops). Each site is well separated to the others and shows own

features.

Fig. 8 – The AP% trends of off-sites may be useful to observe the regional effect of the local human

activities inferred from on-sites (the archaeological sites) of the same area; these AP curves show

oscillations that have ambiguous/dual natural-anthropic causes (references in the text). They

depend on human activities only if the sampling sites lies in the area of influence (near-site) of the

archaeological settlements where people was exploiting woods. A: beginning of Dispiliò; B: lifetime

of La Draga; C: Bronze age at Closos (beginning) and Arslantepe (end phase); D: Terramare culture.

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Tab. 1 – List of the archaeological sites reported as case studies in this paper.

297x209mm (150 x 150 DPI)

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Fig. 1 – Location map showing the sites reported in this paper (*) including six archaeological sites: 1) La

Draga, 2) Closos de ca’n Gaià, 3) Poviglio, 4) Montale, 5) Duspiliò, 6) Arslantepe, and ten off/near-sites:

Lake Banyoles; B) SB2 Banyoles; C) Les Palanques; D) Sobrestany; E) S’Albufera d’Alcúdia; F) Lake

Mezzano; G) Lake Nemi; H) Lake Albano; I) RF93-30; J) Lake Dojran

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Fig. 2 – Percentage pollen diagrams from the six archaeological sites: AP and Quercus %

289x169mm (300 x 300 DPI)

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Fig. 3 – Anthracological diagrams based on anthracological analysis of the sites of Arslantepe, Turkey (Masi

et al., 2018), and Closos de can Gaià, Mallorca (Picornell-Gelabert and Servera-Vives 2017). Results at

Closos de can Gaià are presented with percentage (%) of charcoal fragments per taxon at every

archaeological layer (Stratigrafic Units) and occupation phase of the Navetiform 1 building. Results at

Arslantepe are presented with percentage (%) of charcoal weight per taxon at every archaeological layer of

the site. Dots represent values <3%."

250x176mm (300 x 300 DPI)

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Fig. 5 – Percentage pollen diagrams from the archaeological sites: pollen sums of Neolithic sites

292x179mm (300 x 300 DPI)

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Fig. 6 - Percentage pollen diagrams from the archaeological sites: pollen sums of Bronze samples

273x196mm (300 x 300 DPI)

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Fig. 7 –Principal Component analysis (PCA) of selected pollen taxa and sums from the six archaeological

sites included in this paper (samples are plotted as variables). Axis 1 separates the samples along a woody

landscape gradient (from forested towards more open environments), while Axis 2 groups them mainly by

vegetation types (pasturelands and riparian forests against more forested environments and crops). Each

site is well separated to the others and shows own features.

254x185mm (150 x 150 DPI)

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Coping with marsh floods and fires: Resilience at the pile‐dwelling site of Dispilio, Northwestern Greece

Article

Feb 2024

Myrsini Gkouma

Lacustrine environments are considered favorable locations for Neolithic settlements, constituting a reliable year‐round water resource, which contributes to fertile arable land, rich biodiversity, and natural protection. Living by the wetlands, however, is characterized by intensive ecological vulnerabilities, that is, floods and fire events. These recurrent episodes are difficult to trace in the occupation layers since natural processes combined with human activities can form variable mixed microenvironments. Consequently, the direct impact of these events on the biography of the settlement and the decision‐making of its inhabitants is understudied. This paper presents a high‐resolution, microstratigraphic analysis at the Neolithic pile‐dwelling settlement of Dispilio (Kastoria, northern Greece) to trace past ecological threats and unravel the resilience strategies of the lake‐dwellers against the continuously altered microenvironments. By correlating the results with regional environmental and cultural events, this paper questions the role of environmental changes as triggers for cultural modifications and considers a wide range of strategies for coping with wetland hazards.

