Timber economy in the Roman Age: charcoal data from the key site of Herculaneum (Naples,Italy)

The city of Herculaneum (Naples, southern Italy), buried by the volcanic eruption of Mount Somma-Vesuvius in 79 ad, is a key site for understanding the timber economy during the Roman period. In this paper, the results of charcoal analysis of different building element types are presented. Beams, joists, poles, planks and door and window frames were investigated allowing us a view of which timber the Romans preferred for building in this area. We also fit the taxonomic results into the reconstruction of the ancient Campanian landscape, and finally, we discuss the knowledge that the Romans had about the technological properties of the wood that they used for building and the possible selection criteria that they followed in choosing them. Coniferous timber is the preferred material for building purposes. Abies alba is especially used, this fact confirming its stronger presence in southern Italian woods during the past and suggesting that its decline is mainly due to human overexploitation. The large presence of Cupressus sempervirens, selectively used for the production of poles, confirms that this tree was cultivated in plantations for timber production in the Vesuvius area. Furthermore, it might indicate that cypress could have been present as a natural tree in the local vegetation, suggesting a forest type that nowadays almost completely disappeared from this area and from the entire Italy. The findings of Juglans regia, Pinus pinea and Olea europaea, typical elements of the Mediterranean cultural landscape, show that their use was not limited to fruit production and that Romans also appreciated their timber. Beside these local resources, the presence of Picea abies and Picea/Larix indicates the importation of timber from northerly regions, probably the northern Apennines and the Alps.     

Multiproxy approach to the study of Medieval food habits in Tuscany (central Italy)

A multiproxy approach based on archaeobotanical, organic residue and isotopic analyses was carried out on materials from 12 Medieval archaeological sites in Tuscany (central Italy), in order to provide a diachronic overview of local diet in rural and urban sites from the mid-eighth to the fourteenth centuries AD. Archaeobotanical analyses were applied to 130,578 seeds/fruits, residue analyses involved 87 samples from cooking and storing vessels, whereas analyses of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes included 63 human bone samples and 26 animal specimens. The results indicate that from the mid-eighth century AD, crop production was of high quality similar, to that of the Roman Age. The main cultivations were naked wheats, barley and horse bean, a diversity that attests the technological skills reached by Tuscan peasants during the whole Middle Ages. Different cereals and pulse abundantly supplemented the diet. This strategy not only ensured peasants’ subsistence in the mid-eighth century AD, minimizing the risks of environmental adversities, but it also increased crop production – from the mid-ninth century AD on, for the revived markets and trade. Between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries AD, C4 plants had a dominant role in the peasants’ diet, when the wheat production was strictly collected first by the landlords and then by the cities for their own needs. Crop production was integrated by swine farming; animal meat consumption is well documented in rural and urban populations from the ninth century AD. Wine and olive oil, considered important elements of diet in Medieval Tuscany, have a very scarce presence, but they are recorded for later periods, mainly in urban areas and in higher social classes, such as the religious and aristocratic ones. In fact, only between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD was the great expansion of olive groves and vineyards recorded, when cities and urban populations claim to have access to these luxury foods.     

Persistence of the cultural landscape in Campania (Southern Italy) before the AD 472 Vesuvius eruption: archaeoenvironmental data

Cultural landscapes were prominent during the Early Roman period when agronomic knowledge allowed the spread of intensive land exploitation in most of the available land. The aim of this contribution is to explore whether for the Campania region (Southern Italy) archaeoenvironmental data would support continuity or change in the cultural landscape of Roman tradition in the 4th and 5th centuries. To do so, new data from two sites located on the northern slopes of the Vesuvius, both buried by the AD 472 eruption have been investigated. Charcoal analysis, ¹⁴C dating, and chemical analysis of organic residues were carried out in order to study the landscape and the food production at these sites. The results suggest the persistence of the Roman cultural landscape until the 4th and 5th centuries in this area. The landscape is in fact strongly marked both in agriculture and woodland exploitation and management, being characterized by managed chestnut forests as well as valuable cultivations of walnut, large vineyards, olive groves, and probably orchards and crops. The integrated approach with archaeobotanical and archaeometric analyses proves to be a powerful method for the study of the past landscapes, providing a good insight into the environment. Furthermore, this study provided the most ancient evidence of chestnut silviculture for wood.     

Duration Modeling of Spatial Point Patterns

This paper attempts to further the research by Odland and Ellis (1992) in applying event history methodology to the analysis of spatial point patterns (that is, event patterns). Its empirical focus is the event pattern derived from the adoption of an agricultural innovation, the Harvestore, in southern Ontario, Canada, from 1963 to 1986. Event history analysis involves the use of discrete-state, continuous-time stochastic models to investigate a temporal longitudinal record on discrete variables. Event history models are usually concerned with durations of time between events and the effects of intertemporal time dependencies on future event occurrences. As such, they are often referred to as duration models. Many of the methods used in event history analysis allow the use of other nonnegative interval measurements in place of standard temporal intervals to investigate a series of events. In particular, spatial intervals (or durations) of distances between events may also be accommodated by event history models. Our analysis extends the previous research of Odland and Ellis (1992) by using a wider range of parametric models to explore duration dependence, investigating the role of spatial censoring, and using a more extensive set of explanatory variables. In addition, simulation experiments and graphical tests are used to evaluate the empirical event pattern against one generated from Complete Spatial Randomness. Results indicate that the event pattern formed by the Harvestore adopter farms is clustered (that is, is described by positive duration dependency), the sales agent is a significant factor in the distribution of adopters, and that contrasting results are obtained from the analysis using censored data versus uncensored data.     

