Pollen-Analytical Results from Lake Katajajärvi – Aspects of the History of Settlement in the Finnish Inland Regions

Abstract

The Early Metal Period (1800 cal BC–AD 300) of the Finnish inland regions is characterized by a scarcity of archaeological remains. Its latest stages, in particular, have proved to be difficult to interpret. This paper discusses the continuity of settlement in the Early Metal Period as indicated by archaeological survey and pollen-analytical data. The study area is situated in Repovesi National Park in southeastern Finland. The pollen analysis was constructed from a sediment sequence taken from Lake Katajajärvi. The archaeological survey data from Repovesi National Park supports earlier hypotheses of the small number of Early Metal Period sites. In the pollen data, the first anthropogenic impact is recorded from about 2600 BC onwards, with weak signs of cultivation around 2370 BC. From around 1900 BC onwards a clear change in tree, shrub and herb pollen percentages indicates anthropogenic impact, possibly grazing, in the area. The pollen-analytical results also revealed a cultivation period of about 900 years at the end of the Early Metal Period, providing proof of continuity in settlement during a period characterized by a scarcity of archaeological material. A new beginning of cultivation from cal AD 1160 to 1250 onwards can be considered as indicating population growth, developing settlements and the colonization of new areas. The results from Repovesi are challenging from an archaeological point of view, because they represent slash-and-burn cultivation that appears to have been practised in total wilderness conditions. Comparison of the Lake Katajajärvi results with other areas raises new questions that call for a discussion of early slash-and-burn cultivation in new perspective.     

Land-use change for rice and foxtail millet cultivation in the Chengtoushan site,central China,reconstructed from weed seed assemblages

Archaeobotanical analysis of moat sediments from the Neolithic site of Chengtoushan, Hunan, China, provides evidence of the land-use change for rice and foxtail millet cultivation around the site. Rice constantly appeared through the three phases of Daxi culture with high percentages, while accompanying wetland species of paddy field weeds gradually decreased. In contrast, foxtail millet increased together with upland field and ruderal weeds through the time. These changes suggest that foxtail millet cultivation was established with the expansion of dry farming in region of the site, while rice cultivation was continuously practiced on the alluvial plain surrounding the site. This diversification of land-use through the addition of foxtail millet cultivation may be attributed to population increase or as a buffer to natural disasters such as flooding. In addition, gathering of wild nuts and fruits continued alongside cultivation. These multiple strategies for food procurement provided sustainable food supply for the population of Chengtoushan for 1,800 years.     

Millet,the late comer: on the tracks of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Panicum miliaceum</Emphasis> in prehistoric Greece

Archaebotanical evidence for Panicum miliaceum is reviewed for prehistoric Greece including published and unpublished recent finds, providing a basis for exploring the context of the appearance of millet in Greece, the timing of its introduction and cultivation, and its significance in terms of contacts, movement of people, and cultural identity as expressed through culinary practice and food consumption. To this end, the archaeobotanical record is examined together with human isotopic, archaeozoological, and artefactual evidence. Millet is introduced to the northern part of Greece sometime during the end of the 3rd millennium bc and established as a widely used crop during the Late Bronze Age. Isotopic evidence suggests that millet consumption during the Late Bronze Age was not widespread but confined to certain regions, settlements, or individuals. Millet is suggested to reach Greece from the north after its spread westwards from China through Central Asia and the steppes of Eurasia. The timing of the introduction of millet and the horse in northern Greece coincide; the possibility therefore that they are both introduced through contacts with horse breeding cultures cultivating millet in the north and/or northeast is raised. Intensified contact networks during the Bronze Age, linking prehistoric northern Greece to central Europe and the Pontic Steppes, would have opened the way to the introduction of millet, overland via river valleys leading to the Danube, or via maritime routes, linking the Black Sea to the north Aegean. Alternatively, millet could have been introduced by millet-consuming populations, moving southwards from the Eurasian steppes.     