Vegetation History and Diversity of Archaeological Contexts at the Roztoky Site from the Anthracological Perspective

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2024

A high-resolution record of landscape changes and land use over the last 5000 years in western Calabria (S. Eufemia Gulf, southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)

Article

Aug 2023
HOLOCENE

Pollen analysis of a marine core collected in the Gulf of S. Eufemia (Tyrrhenian Calabria, Italy) allowed reconstructing the regional changes in vegetation and land use over the last 5000 years. Pollen diagram zonation through Constrained Cluster Analysis highlighted three compositional zones whose boundaries mark the major changes that affected the vegetation structure. A dense forest cover with a few signs of human activities characterized the wide pollen source area from 5055 to 2700 BP (Zone 1). In this period, the Pre-Protohistoric communities were mainly concentrated on the Tropea Promontory where they had a significant local impact. Minor forest rarefactions at 5000–4800 BP, ca. 4400–4000 BP, ca. 3450–3150 BP were correlated to phases of climatic shifts toward aridity. From 2700 to 2000 BP (Zone 2a), a longer and more incisive period of forest decline was connected to a time of aridity that favored the intense activities of an increasing anthropogenic pressure. Indeed, important urban centers developed in the area during the Greek and Roman colonization. Diffuse deforestation and cultivation occurred from 790 BP (Zone 3), enhancing soil erosion and fluvial discharge as testified by the sudden increase in sedimentation rates. This disruption of the slope morphodynamics was connected to the collapse of territorial management following the end of the Western Roman Empire. Compositional Data Analysis, applied to a simplified pollen dataset, highlighted both a negative correlation between Abies and Fagus and a close similarity between the AP/NAP curve and the Axis 1 scores of the Relative Variation Biplot.

Human Impact on Vegetation

Chapter

Feb 2023

Ralph Fyfe

There are two main ways in which human impact on vegetation has been conceptualized using pollen data. First, the action of humans on vegetation is to reduce the extent of tree cover, under the assumption that tree clearance equates to the conversion of land for agricultural activities or is a consequence of pre‐agrarian disturbance regimes such as fire. Second, humans alter the compositional makeup of vegetation, through deliberate selection or unforeseen consequences of land use. A complementary method to the landscape reconstruction algorithm is the Multiple Scenario Approach. This approach also relies on a detailed understanding of relative pollen productivity and pollen dispersal models but takes as its starting point maps, or scenarios, of vegetation cover in the past. The ability to identify pollen grains to a high taxonomic level, and thus provide a more detailed evidence base for reconstruction of human impacts, has been, and remains, a significant challenge.

Human-environment dynamics in the ancient Mediterranean. Keywords of a research field

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2022

Human-environment dynamics in past societies has been a major field of research in the Mediterranean for a long time, but has grown significantly following the increase in the number and quality of palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental records in the last two decades. Here we sketch the outline of this field of research based on 1,531 author keywords from 280 peer-reviewed articles published in 78 different scientific journals during 2016–2021. Sourced from the Web of Science, the selected studies cover the time span from the Neolithic to the Roman period across the Mediterranean and provide a large number of entry points for the interested reader regardless of their prior knowledge and specific interests. The results make evident the breadth and interdisciplinary nature of this research and show that it is possible to approach questions of humanenvironment dynamics in many and diverse ways. Among other things, our overview outlines the importance of temporal and spatial scales, as well as the elusive nature of causality, and highlights that monocausal models connecting climate events and societal collapse are increasingly replaced by scenarios favouring more nuanced renditions of the sequence of events within which internal societal factors are given more room for play.

ABSOLUTE CHRONOLOGY AT THE WATERLOGGED SITE OF LA DRAGA (LAKE BANYOLES, NE IBERIA): BAYESIAN CHRONOLOGICAL MODELS INTEGRATING TREE-RING MEASUREMENT, RADIOCARBON DATES AND MICRO- STRATIGRAPHICAL DATA

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2022
RADIOCARBON

Sixty-two 14 C dates are analyzed in combination with a recently established local floating tree-ring sequence for the Early Neolithic site of La Draga (Banyoles, northeast Iberian Peninsula). Archaeological data, radiometric and dendrochronological dates, as well as sedimentary and micro-stratigraphical information are used to build a Bayesian chronological model, using the ChronoModel 2.0 and OxCal 4.4 computer programs, and IntCal 2020 calibration curve. The dendrochronological sequence is analyzed, and partially fixed to the calendrical scale using a wiggle-matching approach. Depositional events and the general stratigraphic sequence are expressed in expanded Harris Matrix diagrams and ordered in a temporal sequence using Allen Algebra. Post-depositional processes affecting the stratigraphic sequence are related both to the phreatic water level and the contemporaneous lakeshore. The most probable chronological model suggests two main Neolithic occupations, that can be divided into no less than three different "phases," including the construction, use and repair of the foundational wooden platforms, as well as evidence for later constructions after the reorganization of the ground surface using travertine slabs. The chronological model is discussed considering both the modern debate on the Climatic oscillations during the period 8000-4800 cal BC, and the origins of the Early Neolithic in the western Mediterranean region.

