Notes on Arboricultural and Agricultural Practices in Ancient Iran based on New Pollen Evidence

Abstract

New pollen evidence from two sites in South-Central Zagros (Lake Maharlou), Southwestern Iran, and Sahand Mountains (Lake Almalou), Northwestern Iran, provide evidence for the emergence of tree cultivation in Southwestern Iran since the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC and upland agricultural activities in Northwestern Iran since 5th to 3rd centuries BC. Juglans cf. regia could have been cultivated fi rstly at ~2500 BC and became more extensively cultivated since ~1200 BC. Platanus cf. orientalis was also probably cultivated very early at ~1900 BC during the Middle Elamite period (2800-550 BC) and became more widely cultivated from ~1200 BC along with Juglans. The latter arboricultural events could have resulted from the establishment of great urban civilizations in Southwestern Iran. The rise of the Persian Empires seems to have been associated with a large-scale agricultural revolution over the Iranian Plateau. During the Persian Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC) tree cultivation expanded in the Lake Maharlou area and agricultural practices expanded into upland areas in Lake Almalou area probably due to socioeconomic stability and the development of water exploitation and irrigation techniques. The Parthian (250 BC-225 AD) and Sassanian (224-642 AD) periods were also associated with tree cultivation practices in Lake Maharlou area but to a lower extent comparing to the Achaemenid period. In the Lake Almalou area, the Parthian period saw no spectacular agricultural event at least partly due to political and socioeconomic instability caused by confl icts with Romans over Armenia. The socioeconomic stability and further development in agricultural techniques during the Sassanian Empire could, however, favor again the large-scale tree cultivation practices in Northwestern Iran. The Post-Islamic period is characterized by reduced agricultural activities in the Iranian Plateau most probably due to political instability caused by numerous invasions by Arabs, Turks and Mongols. The last signifi cant agricultural event recorded in the Lake Almalou pollen record is the appearance of Ricinus communis cultivated since the beginning of the Safavid Empire (1501-1722 AD). Résumé : De nouvelles données polliniques provenant de deux sites dans les montagnes du Zagros (lac Maharlou, Sud-Ouest l'Iran) et de Sahand (lac Almalou, Nord-Ouest de l'Iran), apportent des indications sur l'émergence de l'arboriculture dans le Sud-Ouest iranien depuis les III e et II e millénaires av. J.-C., et sur les pratiques agricoles dans les hautes terres du Nord-Ouest iranien du V e au III e siècles av. J.-C. Juglans cf. regia fut probablement cultivé dès 2500 av. J.-C., puis plus extensivement à partir de 1200 av. J.-C. environ. Platanus cf. orientalis fut probablement cultivé précocement, vers 1900 av. J.-C., au cours de la période élamite moyenne (2800-550 av. J.-C.), et il devint plus largement cultivé à partir de ca. 1200 av. J.-C, parallèlement à la culture de Juglans. Ces innovations agricoles ont pu résulter du développement des grandes civilisations ...

Olive cultivation in the heart of the Persian Achaemenid Empire: new insights into agricultural practices and environmental changes reflected in a late Holocene pollen record from Lake Parishan, SW Iran

“…Among the three major planted trees-i.e. Platanus, Olea and Juglans-only the Platanus pollen is found with similar abundance in both the Maharlou and Parishan pollen records, reflecting the widespread cultivation of plane trees in streets and gardens for their shade at a time of the development of urban centres in the Achaemenid Empire heartland (Djamali et al 2011). To date, there is no evidence of the presence of urban centres in the Lake Parishan area until the Sassanian era and part of the plane pollen may have come from adjacent basins such as the Persepolis Basin, as Platanus pollen is widely wind-dispersed.…”

“…However, a cultivated origin for the olive pollen in the Maharlou Basin remains uncertain, due to the possibility that it might come from wild stands and/or distant sources probably located in the Persian Gulf area (Djamali et al 2009a(Djamali et al , 2011. Today, Olea is represented by two species (O. aucheri and O. ferruginea) in the Saharo-Sindian region of Iran (Murray 1968).…”

“…We have assumed that the Rf has remained relatively constant through time. In the hypersaline Lake Maharlou located 100 km to the east of Lake Parishan with a similar geological context, the reservoir effect was estimated to be about 800 years (Djamali et al 2011). …”

“…The absence of pollen spectra from 114 to 76 cm depth makes it difficult to retrace tree cultivation practices during the Sassanian Empire. At Maharlou, the Sassanian period is characterized by a second important arboricultural phase (Djamali et al 2011). This latter observation does not fit with the settlement evolution of the Parishan basin Veget Hist Archaeobot because the foundation of the city of Bishapur seems to show that the Sassanian era was a period of major development for the region.…”

“…In the continental Middle East, the period corresponding to the successive Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanian empires (550 BC-AD 642) possibly witnessed one of the most remarkable periods of agricultural activities in ancient Iran (Djamali et al 2011). During the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC), a regional expansion of arboriculture occurred in the southern Zagros, on such a scale that arboriculture has not since antiquity reached this apogee again (Djamali et al 2009a(Djamali et al , 2011. At the same time, some pollen data indicate the expansion of cereal cultivation in the highland regions of NW Iran (Djamali et al 2009b).…”