Changes in crop cultivation during the last five centuries before the Roman conquest: archaeobotanical investigation in the Clermont-Ferrand basin,Massif Central,France

For several decades, a growing number of protohistoric sites in Auvergne (Massif Central, France)—mostly excavated through preventive archaeology—have been subject to the collection of archaeobotanical analysis. This study presents the archaeobotanical results from ten La Tène sites dating from the last five centuries before the Roman conquest. In addition to providing an inventory of taxa, this paper concerns crops and crop cultivation methods. These results are interpreted in a wider context, dealing with crop husbandry, arable farming, storage and consumption practices. The sites are located in the Limagne plain within a 50-km radius around the city of Clermont-Ferrand. A total of 23,579 carpological remains were identified from 163 sediment samples totalizing a volume of 1096 l. Comparable to other sites in Gaul, the spectrum of cereals and pulses is restricted. Spelt (Triticum spelta), einkorn (Triticum monococcum) and foxtail millet (Setaria italica) are disappearing or becoming rare. A better control of agricultural techniques and increased yields is supposed during the ca. five centuries of the La Tène period. Mixed cultivation is hereby replaced by the sowing of monocrops. At the beginning of this period, farming systems are dominated by a polyculture of cereals and pulses. They become more specialized during the last two centuries before the Roman conquest; diversity of cereals and pulses is decreased.     

Palaeogeographical reconstructions of Lake Maliq (Korça Basin,Albania) between 14,000 BP and 2000 BP

Since the early 1990s, excavations of a protohistoric lakeside settlement in the Korça basin carried out by a French–Albanian archaeological team have induced geomorphological and palynological studies about the sedimentary records of Lake Maliq. These studies allow us to distinguish a series of centennial-scale high and low lake level events between 4200 and 4000 cal BP (2899–2637 BC/2843–2416 BC) and 2600 cal BP (822–671 BC), probably due to large-scale climate changes (in the Mediterranean basin). In addition, the sediment sequence also gives evidence of a millennial-scale trend of lake level rise. It appears to be an interplay between lake level rises and falls against tectonic subsidence of the basin allowing accommodation space for sediment deposition.The variations of the lake's level and the lake's surface area influenced the development and the abandonment of the nearby lakeside settlements (like the tell of Sovjan). In order to prepare an archaeological survey around the now dried up lake, we made a 3D model of the Holocene deposit from the lake including these lake level results, geomorphological mapping, excavation data, numerous core logs, AMS ¹⁴C dating and SRTM DEM data. The GIS model allowed us to propose four palaeogeographical reconstructions of the extension of Lake Maliq: around 14,000 BP, during the Mesolithic (around 9000 BP – 8781–8542 BC), the Early/Middle Bronze Age transition (around 3800 BP – 2310–2042 BC) and the Iron Age (2600 BP – 822–671 BC). A map of the thickness of the sediments above potential archaeological layers is also proposed.     

Miliacin in palaeosols from an Early Iron Age in Ukraine reveal in situ cultivation of broomcorn millet

During the archaeobotanical investigation of Scythian–Sarmatian period (Early Iron Age), pits with crop processing waste, discovered in the floodplain of Donets River, eastern Ukraine, and charred remains of cereal grains, dominated by broomcorn millet, were recorded. The grains from the pits were radiocarbon dated to the fifth to first century BC. Those pits are distant from any known contemporaneous settlement. The apparent disconnection of these pits from any local settlement suggests that (1) millet was brought from other locations by mobile groups, or (2) millet was cultivated locally by populations whose settlements have left no discernible archaeological trace. The analysis of molecular biomarkers preserved in palaeosols that are stratigraphically connected to the pits revealed high levels of miliacin, a molecule that can be preserved in ancient soils and sediments, and that is consistent with broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum). High levels in miliacin in soils stratigraphically connected to the pits are interpreted as the result of a large biomass of P. miliaceum produced at time of soil formation. Our biogeochemical results applied to a palaeosol thus attest to the in situ cultivation of crops dominated by the broomcorn millet during the early Iron Age in the floodplain of Donets River. Biochemical examination of soils and palaeosols can thus provide useful information on past dynamics of land-use by ancient population, especially when settlements or macrobotanical remains are absent.     

江苏盱眙东阳军庄汉墓群出土人骨的稳定同位素分析

黄淮地区是传统粟稻混作区,西汉时麦作推广进入关键时期,但小麦在这一过程中对黄淮地区原有粟稻混作格局的影响并不明确。对江苏省盱眙县东阳军庄汉墓群出土人骨的稳定同位素分析结果显示,9例人骨骨胶原δ13C值的范围为-20.0‰~-18.4‰,均值-19.4±0.6‰(n=9),表明西汉时期盱眙先民主要以稻、麦等C3类植物为食,已经不再将粟作为主要粮食,结合该地区西汉以前的农业格局,可推测西汉时期苏北淮河流域已经开始由传统的稻粟混作模式向稻麦混作模式转变。将本文数据与我国同时期其他遗址的稳定同位素数据比较后发现,在原有稻粟混作区内,粟在先民饮食结构中的地位呈自西向东下降的趋势,反映了小麦种植在不同区域的不平衡发展,关中地区小麦的推广普及明显晚于东部近海地区。     