Prestigious early Roman gardens across the Empire: the significance of gardens and horticultural trends evidenced by pollen

Article

Jul 2022

Dafna Langgut

The present study has two main goals. The first is to reconstruct the botanical components that grew in the impressive garden of Villa Arianna (Stabiae). The garden, which was extensively destroyed and covered by tephra ash in 79 CE, is considered the largest peristyle garden in the Vesuvian region. Its plants were revealed based on a unique palynological-archaeological method involving the extraction of pollen from plaster attached to structures that faced the garden. The second aim is to compare this prestigious garden with other early elite Roman gardens, located in the eastern part of the Empire, to trace the importation of plants, horticultural trends, etc. For this purpose, gardens of Herod the Great, the client king of Judaea, which the author recently studied palynologically (in Caesarea, Herodium and Jericho), were compared with the new pollen results of Villa Arianna. The comparison between the gardens’ botanical components and their different landscapes led to the following conclusions: (1) Plants were imported from both ends of the Empire as elite products (rather than cash crops). Hazelnut (Corylus) and cedar (Cedrus) were introduced from west to east, while the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) was introduced along an east-west axis. (2) The gardening trend of tree dwarfism was observed both at Villa Arianna and Jericho. (3) The gardens flourished in challenging habitats. At Villa Arianna and Caesarea, efforts were devoted to sustaining splendid gardens in the relatively harsh, saline Mediterranean Sea environment; at Herodium and Jericho, special efforts were required for the success of Mediterranean plants in semi-arid climate. (4) Herod’s mausoleum garden in Herodium, whose dark evergreen trees on the whitish slopes of the artificial tumulus could be seen from the Temple in Jerusalem, may have been inspired by the architectural arrangement of the Pantheon and the Mausoleum of Augustus, the patron of Herod.

Late-Holocene paleoenvironmental and land-use changes in Western Greece based on a sediment record from Klisova lagoon

Article

Feb 2022
HOLOCENE

In this study, we present the findings of a sediment core retrieved from Klisova lagoon, Western Greece, an area with a long record of documented human presence. The recovered deposits were subjected to sedimentological, XRF, and micropaleontological analyses. For the last 4700 cal BP, the freshwater influx, the progradation of the Evinos river delta and related geomorphological changes control the environmental conditions in the lagoon. Considering the centennial temporal resolution of our analyses, small offsets of c.a. 50 years due to lack of regional reservoir correction do not considerably impact the reported radiocarbon ages. Prior to 4000 cal BP, a relatively shallow water depth, significant terrestrial/freshwater input and increased weathering in the lagoon area are inferred. Elemental proxies and increased dinoflagellate cyst and foraminiferal abundances, which indicate marine conditions with prominent freshwater influxes, point to the gradual deepening of the lagoon up to 2000 cal BP. The marine and freshwater condition equilibrium sets at 1300 cal BP, with the lagoonal system reaching its present state. Maxima of anthropogenic pollen indicators during the Mycenaean (3200 cal BP), Hellenistic (2200 cal BP), and Late Byzantine (800 cal BP) periods suggest intervals of increased anthropogenic activities in the area.

