Dietary analysis of Piraino 1, Sicily,Italy: the role of archaeopalynology in forensic science

Pollen from intestinal contents of mummies, backed by macrofloral analysis, provides important clues to diet, medicines, and season of death. Intestinal contents were recovered from the Piraino 1 mummy from the “Sepulcher of the Priests”, Piraino Mother Church, in the province of Messina, Sicily. Using standard palynological methods and pollen concentration technique, we quantified the numbers of pollen grains per gram of coprolite. The pollen spectrum was dominated by Polygalaceae, the Milkwort Family. Polygalaceae pollen is rarely found in archaeological sites. Based on comparison to published keys, we determined that the pollen came from a species of Polygala. Polygala contains species with medicinal value. We found nine other pollen types. Traces of Potamogeton (pondweed) was observed in preliminary scans. Multiple grains of Brassicaceae (mustard family), cereal (cultivated grains), Typha (cattail) and Cheno-am were found. Single grains of Castanea (chestnut), Fabaceae (bean family), Salix (willow), and Solanaceae (tomato family) were found. The preservation of the pollen was poor except for Polygala and the cereal pollen. Brassicaceae and Cheno-am have been part of the natural pollen spectrum in Sicily since ancient times. Cereal grains were consumed with prepared food. Importantly, background arboreal pollen was nearly absent. This indicates that Piraino 1 died during months of low pollination. The absence of olive pollen is important since this plant in Sicily reaches its maximum pollination in May and June and tapers off rapidly by mid-June. Therefore, absence of the key warm season airborne pollen type suggests a post-June death. Macrofossils, especially residue from grape pulp, indicates a death in September to November. His cause of death was likely a result of multiple myeloma. The methodological differences between archaeopalynology and forensic palynology are summarized. We suggest that the palynological methods presented here should be adopted for human remains analysis in forensic palynology.     

Cultivation History Beyond the Periphery: Early Agriculture in the North European Boreal Forest

We have investigated the environmental history of human occupation and the development of agriculture in the eastern interior Lake District of Finland. The material consists of archaeological data, which is reviewed in topographical and agrogeological context, and pollen analytical evidence of agricultural indices from eight precisely dated (varved) lake sediment sequences. Before the Viking Age, archaeological evidence, consisting of stray finds, dwelling sites, and graves, is very scarce. Iron Age finds are clearly confined to the lowland environs with silty and clayey soils. During the Viking Age, the number of stray finds multiplies and the first cemeteries are established. Comparison between Viking and Crusade Period finds reveals a topographic shift toward higher locations and morainic soils. Most of the cup-stones are located on upland sites—that is, not in connection with known Iron Age sites. These are interpreted as medieval indicators of slash-and-burn farming of the fertile but stony supraaquatic morainic soils. There is pollen analytical evidence of sporadic cultivation in the area from the Bronze Age onward. Afterca. AD 700, the occurrence of cereal pollen grains becomes regular but remains discontinuous at each site until after the turn of the millennium. There is then an exponential rise in the cereal pollen rain, indicating a fully agricultural population.     

Agricultural and household activities in Vestfold,Southeast Norway,as illustrated by pollen data and the charred remains of crops and wild plants