清代东太湖地区的湖田与水文生态

清代的东太湖地区的湖田出现了快速增长。随着山区水土流失,东太湖的泥沙量大增,水面植被也出现大扩展,淤积和湖田扩展也因此加速。在西部出现大缺口,大缺口在清代很快合拢。东部湖田发展使出太湖的水流受阻,吴淞江北移瓜泾口,进而使东北部湖田快速发展。湖田形成时往往先是大圩,后是小圩,以后逐步形成纵向交错的河网。植桑又加速了湖田水稻土的培肥,优良的水稻土在小圩规模上逐步形成。植桑养蚕与稻作的配合维持了传统江南生态农业的持续。     

The Fauna from Ele Bor: Evidence for the Persistence of Foragers into the Later Holocene of Arid North Kenya

This paper reports on the results of zooarchaeological analysis of fauna from two stratified rockshelters at Ele Bor, 200 km east of Lake Turkana, Kenya. Ele Bor Site A, with radiocarbon determinations from 7000 to 1000 B P, yielded around 4000 identifiable bone specimens. The other site, Ele Bor M, yielded only a hundred bone specimens and will be discussed less extensively in this paper. Fauna from the EBA, although heavily modified by various taphonomic agents, testify to the strong continuity of a broad-based foraging pattern into the first millennium AD, the long stability of human use of a broad range of wild vertebrate species and to a stone-working tradition, augmented but not substantially modified by the introduction of ceramics and grinding equipment during the sixth to third millennium BC.Cette article présent des résultats de 1'analyses zooarquéologiques du faune de deux abris stratifiés à Ele Bor, situé 200 km à 1'est du Lac Turkana dans Kenya. Ele Bor Site A, avec datations du radiocarbon du 7000–1000 ans B.P., provient dans 1'environ de 4000 pièces identifiqués, et le de Ele Bor M, 100 pièces identifiques. Le faune de Ele Bor A, bien que modifiés par diverses processes taphonomiques, testifié à un continuité assez fort de subsistence bassé des especies vertébres indigènes, typiques d'environnements secs. Il n'ya pas d'évidences de adoptation de especies domestique, ni des plantes ni des animaux, jusqu'a 1'ultime millenaire avant présent.     

Holocene land-use evolution and associated soil erosion in the French Prealps inferred from Lake Paladru sediments and archaeological evidences

A source-to-sink multi-proxy approach has been performed within Lake Paladru (492 m a.s.l., French Prealps) catchment and a 6-m long sediment sequence retrieved from the central lacustrine basin. The combination of minerogenic signal, specific organic markers of autochthonous and allochthonous supply and archaeological data allows the reconstruction of a continuous record of past human disturbances. Over the last 10,000 years, the lacustrine sedimentation was dominated by autochthonous carbonates and the watershed was mostly forest-covered. However, seven phases of higher accumulation rate, soil erosion, algal productivity and landscape disturbances have been identified and dated from 8400 to 7900, 6000 to 4800, 4500 to 3200, 2700 to 2050 cal BP as well as AD 350–850, AD 1250–1850 and after AD 1970. Before 5200 cal BP, soil erosion is interpreted as resulting from climatic deterioration phases towards cooler and wetter conditions. During the Mid-Late Holocene period, erosion fluxes and landscape disturbances are always associated with prehistorical and historical human activities and amplified by climatic oscillations. Such changes in human land-used led to increasing minerogenic supply and nutrients loading that affected lacustrine trophic levels, especially during the last 1600 years. In addition, organic and molecular markers document previously unknown human settlements around Lake Paladru during the Bronze and the Iron Ages.     

An example of the establishment of the Bronze Age cultural landscape in SW Scandinavia

In the Lake Hullsjön area, Västergötland, SW Sweden, the increase in the deposits of artifacts, the erection of monumental graves, and the intensification and expansion of cultivation and grazing, is discussed in terms of cultural landscape changes at the Neolithic/Bronze Age transition c. 2500–1500 B.C. The expansion included an intensified use of low‐lying clayey areas and caused an increase in soil erosion, as indicated by the sediment stratigraphy.     