DISGUISED,URBAN UNEMPLOYMENT AND WELFARE IN A GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM MODEL WITH SEGMENTED LABOR MARKETS*

ABSTRACT This paper integrates the theory of segmented labor markets with the Ranis-Fei model of dualism to analyze two types of unemployment; disguised unemployment in the rural sector and urban unemployment. The major results obtained are (1) sector-specific accumulation in the urban area may raise unemployment and lower welfare and (2) sector-specific accumulation in the rural sector always raises welfare but increases disguised unemployment. These results highlight the importance of regional resource allocation and the role of the agricultural sector in reducing urban unemployment.     

Combining residue analysis of floors and ceramics for the study of activity areas at the Garum Shop at Pompeii

In this paper, we propose the application—for the first time in the Mediterranean area—of the combination of the study of chemical residues in floors and ceramics, with the aim of providing information about the activities carried out in archeological buildings. We chose the Garum Shop at Pompeii to test the method. In fact, due to the peculiarity of this archeological context, it provided an ideal case in which the activities performed are in part known, and the ceramic vessels recovered are still in situ. Floor samples were studied by means of spot tests developed in Mexico aimed at identifying the presence of phosphates, fatty acids, and protein residues, while the organic residues preserved in the ceramic matrix of amphorae, dolia, and other ceramic vessels were studied by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Moreover, we integrated the data obtained with specific studies directed at better identifying the solid residues found inside two of the amphorae studied: botanical studies of fruit stones recovered in a Dressel 20 amphora and the characterization of the lime preserved in an African amphora. The research allowed for the identification of the traces of some of the activities performed, such as cooking and producing garum in the floors of the building, and the use and re-use of amphorae and dolia before the Vesuvian eruption.     

Pollen-wood analysis at the Neapolis harbour site (1st–3rd century AD,southern Italy) and its archaeobotanical implications

Three Roman shipwrecks (Napoli A and Napoli C – 1st cent. AD; Napoli B – 2nd century AD) were recovered in the sandy-silt sediments representing the infilling of a protected inlet of Neapolis harbour (Naples, southern Italy). Extensive wood analysis suggests that a very attentive selection of species was made in shipbuilding, the choice of timber being related to wood technological properties and to the structural uses of the construction elements. Pollen data obtained from the coeval sedimentary layers revealed that all the timber taxa (apart from Picea/Larix) were present in the surroundings of the study area. The identified forest taxa are very common in the Mediterranean basin and thus the pollen-wood comparison was not able to define the location of the shipyards. Broad comparison with western Mediterranean wrecks evidenced the peculiarity of the Neapolis ships where the systematic use of both Juglans regia and Cupressus sempervirens was highlighted. Archaeological, biogeographical and archaeobotanical considerations suggest the local provenance of the ship C and constrain the possible origin area of both the ship Napoli A and Napoli B to central-southern Tyrrhenian coasts.     

The Dynamics of the Electoral Geography of the Five Star Movement: The Role of Territorial Area and Municipality Size

ABSTRACT

The aim of the article is to trace the evolution of the Movimento 5 Stelle (Five Star Movement [M.5.S.]) over the last four national elections (the 2013 and 2018 general elections and the 2014 and 2019 European elections). In particular, our goal is to understand how the electoral support for the party changed, in the context of the broad transformations of the Italian electoral geography. In order to accomplish this goal, we investigate the explanatory role of the spatial dimension on electoral support, specifically in terms of geographical zone and municipality size. The M.5.S. is also compared with the two parties that reported the best results in the last European elections: the Lega (League) and the Partito Democratico (Democratic Party [P.D.]). Our results show that the recent European elections do not represent a turning point in the (electoral and geographical) history of the M.5.S.: its territorial rooting in the south of the country and in medium-sized municipalities are present from the 2014 European elections onwards. Interpretations and implications of these findings are discussed in the conclusions.     

Policy Coalitions in the U.S. Congress: A Spatial Duration Modeling Approach

This paper applies spatial duration models to the analysis of cosponsorship coalitions in the U.S. House of Representatives. This approach provides a unique and simultaneous statistical analysis of ideological space (specifically, coalition formation) and geographical space. Typically, duration models are associated with temporal longitudinal data, but recently have been adapted to the spatial domain (Pellegrini and Reader 1996). In this paper, spatial duration models are further adapted to examine ideological space including a consideration of unobserved sources of spatial variation (or omitted variable bias). We examine two features of cosponsorship coalitions, breadth and clustering. Breadth is defined as the ideological distance between the two most extreme members of the coalition which is an important “signal” to the rest of Congress regarding the scope and broad appeal of the proposed legislation. In contrast, clustering refers to the distance between individual members of a coalition and reveals the tendency, or not, of ideologically similar members of Congress to support various bills. To examine breadth and clustering, we employ spatial duration models of cosponsorship that permit a multivariate analysis incorporating both the characteristics of members of Congress and the geographical regions they represent. Results indicate that cosponsorship coalition patterns are primarily determined by the content of the legislation, not the actions of the coalition leadership. While the leadership characteristics of sponsors have a limited effect on cosponsorship breadth, the size of the coalition is the primary determinent. Leadership characteristics also have little effect on cosponsorship clustering. Rather, clustering is due to members' policy preferences, as measured by distance to the coalition leader. In addition, the duration analysis results suggest that geographical proximity between members of Congress “overcomes” ideological distance. Finally, the spatial duration approach is noted as a fruitful methodology for examining explicitly spatial patterns in both ideological or geographical space.