This paper presents and interprets two data sets from Vestfold, Southeast Norway: the pollen record is from a small lake basin, isolated from the sea in Mid Mesolithic (8100–6400 cal BC), and with a record of sediment deposition up to recent time. Charred plant remains from six settlement sites ranging in date from the Late Neolithic (2400–1800 cal BC) to the Merovingian Period (cal AD 570–800). Soil from archaeological contexts that was recovered from several prehistoric settlement features (two- and three-aisled houses, a rock shelter and a pit) has also been investigated. The number and concentrations of identifiable charred macro remains are low from all features except one, but the records contribute to the interpretation of agriculture and wild plant use. Carbonised cereals dated to the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age are reported from a two-aisled house. Naked barley was the main cereal identified and a few weed seeds were found with the cereal grains. In a rock shelter nearby, cereals and seeds of flax were found, demonstrating cultivation in the Late Bronze Age. Pollen of ribwort plantain recorded in lake deposits in Nordbytjern, 0·5?km to the southwest, also indicates agricultural activity in the southern part of Vestfold during the Late Bronze Age. Archaeobotanical samples from Early Iron Age houses contained low concentrations of carbonised cereal remains, mainly hulled barley, but also wheat and oat. Seeds/fruits of weeds, plants of moist/wet habitats and grasses increase in abundance from the end of Roman Period. The high concentration of hulled barley found in a pit at the site of Ringdal 13 confirms that hulled barley was a cereal used in the Iron Age. Throughout the Iron Age, cereal pollen has a continuous curve in the Nordbytjern pollen diagram, demonstrating the significance of cereal cultivation in Vestfold. Flax was also cultivated in the vicinity of and probably processed in Nordbytjern. Large numbers of rush seeds and sedge nutlets indicate a possible involvement in basketry and cordage making and/or as animal fodder.     

洛阳地区汉墓出土陶明器上谷物文字的初步研究

本文对洛阳地区汉墓出土陶明器上书写的谷物文字进行了分类梳理,将其发展过程分为滥觞、鼎盛、衰亡三个阶段,并对各阶段特点加以总结。根据西汉晚期至东汉各种谷物文字数量的统计,可知当时已经形成了以粟、黍为首要作物的种植农业体系;与此同时随葬谷物及陶仓的广泛出现,也在一定程度上反映了汉代人们的生活状况和思想观念。     

Characterising the late prehistoric, ‘Romano-British’ and medieval landscape, and dating the emergence of a regionally distinct agricultural system in South West Britain

Palaeoenvironmental evidence for the character of lowland cultural landscapes during the last 2500 years in Britain is poorly understood, owing to a combination of an over-reliance on data from upland sequences, and because lowland mires are typically located in positions marginal to areas of settlement and agriculture. This paper presents an attempt to derive environmental evidence for this time period from a lowland context in order to characterise the key periods of change and continuity in the lowlands. The study focuses on mid-Devon, in South West Britain, and uses small pollen sites which are embedded within the historic landscape. The South West is a particularly poor region for lowland environmental data, and has until now been reliant on upland sequences. The results show that continuity, rather than abrupt change, has characterised the landscape from the later Iron Age to the early medieval period (around cal AD 800). There is no palynologically distinct Roman period in the data, contrary to evidence from the high uplands of Exmoor that suggests a decline of the agricultural system during the immediate post-Roman period. Around cal AD 800 there is a change in the agricultural system from predominantly pastoral activities to one that led to relatively high proportions of cereal pollen appearing in the sequences, which is interpreted here as marking the onset of convertible husbandry, a regionally distinct agricultural system which is recorded from AD 1350, but whose origins are not documented. This agricultural system remained in place until the post-medieval period, when the predominant agricultural regime returned to pastoralism around AD 1750. The data clearly show discrepancies between the high uplands and the lowlands, demonstrating the potential hazards of extrapolating upland sequences to lowlands environments.     

Pollen analysis in the context of clearance cairns from boreal forests – a reflection of past cultivation and pastoral farming

The former agricultural use of two sites located in the boreal forest of eastern Norway is investigated through pollen analysis. A peat profile was taken from the vicinity in each of two clearance cairn fields where several cairns were analysed for pollen. The pollen samples from the peat profiles give an environmental context for the pollen samples from the clearance cairns, and this combination of samples assists in evaluating the management practices that were in place on the cairn fields during different time periods. In both study areas cultivation layers under the clearance cairns are dated to the Late Roman Iron Age (cal. AD 200–400), while the oldest clearance cairns are dated to the Migration period (cal. AD 400–570), and a second phase of clearance cairn establishment is dated to the Medieval period (cal. AD 1030–1537). Abandonment of the two cairn fields is dated to c. AD 1700. Pioneer trees were a feature on or around the clearance cairn fields during most of the Iron Age, whereas the cairn fields were more open in medieval times. The investigation suggests that cereal cultivation on the clearance cairn fields is difficult to detect in local peat deposits, and that caution is needed when interpreting lack of Cerealia pollen. Management practices on the cairn fields are discussed and a change in management practice is indicated in association with medieval intensification.     