Transition From Wild to Domesticated Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) Revealed in Ceramic Temper at Three Middle Holocene Sites in Northern Mali

Imprints of domesticated pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) spikelets, observed as temper in ceramics dating to the third millennium BC, provide the earliest evidence for the cultivation and domestication process of this crop in northern Mali. Additional sherds from the same region dating to the fifth and fourth millennium BC were examined and found to have pearl millet chaff with wild morphologies. In addition to studying sherds by stereomicroscopy and subjecting surface casts to scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we also deployed X-ray microcomputed tomography (microCT) on eleven sherds. This significantly augmented the total dataset of archaeological pearl millet chaff remains from which to document the use of the wild pearl millet as ceramic temper and the evolution of its morphology over time. Grain sizes were also estimated from spikelets preserved in the ceramics. Altogether, we are now able to chart the evolution of domesticated pearl millet in western Africa using three characteristics: the evolution of nonshattering stalked involucres; the appearance of multiple spikelet involucres, usually paired spikelets; and the increase in grain size. By the fourth millennium BC, average grain breadth had increased by 28%, although spikelet features otherwise resemble the wild type. In the third millennium BC, the average width of seeds is 38% greater than that of wild seeds, while other qualitative features of domestication are indicated by the presence of paired spikelets and the appearance of nondehiscent, stalked involucres. Nonshattering spikelets had probably become fixed by around 2000 BC, while increases in average grain size continued into the second millennium BC. These data now provide a robust sequence for the morphological evolution of domesticated pearl millet, the first indigenous crop domesticated in western Africa.

     

1391-2006年龙感湖-太白湖流域的人口时间序列及其湖泊沉积响应

龙感湖、太白湖是经济发达的长江中下游地区重要的浅水湖泊。本研究首先利用历史学的方法复原了黄梅、广济（武穴）和宿松三县1391-2006年的人口时间序列,这是首次将中国历史人口序列的重建深入到县一级。以此为基础,重建了1391-2006年龙感湖-太白湖流域的历史人口序列。在复原方法上,重点吸收了何炳棣等学者关于史载人口数...     

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.     

登封王城岗遗址浮选结果及分析

王城岗遗址包含有自龙山晚期至春秋时期基本连续的文化堆积,应用浮选法从中发现了丰富的古代植物遗存,包括有粟、黍、稻谷、小麦和大豆五种农作物品种。本文通过对浮选结果的量化分析,认识和了解当地农业生产特点及其变化规律,为深入探讨古代农业发展与华夏文明起源之间的关系提供新的资料和启示。     

Pearl Millet and Kintampo Subsistence

Subsistence practices of the Kintampo cultural complex of sub-Saharan West Africa are now known to have included pearl millet cultivation, in addition to the utilization of tropical forest margin species such as oil palm. Charred plant remains recovered from the Birimi site, northern Ghana, suggest that the growing of pearl millet, possibly in uniform stands, was occurring amongst northerly Kintampo groups during the fourth millennium bp. The cultivation of this drought-tolerant crop facilitated the establishment of sedentary villages by providing a storable food resource enabling Kintampo people to survive the protracted dry season of the West African savanna.Nous savons maintenant que les pratiques de subsistance du complexe culturel Kintampo de l'Afrique de l'Ouest sub-saharien comprenaient la culture du mil à chandelle ainsi que l'utilisation d'espèces végétales qui poussaient en bordure de la forêt tropicale, comme le palmier à huile. Des restes de plantes carbonisé ont été récupérées du site du Birimi dans le Nord du Ghana; elles suggèrent que la pratique de la culture du mil à chandelle dont les plantations étaient peut-être déjà uniformes, se soit produite parmi les groupes Kintampo du Nord pendant le quatrième millénaire bp. La culture du mil à chandelle tolérait la sécheresse et avait ainsi facilité l'établissement de villages sédentaires car elle fournissait des ressources alimentaires entreposables. Cela permettait aux groupes Kintampo de survivre pendant la longue saison sèche de la savane de l'Afrique de l'Ouest.     

Feeding the Crusades: Archaeobotany,Animal Husbandry and Livestock Alimentation on the Baltic Frontier

ABSTRACT

The integrated results of micromorphology, plant macrofossil, pollen, phytolith, and non-pollen palynomorph analyses represent an important study of two thirteenth-century Teutonic Order castles at Karksi (Livonia), and Elbl?g (Prussia). The research examines deposits that formed during the period of active crusading. At Karksi, the investigation of a midden and of the organic-rich sediment beneath allows the diachronic use of this area to be understood. Freshwater aquatic indicators are consistent with the occurrence of shallow stagnant water, as also suggested by a waterlaid pond sediment identified in thin-section. Coprophilous spore taxa suggest the use of the pond as a watering hole. Plant macrofossils from the midden represent a range of habitats, mostly from wet/damp areas, as well as pastures and meadows, and also woodlands. Fragments of millet are embedded within herbivore dung in thin-section showing the use of this grain as fodder. At Elbl?g, parasite ova may derive from animal feces as they also occur in the dung observed in thin-section, and a range of coprophilous fungal spore taxa were extracted. The results reveal information about the range of livestock that the Teutonic Knights kept, whereabouts within the castles the animals were stabled, and what fodder was used.     

