Neolithic Farming in Central Europe examines the nature of the earliest crop cultivation, a subject that illuminates the lives of Neolithic farming families and the day-to-day reality of the ...transition from hunting and gathering to farming.
Debate surrounding the nature of crop husbandry in Neolithic central Europe has focussed on the permanence of cultivation, its intensity and its seasonality: variables that carry different implications for Neolithic society.
Amy Bogaard reviews the archaeological evidence for four major competing models of Neolithic crop husbandry - shifting cultivation, extensive plough cultivation, floodplain cultivation and intensive garden cultivation - and evaluates charred crop and weed assemblages.
Her conclusions identify the most appropriate model of cultivation, and highlight the consequences of these agricultural practices for our understanding of Neolithic societies in central Europe.
Plant cultivation has a long and successful history that is tightly linked to environmental and climate change, social development and to cultural traditions and diversity. This is true also for the ...high latitudes of northern Europe, where cultivation started thousands of years before the earliest written records. The long history of cultivation can be studied by archaeobotany, which is the study of ancient seeds, pollen and other plant remains found on archaeological sites. This book presents recent advances in North-European archaeobotany. It focuses on plant cultivation and brings together studies from different countries and research environments, both at universities and within contract archaeology. The studies cover the Nordic countries and adjacent parts of the Baltic countries and Russia, and they span more than 5,000 years of agricultural history, from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages. They highlight and discuss many different aspects of early agriculture, from the first introduction of cultivation, to crop choices, expansions and declines, climatic adaptation, and vegetable gardening.
On Land and Sea Newsom, Lee A; Wing, Elizabeth S
2004, 2008-07-15
eBook
During the vast stretches of early geologic time, the islands of the Caribbean archipelago separated from continental land masses, rose and sank many times, merged with and broke from other land ...masses, and then by the mid-Cenozoic period settled into the current pattern known today. By the time Native Americans arrived, the islands had developed complex, stable ecosystems. The actions these first colonists took on the landscape—timber clearing, cultivation, animal hunting and domestication, fishing and exploitation of reef species—affected fragile land and sea biotic communities in both beneficial and harmful ways. On Land and Sea examines the condition of biosystems on Caribbean islands at the time of colonization, human interactions with those systems through time, and the current state of biological resources in the West Indies. Drawing on a massive data set collected from long-term archaeological research, the study reconstructs past lifeways on these small tropical islands. The work presents a wide range of information, including types of fuel and construction timber used by inhabitants, cooking techniques for various shellfish, availability and use of medicinal and ritual plants, the effects on native plants and animals of cultivation and domestication, and diet and nutrition of native populations. The islands of the Caribbean basin continue to be actively excavated and studied in the quest to understand the earliest human inhabitants of the New World. This comprehensive work will ground current and future studies and will be valuable to archaeologists, anthropologists, botanists, ecologists, Caribbeanists, Latin American historians, and anyone studying similar island environments.    
The seventh volume in the Institute of Classical Archaeology’s series on the rural countryside (chora) of Metaponto is a study of the Greek sanctuary at Pantanello. The site is the first Greek rural ...sanctuary in southern Italy that has been fully excavated and exhaustively documented. Its evidence—a massive array of distinctive structural remains and 30,000-plus artifacts and ecofacts—offers unparalleled insights into the development of extra-urban cults in Magna Graecia from the seventh to the fourth centuries BC and the initiation rites that took place within the cults. Of particular interest are the analyses of the well-preserved botanical and faunal material, which present the fullest record yet of Greek rural sacrificial offerings, crops, and the natural environment of southern Italy and the Greek world. Excavations from 1974 to 2008 revealed three major phases of the sanctuary, ranging from the Archaic to Early Hellenistic periods. The structures include a natural spring as the earliest locus of the cult, an artificial stream (collecting basin) for the spring’s outflow, Archaic and fourth-century BC structures for ritual dining and other cult activities, tantalizing evidence of a Late Archaic Doric temple atop the hill, and a farmhouse and tile factory that postdate the sanctuary’s destruction. The extensive catalogs of material and special studies provide an invaluable opportunity to study the development of Greek material culture between the seventh and third centuries BC, with particular emphasis on votive pottery and figurative terracotta plaques.
This paper describes the micromammalian remains and paleoenvironment of the Upper Paleolithic sequence of Manot Cave (46-34 ka), southern Levant. Micromammal remains were identified from Ahmarian ...(46-42 ka), Levantine Aurignacian (38-34 ka) and post-Levantine Aurignacian (34-33 ka) layers. To identify taphonomic agents, molar digestion was modelled for seven local raptor species, and model predictions were compared with observed digestion scores in the Manot Cave material. Raptor species differed significantly in molar digestion patterns, allowing us to identify Tyto alba as the bone accumulator in the Ahmarian and Post-Levantine Aurignacian units. Data were insufficient for species-level identification of the taphonomic agent in the Levantine Aurignacian. Günther's voles (Microtus guentheri) were dominant, though woodland species (Apodemus spp., Sciurus anomalus and Dryomys nitedula) also occurred through the entire sequence. Manot Cave furnished the first fossil record of the Eurasian snow vole (Chionomys nivalis) in the southern Levant during the Late Pleistocene and its first secure record of the water vole (Arvicola terrestris) outside the Hula Valley. Records of other taxa (Acomys dimidiatus and D. nitedula) provide the earliest occurrence datum in the region. Using counts of both identified specimens and distinct elements (lower first molars) we modelled paleoenvironmental conditions through both Weighted Averaging Partial Least Squares regression and a qualitative analysis considering niche preferences of species. Model predictions indicate the unexpectedly pronounced dominance of open habitats compared to present conditions near the cave, though the occurrence and abundance of woodland species also indicate some woodland expansion relative to the preceding Middle Paleolithic period. Combining statistical models and species niche considerations we show that the time span between the Ahmarian, Levantine Aurignacian and post-Levantine Aurignacian was marked by a clear-cut climatic oscillation to cooler and likely wetter conditions.