Early farming in hordaland,western Norway. Problems and approaches in archaeology and pollen analysis

This article discusses the evidence of farming settlements in Neolithic times in the county of Hordaland, in western Norway, and possible ways for future research to establish the introduction of a farming economy, with its cultural and ecological implications.

Using distribution maps, Bakka demonstrates how the people of the mainly hunting and fishing sub‐Neolithic dwelling‐place culture of the Middle Neolithic period preferred a coastal area of habitation, while the find groups of Neolithic artifacts are generally to be found in those areas more suitable for farming. This change of habitat is interpreted as evidence of a general change in economic structure, with a greatly increased emphasis on agriculture.

Kaland discusses the Sub‐Boreal history of vegetation in Hordaland as revealed by pollen analysis. The earliest phase of agriculture in the pollen diagrams is dated in relation to the pollenanalytical leading horizons, the shore‐line displacement, radiocarbon measurements and the archaeological chronology. He puts forward the working hypothesis that in the sub‐Neolithic culture of the Middle Neolithic period some animal husbandry may have been practised in zone VIII b as a supplementary means of livelihood, and that this was followed by a phase of cereal growing in zone VIII c. The Late Neolithic culture appears to be responsible for this more intensive mixed farming, and this corresponds to the archaeological evidence of the introduction of cereal cultivation, which demands the better‐soils of the later farming land.     

“Anthropogenic” Pollen Assemblages from a Bronze Age Cemetery at Linga Fiold,West Mainland,Orkney

Pollen analyses from a variety of contexts in a Bronze Age cemetery are used to reconstruct aspects of activity around the site during mound construction and use. Various tests are used to assess the reliability of the pollen assemblages recovered, and error analysis used to determine whether perceived differences between contexts are significant and therefore able to support an archaeological interpretation. The data suggest that the mounds were constructed on pasture land, that pyre fuel was predominantly turf, from both heathland and grassland sources, and that polleniferous material including sources ofPlantago lanceolata and cereal pollen were deposited on some cist floors before they were filled.     

Romano-Libyan Dryland Animal Husbandry and Landscape: Pollen and Palynofacies Analyses of Coprolites from a Farm in the Wadi el-Amud,Tripolitania

Pollen and palynofacies from sheep/goat, rodent and human coprolites of Romano-Libyan, Arab and recent age from a farmstead in the Wadi el-Amud, Tripolitania, Libya are described. There are few differences between assemblages from modern sheep/goat dung and from recent aeolian sand—both contain high percentages of desert species and significant far-travelled pollen. The Romano-Libyan and Arab samples contain high percentages of steppe taxa, suggesting significant vegetation change has occurred subsequently. Romano-Libyan sheep/goat dung samples are often dominated by single taxa, suggesting that the grazing of these animals was closely controlled or that they were stalled and fed hay, cereal waste or other crop residue. This practice seems to have contributed to the longevity of a mixed-Mediterranean agroecosystem in the predesert by preventing widespread and indiscriminate grazing and consequent landscape destabilization.     

When palynology meets classical archaeology: the Roman and medieval landscapes at the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Villa del Casale di Piazza Armerina</Emphasis>, UNESCO site in Sicily

Palynological researches have been carried out in the framework of cooperative projects with local and national institutions at the Villa Romana del Casale of Piazza Armerina, a small town in central Sicily. The site was studied within a multidisciplinary geo-bio-archaeological set of studies aiming at understanding the economy and environment at a local scale. Analyses allowed us to reconstruct the natural vs cultural landscape dynamics from Roman to medieval periods. On the basis of 85 samples, pollen diagrams show that the site has been built in a low forest cover area, with signs of both natural/semi-natural cover and complex anthropogenic activities. These activities include cereal fields and pastures. There is evidence of ornamental (e.g. Platanus, Buxus) and fruit trees (above all Olea, and also, e.g. Corylus, Prunus and Juglans). The research also includes a detailed study about the finding of Vitis pollen grains in the Roman site. In the subsequent phases, pollen shows again an open, fairly treeless, landscape with Mediterranean and hilly vegetation. Anthropogenic signs are evident in the form of groves and orchards. Our data bring evidence and details about the intense land exploitation that had contributed to transform the environment of central Sicily during the Middle and Late Holocene. Data demonstrate that archaeopalynology may be fruitfully regarded as a tool to understand the current landscape structure.     