Mid-Holocene Palaeoenvironment, Plant Resources and Human Interaction in Northeast Iberia: An Archaeobotanical Approach

Article

Full-text available

May 2021

The role of the adoption of farming economies in the transformation of mid-Holocene landscapes in Northeast Iberia is under discussion given that the Neolithization coincides with the cold climatic phase dated ca. 7500–7000 cal BP. The main aim of this paper is to assess whether human activities or climate were the main driver of vegetation changes during the Middle Holocene through the study of the archaeobotanical data from three case studies: Cova del Sardo, La Draga, and Coves del Fem. The application of diverse archaeobotanical techniques to the different plant remains provides a complete picture of the vegetation composition and plant uses. During the early Neolithic, settlement surroundings were intensively exploited for firewood, wood raw material, timber, and plant fibers. The resources were obtained mainly from deciduous and pine forests, depending on the site localization, but also from riparian zones. The diversity of plants exploited was high, not only trees but shrubs and herbs. Evidence of deforestation has been identified in the settlement surroundings in La Draga and Cova del Sardo. The combination of plant exploitation with other agropastoral activities favored the expansion of colonizing species and enhanced biodiversity at a local scale.

The Role of Palynology in Archaeoecological Research: Reconstructing Human-Environment Interactions during Neolithic in the Western Mediterranean

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2021

Jordi Revelles

This paper provides an overview of the potential of palynology within palaeoenvironmental research to reconstruct past landscapes and assess the relationship between vegetation and the first farming communities. The analysis of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs in natural records evidenced how the adoption of farming and new sedentary settlement patterns resulted in major landscape transformation on extra-local or regional scales in the Western Mediterranean, affecting sclerophyllous and riparian forests in North Corsica, Mediterranean maquis in South Corsica, and oak forests in NE Iberia. In addition, palynology has been confirmed as a relevant source of data to address the local palaeoenvironmental evolution in lakes, wetlands, and archaeological sites, providing evidence of the presence of flocks (spores of coprophilous fungi), and changes in hydrology (salinity, dryness/wetness, aquatic/palustrine phases) and in geomorphology (soil erosion indicators). Finally, the spatial analysis of pollen and NPP intra-site distribution is presented here as a valuable tool to assess the social use of space in archaeological sites. In that sense, archaeopalynology has provided detailed information about site formation processes, social use of space, and the use of plants and fungi in the site of La Draga (Girona, Spain).

Mediterranean landscape change during the Holocene: Synthesis, comparison and regional trends in population, land cover and climate

Article

Full-text available

May 2019

This synthesis paper offers a comparative perspective on how seven different Mediterranean regions, from Iberia and Morocco to the Levant, have been transformed by human and natural agencies during the past 10 millennia. It draws on a range of data sources: notably (1) archaeological site surveys (n = 32,000) and 14C dates (n = 12,000) as proxies for long-term population change, (2) pollen records as a proxy for past vegetation and land cover (n = 253) and (3) proxies, such as stable isotopes, from lake, cave and marine records as indicators of hydro-climate (n = 47). Where possible, these data sets have been made spatially and temporally congruent in order to examine relationships between them statistically and graphically. Data have been aggregated or averaged for each region/sub-region and put into 200-year time windows. Archaeo-demographic data show a clear increase at the start of Neolithic farming, followed by a series of regionally asynchronous fluctuations in population, prior to a pan-Mediterranean Roman settlement maximum. Pollen data indicate a late-Holocene decline in %Arboreal Pollen in those regions that were initially well wooded, but not in drier regions of the southern/eastern Mediterranean. Overall, the clearest palynological proxy for human land cover change is provided by the OJCV (tree crop) index. The cultivation of these trees in the eastern Mediterranean after 6500 cal. yr BP may have been an adaptive response to mid-Holocene climatic desiccation. These anthropogenic pollen indicators correlate more closely with trends in population than with regional hydro-climatic z scores, implying that they reflect primarily human activities. During the mid Holocene, most Mediterranean landscapes were transformed by a combination of climate and rural land use, but after ~3500 cal. yr BP, human actions became increasingly dominant in determining land cover. During the past 1500 years, the dominant landscape trajectory in the eastern Mediterranean was markedly different to that in the central/western Mediterranean.

Tyrrhenian central Italy: Holocene population and landscape ecology

Article

Full-text available

May 2019

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.

