An objective method based on assemblages of subfossil plant macro-remains to reconstruct past natural vegetation: a case study at Swifterbant, The Netherlands

Abstract

We present a new method of identifying past plant communities based on a palaeobotanical dataset. The dataset used as a case study consists of plant macroremains retrieved from the Neolithic settlement Swifterbant S4, The Netherlands. Taxa were grouped based on their present-day concurrence values. Subsequently, phytosociological analysis was performed on the subfossil taxon groups using the software package PALAEOAS-SOCIA, adjusted for this type of research. Results show that syntaxonomic knowledge on the concurrence of plant species can be used to reconstruct parts of the past vegetation. We further discuss the theory behind the reconstruction of syntaxa, with special emphasis on actualism.

Roman impact on the landscape near castellum Fectio, The Netherlands

“…The dataset of botanical macrofossils was analysed according to the method described in Schepers et al (2013a) in order to identify groups of co-occurring taxa. First, an index of association was computed for each combination of taxa in an individual sample with PALAEOASSOCIA, based on present day concurrence values in thousands of Dutch vegetation relevees (for details on this analysis see Schepers et al 2013).…”

Phytolith aided paleoenvironmental studies fromthe Dutch Neolithic

“…Our study material comes from the site of Swifterbant S4 (Swifterbant Culture as the first farming groups in the area) [2,3,5,6,11,12,20,21]. During the Late Pleistocene the site was located deep in the heart of the continent several hundred kms away from the seashore southeast of the Doggerland Peninsula, which occupied the North Sea at the time [22].…”

“…The site extensively studied and excavated by Daan C. M. Raemaekers exposes a multilayered profile of paleosols, embedding pocket-like structures highly resembling toolmarks left by digging sticks ( structures marked by arrows) [5,6,12]. The mere presence of these structures raised several issues regarding the prehistory of the site, important from the point of paleoenvironmental and geoarcheological research as well.…”

“…So if our study area was once under cultivation, then we may be able to find and identify these remains of the plants cultivated in the referred structures. Consequently, our aim was to attest plant cultivation at the site on the basis of the study of phytoliths, independently from the findings of other studies of macrobotanical remains and soil micro-morphology [5,6,12].…”

“…A new broad spectrum subsistence emerged relying on terrestrial and freshwater resources [2][3][4][5][6] putting larger pressure on the landscape and the environment [7,8]. Crop cultivation developed subordinately besides animal husbandry due to the unfavorable endowments [5-7, 9, 10].…”