Changes in Food Consumption and the Implications for Food Security and Undernourishment: India in the 1990s

This article examines the changes in the nature and quantity of food consumption in India during the reform decade of the 1990s, and analyses their implications for calorie intake and undernourishment. The study documents the decline in cereal consumption, especially in the urban areas, and provides evidence that suggests an increase in the prevalence of undernourishment over the period 1987/88 to 2001/2002. The results also point to a significant number of households, even in the top expenditure decile, suffering from undernourishment. This calls for a reassessment of the current strategy of directing the Targetted Public Distribution System (TPDS) exclusively at households ‘below the poverty line’. This study shows that, both as a source of subsidized calories and as a poverty reducing instrument, the PDS is of much greater importance to female‐headed households than it is to the rest of the population. Another important result is that, notwithstanding the sharp decline in their expenditure share during the 1990s, rice and wheat continue to provide the dominant share of calories, especially for the rural poor. The overall message is that, especially in a period of significant economic change, one needs to go beyond the standard expenditure‐based money metric measures to assess the changes in the living standards of households.     

Dynamics of pioneer colonisation in the Early Iron Age in the Duero basin (Central Iberia,Spain): Integrating archaeological and palynological records

Abstract

This study addresses the earliest strategies of permanent occupation in the mountainous regions bordering Northern Meseta in inland Iberia. This piece of work gathers together and discusses archaeological information about settlement in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age and previously published high-resolution palynological cores from three study areas. Its major goal is to assess both archaeological and pollen records in order to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of occupation and transformation of these upland settings. Until cal 700 BC there are no clear signs of permanence in the highlands surrounding the Duero basin, but from that point onwards various initiatives of small-scale spontaneous colonisation have been identified. Colonisation in the Iron Age involved pastoralism, cereal agriculture and a significant use of forestry resources, causing a major anthropogenic impact with irreversible consequences. The outlined account constitutes the first synthetic overview at a macro-regional scale on the beginnings of the integrated and diversified strategies implemented in these upland regions.     

The investigation of a medieval barrel-latrine from Worcester

The contents of a 15th century barrel-latrine from Worcester (U.K.) have been investigated. Twenty edible plant taxa were identified, mainly fruit, including gooseberry—an unusual find—while fig and grape may be exotics. Weld (used for dyeing) and linseed were also found. Seeds from cornfield weeds, wayside and wetland plants show the past presence of straw, hay and sedge, and the pollen spectra also show this. Broad bean, hemp/hop and borage pollen may represent food or drink, and abundant bran demonstrates the remains of cereal food like bread. Intestinal parasite ova give evidence of faeces, and the beetle remains are comparable with those from modern cesspits, the remains of grain and legume pests possibly coming from beetles consumed with infested food. The herring and eel bones may also have been eaten, but the chicken bones and larger fruit stones represent rubbish which would not have been swallowed. Some cloth remains were found. This study shows something of latrines, rubbish disposal, diet, living conditions and the general surroundings at the time.     

Environmental context of a Neolithic site at Beifudi,north-west Hebei Province,China

