The use of forest resources in central Iberia during the Late Iron Age. Insights from the wood charcoal analysis of Pintia,a Vaccaean oppidum

Charred woods may be used to effectively reconstruct past wood acquisition strategies. We used anthracological data from the pre-Roman settlement of Pintia (Padilla de Duero, Valladolid) to examine the use of forest resources at the local scale. Palaeoecological data revealed heterogeneous landscapes in the inland northern meseta with environments that offered diverse sources of wood for the inhabitants of Pintia, one of the first cities of inland Iberia. Pines (Pinus pinea/pinaster and Pinus sylvestris/nigra) and both evergreen and deciduous Quercus L. and Juniperus L. were the main taxa identified as both fuelwood and construction elements, but the assemblages and frequencies of these taxa differed depending on their use. We also examined the potential of models from human ecology by considering the frequency, handling time and the relative technological value of each taxon to model how people gathered wood resources. The results suggest that although local availability affected the forest resources that were used by the Vaccaei people, specific taxa were positively selected for specific uses.     

Identifying archaeological wood stack charcoal production sites using geophysical prospection: magnetic characteristics from a modern wood stack charcoal burn site

Charcoal making was a common process in the woodlands of Britain for many centuries. However, historic ‘wood stack’ production sites are difficult to identify. This paper tests the hypothesis that geophysical survey is an appropriate method for the discovery and identification of archaeological charcoal making sites. A traditional wood stack charcoal kiln was constructed in Low Staindale, Dalby Forest, near Pickering, North Yorkshire, to investigate the charcoaling process and the effect of low-temperature carbonisation on the magnetic properties of the soil underlying the kiln. The results from temperature monitoring (within and beneath the charcoal stack) throughout the charcoaling process, geophysical surveys across the charcoal kiln platform, and laboratory analysis of soil and ash samples, are presented. The degree to which the magnetic properties of the ground beneath the charcoal kiln had been enhanced as a consequence of this low-temperature process is discussed. Whilst some magnetic enhancement to the soil beneath the kiln platform was recorded, enhancement appears to be the result of contamination from the wood stack sealing material rather than the effect of heat transfer resulting from the charcoaling process. The results suggest that whilst historic wood stack charcoal production sites are likely to remain an enigmatic and under-reported feature in the archaeological landscape, geophysical prospection does have the potential for identification of these sites.     

The ethnoarchaeology of firewood management in the Fang villages of Equatorial Guinea, central Africa: Implications for the interpretation of wood fuel remains from archaeological sites

In archaeological literature, the study of trees and wood remains is a topic of relatively marginal interest, especially compared to texts on crops and human–animal relations. However, charcoal is the most frequent botanical remain found in archaeological sites. Charcoal analysis can therefore play a major role in the development of studies in both landscape and palaeoethnobotanical reconstruction. The majority of the archaeological charcoal assemblages reflect the exploitation of wood as an energy source (fuel). The archaeological study of firewood selection has been predominantly developed from “eco-utilitarian” or “subsistence economy” perspectives, but has not yet considered fuel collection and use as one of the most enduring categories of human–environment interactions, nor has archaeology looked into its potential as a source of empirical information on past perceptions of, and interactions with, ancient landscapes. The aim of this paper is to expand previous archaeological work on the interpretation of charcoal macro-remains through the study of firewood collection as a historically constituted, socially mediated and archaeologically observable landscape practice. In order to achieve this, we present an ethnoarchaeological case study from the Fang society of Equatorial Guinea (central Africa) aimed at gaining a better understanding of the complex interactions between cultural, ecological and economic variables in firewood collection strategies.     

A simple model of technological intensification

Ugan, Bright and Rogers [When is technology worth the trouble? Journal of Archaeological Science 30 (10) (2003) 1315–1329] develop procurement and processing versions of an optimization model, termed the tech investment model, to formalize the conditions that favor investing time in the manufacture of more productive but more costly technologies. Their approach captures the tradeoffs that occur as less costly versions are supplanted by more costly versions of the same category of technology (e.g., fishhooks), but not the tradeoffs that occur when more costly categories of technology supplant different but less costly categories used for the same purpose (e.g., hook and line vs. spear). We (i) propose an alternative model in which different categories of technology are characterized by separate cost–benefit curves, (ii) develop point-estimate and curve-estimate versions on this model, and (iii) show how they might be applied using the development of weaponry in aboriginal California as an example.     

Prehistoric land use at an archaeological hot-spot (the rock art park of Campo Lameiro,NW Spain) inferred from charcoal,synanthropic pollen and non-pollen palynomorph proxies

Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and charcoal from a colluvial soil surrounded by prehistoric petroglyphs (Campo Lameiro, NW Spain) were studied in order to assess the nature of human activities and their impact on Holocene vegetation patterns. Several phases of anthropogenic impact were observed. (i) Between 7.6 and 6.5 ka cal BP, synanthropic taxa (Urtica dioica type, Plantago lanceolata type) and coprophilous fungi (e.g. Sporormiella-type) are indicative of early (pre-agricultural) creation of small patches of pasture using fire, possibly for incipient animal husbandry or as part of a deliberate strategy to improve game availability. Such activities only had a minor effect on the deciduous Quercus-dominated forest established earlier during the Holocene Thermal Maximum. (ii) Between 5.9 and 4.8 ka cal BP a more intense signal indicative of pastoral activity was detected, corresponding to the Neolithic period. (iii) Between 4.8 and 3.4 ka cal BP, which fits within the hypothetical timeframe of petroglyph creation, the synanthropic and humidity (e.g. Cyperaceae, Mougeotia) indicators diminished while charcoal concentration increased, which can be explained by Mid-Holocene cooling/drying (Neoglaciation) in combination with reduced human impact, or by non-pastoral activities in the area possibly in association with the development of the rock art culture, converting pasture to protected open ground through anthropogenic fires. (iv) During the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age (3.4–2.5 ka cal BP), grazing pressure and fire regime intensity are high, coinciding with evidence of regional forest regression, despite an amelioration in climate. (v) Later phases, not corresponding to prehistoric rock art contexts, include a phase of heavy grazing and reduced fire frequency (from ca. 2.5 to 1.2 ka cal BP) as well as the near complete elimination of the deciduous woodland, the expansion of ericaceous shrubland and the evidence of local agriculture and afforestation. These results are consistent with earlier studies in the area and highlight the spatial heterogeneity in the vegetation especially during periods of prehistoric anthropogenic interference.