Long-term trends of land use and demography in Greece: A comparative study

Article

Full-text available

May 2019

This paper offers a comparative study of land use and demographic development in northern and southern Greece from the Neolithic to the Byzantine period. Results from summed probability densities (SPD) of archaeological radiocarbon dates and settlement numbers derived from archaeological site surveys are combined with results from cluster-based analysis of published pollen core assemblages to offer an integrated view of human pressure on the Greek landscape through time. We demonstrate that SPDs offer a useful approach to outline differences between regions and a useful complement to archaeological site surveys, evaluated here especially for the onset of the Neolithic and for the Final Neolithic (FN)/Early Bronze Age (EBA) transition. Pollen analysis highlight differences in vegetation between the two sub-regions, but also several parallel changes. The comparison of land cover dynamics between two sub-regions of Greece further demonstrates the significance of the bioclimatic conditions of core locations and that apparent oppositions between regions may in fact be two sides of the same coin in terms of socio-ecological trajectories. We also assess the balance between anthropogenic and climate-related impacts on vegetation and suggest that climatic variability was as an important factor for vegetation regrowth. Finally, our evidence suggests that the impact of humans on land cover is amplified from the Late Bronze Age (LBA) onwards as more extensive herding and agricultural practices are introduced.

Prehistoric palaeodemographics and regional land cover change in eastern Iberia

Article

Full-text available

May 2019

Much attention has been placed on the drivers of vegetation change on the Iberian Peninsula. While climate plays a key role in determining the species pools within different regions and exerts a strong influence on broad vegetation patterning, the role of humans, particularly during prehistory, is less clear. The aim of this paper is to assess the influence of prehistoric population change on shaping vegetation patterns in eastern Iberia and the Balearic Islands between the start of the Neolithic and the late Bronze Age. In all, 3385 radiocarbon dates have been compiled across the study area to provide a palaeodemographic proxy (radiocarbon summed probability distributions (SPDs)). Modelled trends in palaeodemographics are compared with regional-scale vegetation patterns deduced from analysis of 30 fossil pollen sequences. The pollen sequences have been standardised with count data aggregated into contiguous 200-year time windows from 11,000 cal. yr BP to the present. Samples have been classified using cluster analysis to determine the predominant regional land cover types through the Holocene. Regional human impact indices and diversity metrics have been derived for north-east and south-east Spain and the Balearic Islands. The SPDs show characteristic boom-and-bust cycles of population growth and collapse, but there is no clear synchronism between north-east and south-east Spain other than the rise of Neolithic farming. In north-east Iberia, patterns of demographic change are strongly linked to changes in vegetation diversity and human impact indicator groups. In the south-east, increases in population throughout the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age result in more open landscapes and increased vegetation diversity. The demographic maximum occurred early in the 3rd millennium cal. BP on the Balearic Islands and is associated with the highest levels of human impact indicator groups. The results demonstrate the importance of population change in shaping the abundance and diversity of taxa within broad climatically determined biomes.

δ13C values in archaeological 14C‐AMS dated charcoals: Assessing mid‐Holocene climate fluctuations and human response from a high‐resolution isotope record (Arslantepe, Turkey)

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2017

RATIONALE Past climate has always influenced human adaptation to the environment. In order to reconstruct palaeoclimate fluctuations and their role in the evolution of Near Eastern societies during the mid‐Holocene, high‐resolution Δ¹³C records from fossil wood remains at the archaeological site of Arslantepe (eastern Turkey) have been developed. METHODS After chemical treatment, δ¹³C values were measured by sample combustion flow using a FLASH EA‐CHNS instrument interfaced with a Delta V isotope ratio mass spectrometer via a CONFLO III. Two replicates per sample were analysed. The measurement precision was evaluated by propagating variations of the δ¹³C values of samples and V‐PDB standards, whereas the accuracy was checked by a quality control sample. To account for changes in atmospheric CO2, Δ¹³C values were calculated. In addition, ¹⁴C/¹²C ratios were measured by means of ann AMS system (3 MV tandem accelerator). RESULTS Mean Δ¹³C curves of deciduous Quercus and Juniperus from archaeological levels between 4700 and 2000 BC (Arslantepe periods VIII‐VI D) were produced, where the isotope values were ordered by the available RC ages. Interspecific variations of evergreen vs deciduous plants were postulated for the juniper Δ¹³C values being higher than 3‰. The seasonal rainfall amount was recorded by the juniper remains, while the water table levels were obtained from the oak samples. CONCLUSIONS The local climate experienced times of enhanced/reduced precipitation in concert with regional trends. Anomalies in the air mass circulation from the Mediterranean basin also produced oscillations of rainfall amount. In such a frame the Rapid Climate Change dry events had a consistent signature in the Arslantepe Δ¹³C record, thus potentially contributing to social or organisational changes at the site.

The Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation and climate history of Lago di Mezzano (central Italy)

Article

Dec 2018
QUATERNARY SCI REV

Laura Sadori

The top 12 m of a lacustrine sediment sequence from Lago di Mezzano (42°36′N, 11°46′E, 452 a.s.l., Latium, central Italy) have been palynologically investigated. The chronology was established on the basis of radiocarbon dates, measures of annual laminations and volcanic ashes. The continuous sequence provides new fundamental information on the Lateglacial and Holocene, periods often fragmented in Italian pollen records, identifying vegetation dynamics and climate changes occurring in the last 15,300 years. The record starts at the end of the last glacial, closely following the climate changes found at a global scale, with clear stadial and interstadial oscillations, and evidence of cold/dry and wet/warm climatic changes. The Holocene is mostly characterized by forests, evolving rapidly to mature mixed deciduous oak (starting from 11,000 years BP) and, passing through beech forests (starting from ca. 9000 years BP) and alder carrs (starting from ca. 7000 years) to the deeply human-modified present-day landscape. Evaluating the importance of the local and regional human impact is not straightforward. A peculiarity of Lago di Mezzano, as of other Mediterranean lacustrine sites, is that it behaves at times as an “on-site” locale, when human populations were immediately by the lake, and at times as an “off-site” when settlements were found further away. This pattern changed according to cultural and climatic variations, both correlated to the water level of the lake.

Regional Vegetation Histories: An Overview of the Pollen Evidence from the Central Mediterranean

Chapter

Feb 2019

3 Pollen Signatures of a Ritual Process in the Collective Burial Cave of Cova des Pas (Late Bronze Age, Minorca, Balearic Islands, Spain)

Book

Jan 2018

The onset of islandscapes in the Balearic Islands: A study-case of Addaia (northern Minorca, Spain)

Article

Feb 2018
PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCL

Paleoenvironmental and archaeological data show that Mediterranean landscapes result from long-term socio-environmental interactions. Mediterranean islands constitute a place of passage where the creation of cultural landscapes can be traced through colonization and anthropization histories. Palynological studies carried out in the Balearic Islands highlight a deep vegetation change from the mid- to late-Holocene, but the climate-environmental-human interactions are not fully understood yet. In this study, we aim to disentangle the causalities of landscape changes during the last six millennia using a multiproxy approach on an off-site core for the first time in Minorca island. We find that, during the mid-Holocene, the climate was wetter than today with less rainfall seasonality than in the current Mediterranean. This climate, favoured the expansion of box formations and the predominance of forested formations with minimal anthropized conditions. First agropastoral activities appeared in the sequence between ca. 3500–2650 cal BCE in north-eastern Minorca, coinciding with other sporadic archaeological evidence (Cova dels Morts rock-shelter) which support the possibility of a pre-Chalcolithic discovery and frequentation of the island. We record deep environmental change during the third millennium cal BCE, reflected in the substitution of the former mesophytic vegetation by Mediterranean maquis formations dominated by wild olive trees, heathers, mastic and Cistaceae. We propose that maquis, garrigues and open-land vegetation were favoured by human action in a context of increasing climatic dryness and seasonality promoting vegetation flammability and substitution of former mesic communities to more adapted termophilous vegetation. The comparison of our new record from Addaia with other pollen studies from the Balearic records highlights the resilience of mesic vegetation to climate change, as shown by the survival of box formations to increasing aridification process initiated at ca. sixth–fifth millennium cal BCE (ca. 7–6 cal kyr BP) and culminated at ca. fourth–third millennium cal BCE (ca. 5–4 cal kyr BP) in the Western Mediterranean. Times of human frequentation versus stable occupation are difficult to detect in archaeological records. However, the coupling with paleoenvironmental studies may offer new scenarios and information for human arrival in the Balearic Islands.

Handbook of Plant Palaeoecology

Book