The earliest evidence of prehistoric religious practice in China found so far comes from excavations at Beifudi, about 120 km south of Beijing, in the form of votive offerings and porcelain sorcery masks dated to the period 8000–7000 yr BP. These finds are part of a rich Neolithic site located on the second river terrace on the north shore of the Yi River. This paper presents results of pollen analysis of part of a sediment profile from a depression at the edge of first terrace towards second terrace, a few hundred metres away from the main archaeological finds. A sequence of marked changes in environment occurred between 9000 cal yr BP and 6000 cal yr BP, and dating evidence suggests strong associations with the ebb and flow of human activity in the area. The first phase of activity on the site begins at around 8000 cal yr BP, towards the end of a period of relatively dry, cold environmental conditions. Between 7800 cal yr BP and 7400 cal yr BP, the first clear evidence of cereal cultivation appears in the pollen record. Rich archaeological finds occur during the same time period, suggesting local prosperity. This first phase of the Beifudi culture ends at 7300 cal yr BP, when warmer and wetter conditions are inferred and wetland areas expand, reducing the area available for crop cultivation near the site. A return to drier and cooler conditions from 6900 cal yr BP corresponds with the second phase of apparent prosperity in the archaeological record from Beifudi. This phase ends at around 6500 cal yr BP, at the start of another shift towards wetter conditions in the flood plain environment. The pollen record suggests that environmental conditions in the flood plain were a major determinant of human activity at Beifudi in the early-mid Holocene.     

Palaeoenvironments, the archaeological record and cereal pollen detection at Clickimin, Shetland, Scotland

The Loch of Clickimin, Shetland, is well known for its broch and associated monuments supposedly of the Bronze and Iron Ages, although the former date is disputed. Pollen, diatom and sedimentological investigations permit fresh insights into the landscape and economic impacts of those who constructed the monuments, reveal that the environs of the site experienced environmental change from Neolithic times onward and provide the first Holocene radiocarbon dates from the immediate locality. The broch-building period witnessed a continuation of pre-existing pastoral husbandry for which heather burning may have exacerbated the natural spread of blanket peat. Initially, no evidence was adduced for local arable activity in the present investigation, and this was thought to be consistent possibly with the low numbers of excavated querns and the absence of cereal macrofossil finds when compared with other Shetland broch sites. The application of ‘rapid scanning’ techniques, however, led to the discovery of a consistent cereal-type pollen representation from Bronze Age times onwards. The discrepancies between the palaeoenvironmental evidence and the environmental and palaeoeconomic inferences made by the excavator of the site are explored. Evidence is presented that both supports and contradicts previous assumptions surrounding an important archaeological site.     

Changes in the Abundance and Diversity of Proteaceae in South‐western Australia: a Review of an Integrated Palaeoenvironmental Study

South‐western Australia is a globally significant hotspot of Proteaceae diversity. This review reports on changes in the abundance and diversity of Proteaceae in south‐western Australia. Using palynology, the data were obtained from three sediment sequences from the Eocene, Pliocene and Holocene, as well as a modern pollen rain study, in the context of a vegetation history framework. The total percentages of Proteaceae pollen in pollen counts indicate that the number of Proteaceae in the vegetation are highest at present, slightly lower, yet still high in the Eocene, reduced by the Pliocene and lowest in the Holocene. It was found that Proteaceous genera can contribute up to 50% of the total modern pollen rain. Sediment from Lake Lefroy showed Nothofagus‐dominated rainforest occurred in the Middle to Late Eocene. Proteaceae species were at least as diverse as today, contributing up to a maximum of 42% of the total pollen rain, and varying across small lateral distances. A laminated Pliocene age sequence from Yallalie confirmed other studies that south‐western Australia was covered by a rich vegetation mosaic consisting of heath and wet rainforest elements. Proteaceae species were a consistent component of the counts, although diversity and abundance (maximum 5%) were low. A Holocene record from Two Mile Lake, near the Stirling Range, recorded little environmental change. Proteaceae species were noted in low abundance, at a maximum of 3.5% of the total pollen count. It is likely that both changing pollination mechanisms and changes in associated vegetation are important in determining the dispersal of Proteaceous pollen.     