Dietary adaptation during the Longshan period in China: stable isotope analyses at Liangchengzhen (southeastern Shandong)

Rice and millet were staple crops at Liangchengzhen, a late Neolithic Longshan site in Shandong, China, but the degree of dietary variation is not known. This study uses stable isotope analysis of human and faunal skeletal remains to quantitatively address the importance of these crops as well as terrestrial domesticates and aquatic resources in the diet at Liangchengzhen. Although no collagen could be extracted from the poorly preserved human bones, the δ¹³C stable isotope results for 2 apatite sample and 16 tooth enamel samples averaged −9.8‰ suggesting that diet was based on foods averaging from −24‰ to −18‰, with millet and millet-fed animals comprising at most approximately 25–30% of the diet. Pig faunal δ¹³C isotope values suggested that during the earlier Longshan period pigs were fed mainly millet with more C₃ foods such as rice included by the later Longshan period. Solid ceramic residues from two guan jar sherds produced δ¹³C values averaging −18‰ and δ¹⁵N values averaging +16‰, suggesting both vessels contained fish. The results of the study indicate that by the Longshan period, people in southeastern Shandong no longer relied as heavily on millet and that the agricultural crop of rice had increased in importance at Liangchengzhen. Unfortunately, without human collagen samples to provide nitrogen isotope results, we cannot estimate the relative contribution of aquatic and terrestrial protein to the diet of people at Liangchengzhen. In general, however, the pattern of a diverse agricultural system on the basis of the macrobotanical remains from Liangchengzhen is supported by the isotopic results.     

Sensitivity of bulk sedimentary stable carbon isotopes to prehistoric forest clearance and maize agriculture

The stable carbon isotope compositions (δ¹³C) of tropical lake sediments and soils have been used to reconstruct the occurrence of prehistoric maize cultivation and its relative importance through time. This study assesses some of the possible variables affecting the response of lake sediment bulk organic carbon isotope (δ¹³C_TOC) values to variations in the scale of prehistoric maize cultivation and the potential of this proxy to yield quantitative estimates of the scale of prehistoric maize agriculture in small tropical watersheds. High resolution analyses of δ¹³C_TOC values, maize pollen concentrations, and mineral influx were conducted on sediments deposited during a ∼220 year period of prehistoric maize agriculture in the watershed of Laguna Castilla, a small lake in the mid-elevations of the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic. Close correspondence between δ¹³C_TOC values and maize pollen concentrations in the Laguna Castilla sediment record indicates a close relationship between the isotopic values and the scale of prehistoric maize cultivation. Correlations between the δ¹³C_TOC signature and mineral influx indicate that the isotope record is also sensitive to variations in allochthonous carbon delivery. This study establishes that sedimentary δ¹³C_TOC values can provide a highly sensitive proxy of the spatial scale of prehistoric maize agriculture in small tropical watersheds, but emphasizes the need for a better understanding of sediment dynamics and carbon cycling in anthropogenically modified landscapes before this proxy can be widely employed in diverse archaeological settings.     

Cultivation of Naked Barley by Early Iron Age Agro-pastoralists in Xinjiang,China

ABSTRACT

We report an archaeobotanical analysis of flotation samples taken from Shirenzigou, an Early Iron Age agro-pastoralist site dated between the fourth and first century BC, located on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, China. The charred macro-botanical assemblage is dominated by naked barley grains with a few broomcorn and foxtail millet grains. In the context of Trans-Eurasian exchange of cereal crops, southwest Asian crops (wheat and barley) and two Asian millets (broomcorn and foxtail) were introduced to Xinjiang a few centuries to a millennium before Shirenzigou was occupied. The choice of barley cultivation in preference to wheat and millet may have been possibly driven by the relatively extreme local environment and the scheduling requirements of mobile pastoralism. Barley is well suited to this environment, and the choice of naked barley in preference to hulled barley may have been driven by the whole grain tradition prevailing in East Asia.