Written in soil and paper. Investigating environmental transformations of a monastic landscape by combining geoarchaeology and palynology with historical analysis at Samos (Spain)

Silva-Sánchez, Noemí; Tim, Kinnaird; Ferreiro, Marcos Fernández; López-Salas, Estefanía; Turner, Sam; Pardo, José Carlos Sánchez

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103575

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…This assumption was considered true since radiocarbon dates were in stratigraphic order and charcoal samples were found in context with sharp-edged pottery fragments, indicating short transport distances. In northwest Spain, Silva-Sánchez et al [55] obtained compatible OSL and radiocarbon dates in terrace levels with a higher incidence of macrocharcoal (>2 mm), likely indicating fire around the time of deposition. In levels where radiocarbon dating was performed on both macrocharcoal and bulk sediment, the ages obtained from the bulk sediment suggested an older age than dates from the charcoal, interpreted as the result of local fires.…”

Section: Radiocarbon Datingmentioning

confidence: 95%

Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and Challenges

Srivastava

Kinnaird

Sevara

et al. 2023

Land

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Agricultural terraces provide farmers in hilly landscapes with effective ways to increase the area available for crops. They mitigate the risks of soil erosion and promote crop productivity by slowing surface water runoff and retaining moisture. As in other parts of the world, terraces have been constructed and used in the Mediterranean for millennia. The availability of terraced agriculture had important socio-economic, ecological, and environmental implications for past societies. However, the chronology of construction, use, and abandonment of terraces in different regions remains uncertain. A more robust set of chronological data will allow better assessment of whether terrace agriculture was a resilient strategy in the face of past economic or ecological instability and, in turn, inform how terraces could be used to address future agricultural and environmental challenges. In this paper, we review the application of luminescence dating to terrace sediments, the key challenges involved, and the currently published data which include over 250 luminescence ages. We also discuss the use of a multidisciplinary approach involving other geoarchaeological tools (e.g., use of GIS analyses, field-based luminescence readers, and micromorphology) to enhance the ways that past terrace systems can be understood. Terrace systems are inextricably linked to sustainable land use across the Mediterranean. Luminescence dating methods, therefore, have a crucial role to play in understanding the complexities of past and future landscape change.

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Section: Radiocarbon Datingmentioning

confidence: 95%

Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and Challenges

Srivastava

Kinnaird

Sevara

et al. 2023

Land

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“…Still, the general pattern is identical, with the exception of the record from Chan de Lamoso, which suggests a more consistency of Secale pollen from the Middle Bronze Age onwards, although discontinuous events were equally noted [ 37 ]. Identifications at the species level ( Secale cereale ) were proposed in Late Bronze and Iron Age contexts from Central Iberia and in one Iron Age deposit in Northwest Iberia, but pollen grains have been recovered in small quantities [ 41 , 42 , 44 ].…”

Section: Rye In Iberiamentioning

confidence: 99%

The introduction and spread of rye (Secale cereale) in the Iberian Peninsula

et al. 2023

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Some of the earliest Western European macroremains of rye (Secale cereale) have been recently recovered in Northwest Iberia. However, the chronological and cultural contexts of these remains have not been yet exhaustively analysed. To address this gap of research, previous and unpublished assemblages have been reviewed and analysed through an analytical set of methods: biometry, radiocarbon dates and integrating the remains of rye in the broad archaeobotanical record of the region. Results show the earliest macroremains of rye in the Iberian Peninsula date to a period between the 3rd century and the first half of the 1st century BCE. Rye was usually found in assemblages dominated by spelt and other cereals, in whose fields it was likely acting as a weed. There is no record of rye for about the two following centuries, after which it is probably reintroduced, now as a crop. It is found in several sites from the 3rd-4th centuries CE onwards, suggesting it is a staple crop as in other regions in Europe. Significant differences in grain size are only recorded in a 10th-11th century settlement, suggesting few changes in grain morphometry before Medieval times.

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“…During the High Middle Ages (11th-13th centuries) there was relative economic prosperity in northern Iberia due to the richness of the harvests, derived from the Medieval Climatic Optimum (10th to 13th centuries) as well as other social factors such as the relative economic importance of the Camiño de Santiago (Le Roy Ladurie 1971; Oliva et al 2022). In contrast, during the Late Middle Ages (14th to 15th centuries) there is evidence of a gradual worsening of climatic conditions -Little Ice Age phenomenon-, which, alongside various other factors, affected eminently the modus vivendi and the cereal-based production system of the aforementioned societies (Priegue 1998;Oliva et al 2022;Silva-Sánchez et al 2022). The Late Middle Ages were characterised by a decrease in the production of cereals, with direct repercussions on the economy of medieval societies in the form of economic impoverishment.…”

Section: The Archaeological Collections Of Pontevedramentioning

confidence: 99%

Biting into the Truth: Connecting oral pathology and stable isotopes through the paradigmatic example of a hyper-specialized marine diet in Medieval Pontevedra (NW Iberia)

Veiga-Rilo,

López-Costas

2023

Preprint

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Human feeding patterns have been reconstructed in Archaeology by analysing either oral pathology or stable isotope ratios in human skeletal remains. However, no clear agreement has been developed between these two methodologies. The main objective of this study is to determine if we can establish a link between them when analysing a population with a hyper-specialized diet, in this case marine resources. To reach this goal we developed a conjoined multi-isotope analysis in collagen and bioapatite (δ13Ccol, δ15Ncol, δ13Ccar and δ18Ocar) and a detailed study of oral health (caries, antemortem loss, periapical lesions, periodontal disease, calculus, and wear). All available skeletons with at least one preserved tooth from two cemeteries of the medieval town of Pontevedra (n = 34) were researched. The buried individuals belonged to the guild of fishers and artisans, professions which were dominant among the families of medieval Pontevedra. The evidence of δ18Ocar indicates that most people seem to have local origins. The diet was based on marine fish protein with contributions of millets (e.g. δ13Ccar -11.87 ± 1.79‰) that seems to be slightly higher in individuals linked to artisanal guilds. Oral pathology study shows severe dental wear from an early age, including hypercementosis due to compensatory eruption, as well as moderate-high presence of caries and dental calculus. Both the oral pathology and the isotopic signal differ from that observed in other areas of the Iberian Peninsula. This study points to the existence of connections between findings of the two methodologies, and specifically an association between intense dental wear and high consumption of marine resources. At the same time, this analysis implies the necessity of caution in estimation of age by dental wear in populations linked to the sea.

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Written in soil and paper. Investigating environmental transformations of a monastic landscape by combining geoarchaeology and palynology with historical analysis at Samos (Spain)

Cited by 8 publications

References 41 publications

Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and Challenges

Dating Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean Using Luminescence: Recent Progress and Challenges

The introduction and spread of rye (Secale cereale) in the Iberian Peninsula

Biting into the Truth: Connecting oral pathology and stable isotopes through the paradigmatic example of a hyper-specialized marine diet in Medieval Pontevedra (NW Iberia)

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