An ethnopalynological test of task-specific area analysis: Bay View Stable,Cataumet, Massachusetts

Palynologists seeking evidence of patterns in human plant use among the pollen spectra of archaeological site floors operate on the assumption that the pollen of economic plants is deposited at the locations of undertakings involving these plants in quantities significantly exceeding the amounts of the same pollen types in the background pollen component. This assumption has never been questioned in the literature, even though it has not been tested. Researchers are, however, uncertain about the extent to which floor deposits of economic pollen are affected by later human activities. Pollen profiles from three functionally distinct bays in the cellar of a New England livestock barn that was actively used for at least 40 years were analyzed to examine economic pollen deposition and dispersal. The data from this test indicate that the pollen of economic plants is deposited in distinctive quantities where the plants were used and that these pollen deposits are not significantly diffused by subsequent human activity. The data also suggest that pollen concentrations per unit of matrix will assist in defining active surfaces within archaeological floor zones.     

Palynology and archaeological inference: bridging the gap between pollen washes and past behavior

Credible interpretation of pollen recovered from archaeological sites hinges upon understanding how pollen becomes deposited by both the environment and human behavior. The environmental role has been studied to some extent, but how the activities of people have formed the pollen assemblages at archaeological sites is usually just assumed rather than considered explicitly. Moreover, the complexity involved in the interaction between human behavior and pollen ecology is seldom considered. An archaeological case study of grinding tool pollen washes highlights the ambiguities of standard practice because the results confound common assumptions about pollen washes. A series of experimental seed and grinding tool washes designed to test the relationships between the processing of seeds and the deposition of pollen help explain why, for most situations, artifact pollen washes do not provide direct or even faithful records of plant processing. These results highlight the need for further experimental research with pollen so that we are warranted in making behavioral inferences from palynology. This conclusion is easily extended to other microbotanical data classes that archaeologists regularly employ.     

Comparing seeds/fruits and pollen from a Middle Bronze Age pit in Florence (Italy)

The recovery of a Middle Bronze Age pit in Florence offered the opportunity of studying seeds/fruits and pollen coming from the pit fill layers. Both datasets resulted similar in their mixed composition of cultivated, synanthropic, and wild plants. They represent different traces coming from the plants which were stored and voluntarily or involuntarily introduced into the structure. Foodstuff and fodder storage activities are testified in the pit. Particularly, plant gathering is better represented by seed/fruit remains, while fodder procurement is mainly clarified by pollen. In this study, the use of pollen as evidence of economic activity is validated by the hypothesis that the origin of the pollen in the pit is from the stored plant material more than from the pollen rain. Therefore, comparing these datasets proved to be useful to assess the sources of the plant remains found in the pit, to interpret the origin of the fill layers and make some inferences on the structure and its uses, and to attempt some palaeoethnobotanical considerations.     

Mid- to late-Holocene vegetational and land-use change in the Hadrian's Wall region: a radiocarbon-dated pollen sequence from Crag Lough,Northumberland, England

Pollen, charcoal and sedimentological analyses of a radiocarbon-dated sediment sequence from Crag Lough, by Hadrian's Wall, northern England, are used to reconstruct vegetational and land-use change since ca. 3000 cal BC. Clearance of Quercus and Corylus avellana woodland began at ca. 2600 cal BC, followed by a substantial decline of Alnus glutinosa and spread of Calluna vulgaris at ca. 400 cal BC. Local cereal cultivation occurred sporadically from ca. 2200 cal BC, with a decline (perhaps associated with climatic deterioration) at ca. 900 cal BC, then an increase at ca. 600 cal BC. Secale cereale was grown in the area from approximately the first to fifth centuries AD, followed by a second phase from ca. AD 1250–1700, when it was accompanied by Cannabis sativa.The sequence is interpreted in the light of the archaeological record, particularly in relation to the impact of Roman military activity in the area. The most significant episodes of woodland clearance occurred in the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age period and then in the middle Iron Age, creating a patchwork of woodland, heather moorland, pasture and arable land by the Roman period. The main changes in the Roman period were a decline in the extent of Betula woodland and perhaps the local introduction of Secale cereale cultivation. Local land management practices involving fire seem to have been suspended in the Roman period, but resumed afterwards. The end of the Roman period may have been accompanied by a shift towards pastoral land-use and abandonment of less favourable agricultural land, but the effect was minor compared to that at other sites in the region. Later shifts in land use may relate to climate variability, as reconstructed from several mires in northern England.