Livestock dung is a valuable material in many rural communities worldwide. In our research area, the site of Althiburos and its surroundings, now el Médéïna, in northwestern Tunisia, dung is the main ...source of fuel for domestic purposes, primarily the processing and cooking of foods. Ovicaprine dung is daily used in traditional mud tannur type ovens, namely tabouna. The archaeological record shows that mud constructed cooking installations were common during the first millennium BC. Previous studies of phytoliths and dung spherulites at Numidian Althiburos suggested the use of vegetal and fecal matter for fuel purposes. We present here the results of the continuation study based on the comparison between archaeological results (a selection of cooking installations, six hearths and two mud ovens) and those obtained from the ethnographic study of dung fuel materials from the site area. The present study builds up on ethnographic observations and informal interviews (dung collection, management, storage, waste disposal and cooking and baking activities), temperature measurements within the burning fuel, as well as modern material sampling (fresh dung, burned pellets, dung ashes and fuel trash paths) which was followed by integrated studies of phytoliths and calcitic microfossil analyses (dung spherulites and wood ash pseudomorphs) for comparative purposes. The results obtained provided direct evidence regarding the type of fuel sources: dung, wood and a mixing of dung and vegetal matter (wood and agricultural by-products). Dung was used as source of fuel material across time (from the Early Numidian occupation phase, 10th–9th century BC, to the last centuries BC) and space (in different excavation areas and type of installations). Such integrated studies demonstrate the value of combining different microarchaeological techniques and the use of ethnoarchaeological material from site areas.
Archaeology of African plant use Stevens, Chris J; Nixon, Sam; Murray, Mary Anne ...
Publications of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London,
2014, 20160701, 2013, 2016-07-01, Letnik:
61
eBook, Book
The first major synthesis of African archaeobotany in decades, this book focuses on Paleolithic archaeobotany and the relationship between agriculture and social complexity. It explores the effects ...that plant life has had on humans as they evolved from primates through the complex societies of Africa, including Egypt, the Buganda Kingdom, southern African polities, and other regions. With over 30 contributing scholars from 12 countries and extensive illustrations, this volume is an essential addition to our knowledge of humanity’s relationship with plants.
1. African Archaeobotany Expanding, Dorian Q Fuller, Sam Nixon, Chris J. Stevens and Mary Anne Murray2. Primate Archaeobotany: The Potential for Revealing Nonhuman Primate Plant-Use in the African Archaeological Record, Michael Haslam3. Dietary Diversity: Our Species-Specific Dietary Adaptation, Gordon Hillman and Michele Wollstonecroft4. Seeds at Sibudu: A Glimpse of Middle Stone Age Vegetation at Sibudu Cave, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, Christine Sievers5. Understanding Late and Terminal Pleistocene Vegetation Change in The Western Cape, South Africa: The Wood Charcoal Evidence from Elands Bay Cave, Caroline Cartwright, John Parkington and Richard Cowling6. Early Millet Farmers in the Lower Tilemsi Valley, Northeastern Mali, Katie Manning and Dorian Q Fuller7. Holocene Vegetation Change and Land Use at Ounjougou, Mali, Barbara Eichhorn and Katharina Neumann8. Early Agro-Pastoralism in The Middle Senegal Valley: The Botanical Remains from Walalde, Shawn Sabrina Murray and Alioune Deme9. Humans and the Mangrove in Southern Nigeria, Emuobosa Akpo Orijemie and M. Adebisi Sowunmi10. Plant and Land Use in Southern Cameroon Between 400 BC and AD 400, Stefanie Kahlheber, Alexa HAhn and Katharina Neumann11. Wild Trees in the Subsistence Economy of Early Bantu Speech Communities: A Historical-Linguistic Approach, Koen Bostoen12. Archaeobotany of Two Middle Kingdom Cult Chambers at North Saqqara, Egypt, Ahmed Gamal-El-Din Fahmy, Nozomu Kawai and Sakuji Yoshimura13. Botanical Insights into the Life of an Ancient Egyptian Village: Excavation Results from El-Amarna, Chris J. Stevens and Alan J. Clapham14. Agricultural Innovation and State Collapse in Meroitic Nubia: The Impact of the Savannah Package, Dorian Q Fuller15. Islands of Agriculture on Victoria Nyanza, Andrew Reid and Ceri Ashley16. Archaeobotanical Investigations of the Iron Age Lundu State, Malawi, Ingrid Heijen17. Prehistoric Plant Use on La Palma Island (Canary Islands, Spain): An Example of the Disappearance of Agriculture in an Isolated Environment, Jacob Morales, Amelia Rodriguez and Aguedo Marrero18. Patterns in the Archaeobotany of Africa: Developing a Database for North Africa, the Sahara and The Sahel, Ruth Pelling19. The Archaeobotany of Farming Communities in South Africa: A Review, Alexander Antonites, Annie Raath Antonites20. Linguistic Evidence and the Origins of Food Production in Africa: Where Are We Now?, Christopher Ehret21. African Agricultural Tools: Implications of Synchronic Ethnography for Agrarian History, Roger Blench22. Leaving a Lasting Impression: Arable Economies and Cereal Impressions in Africa and Europe, Meriel McClatchie and Dorian Q Fuller23. The Use of Plants In Iron Production: Insights from Smelting Remains from Buganda, Louise IlesIndex
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