This paper diacusses the Avellino Event Project and the Minor Centres project. Both projects add to the long term reconstruction of the human landscape in the plain south of Sezze (Agro Pontino,... Show moreThis paper diacusses the Avellino Event Project and the Minor Centres project. Both projects add to the long term reconstruction of the human landscape in the plain south of Sezze (Agro Pontino, Lazio). Show less
Sevink, J.; Bakels, C.C.; Isola, I.; Gorp, W. van; Doorenbosch, M.; Kuijper, W.J.; Zanchetta, G. 2018
A plant macrofossil and palynological investigation of a peat deposit that contained two distal tephra layers found at Femmina Morta, Fondi basin, southern Lazio, central Italy allowed the... Show moreA plant macrofossil and palynological investigation of a peat deposit that contained two distal tephra layers found at Femmina Morta, Fondi basin, southern Lazio, central Italy allowed the reconstruction of a late Early or early Middle Bronze Age landscape. The palynological data show a natural landscape that was unaltered by anthropogenic activity in which a mosaic of vegetation communities existed, each occupying areas that best suited them. Either Mediterranean or more temperate mid-latitude vegetation communities are represented, dependent on the abiotic (e.g. elevation, aspect, geology, edaphic and hydrology) or biotic (e.g. competition) circumstances. The plant macrofossil data and locally derived components of the pollen spectra show that the vegetation in and around the water body was stable. Both data sets indicate that sediment deposition took place in a lacustrine basin. At the point of sampling the water column was probably around 1 m deep and contained clear, calcareous, mesotrophic to eutrophic, slow moving to still fresh water. At the margins of the lake existed a reed swamp, composed of tall and shorter herbs. Evidence for brackish conditions nearby, probably on the beach ridge, is the presence of a small number of halophytic taxa. The palaeobotanical data suggest the deposition of the tephras did not affect the vegetation in the area. Charcoal deposition was probably the result of natural fires burning in the catchment. Show less
Gorp, W. van; Alessandri, L.; Doorenbosch, M. 2017
e evolution of heathlands during the Holocene has been registered in various soil records. Paleoecological analyses of these records enable reconstruction of the changing economic and cultural... Show moree evolution of heathlands during the Holocene has been registered in various soil records. Paleoecological analyses of these records enable reconstruction of the changing economic and cultural management of heaths and the consequences for landscape and soils. Heaths are characteristic components of cultural landscape mosaics on sandy soils in the Netherlands. The natural habitat of heather species was moorland. At first, natural events like forest fires and storms caused small-scale forest degradation; in addition on that, the forest degradation accelerated due to cultural activities like forest grazing, wood cutting, and shifting cultivation. Heather plants invaded degraded forest soils, and heaths developed. People learned to use the heaths for economic and cultural purposes. The impact of the heath management on landscape and soils was registered in soil records of barrows, drift sand sequences, and plaggic Anthrosols. Based on pollen diagrams of such records we could reconstruct that heaths were developed and used for cattle grazing before the Bronze Age. During the late Neolithic, the Bronze Age, and Iron Age, people created the barrow landscape on the ancestral heaths. After the Iron Age, people probably continued with cattle grazing on the heaths and plaggic agriculture until the early Middle Ages. Severe forest degradation by the production of charcoal for melting iron during the Iron Age till the 6th–7th century and during the 11th–13th century for the trade of wood resulted in extensive sand drifting, a threat to the valuable heaths. The introduction of the deep, stable economy and heath sods digging in the course of the 18th century resulted in acceleration of the rise of plaggic horizons, severe heath degradation, and again extension of sand drifting. At the end of the 19th century heath lost its economic value due to the introduction of chemical fertilizers. The heaths were transformed into "new" arable fields and forests, and due to deep ploughing most soil archives were destroyed. Since AD 1980, the remaining relicts of the ancestral heaths are preserved and restored in the frame of the programs to improve the regional and national geo-biodiversity. Despite the realization of many heath restoration projects during the last decades, the area of the present heaths is just a fraction of the heath areal in AD 1900. Show less
Meurkens, L.; Beek, R. van; Doorenbosch, M.; Fokkens, H.; Heunks, E.; Debono Spiteri, C.; ... ; Verbaas, A. 2015
Barrows, i.e. burial mounds, are amongst the most important of Europe’s prehistoric monuments. Across Europe, barrows still figure as a prominent element in the landscape. Many barrows in Europe... Show moreBarrows, i.e. burial mounds, are amongst the most important of Europe’s prehistoric monuments. Across Europe, barrows still figure as a prominent element in the landscape. Many barrows in Europe have been excavated, revealing much about what was buried inside these monuments. Little is known, however, about the landscape in which the barrows were situated and what role barrows played in this landscape. Palynological data, carrying important clues on the barrow environment, are absent for most of the excavated barrows in Europe. In the Netherlands however, palynological data are available for hundreds of excavated barrows. However, while local vegetation reconstructions from these barrows are available, a reconstruction of the total landscape around the barrows has yet to made, without which it would be difficult to understand their role in the prehistoric cultural landscape.In this thesis a detailed vegetation history around barrows is reconstructed. Newly obtained and extant data derived from palynological analyses taken from barrow sites have been (re-)analysed. Methods in barrow palynology have been discussed and further developed when necessary and newly developed techniques have been applied in order to get a better impression of what role barrows played in their environment.Barrows were built on ancestral heaths, which were maintained for many generations by heath communities. The barrow landscape was included in the economic zone of farming communities in the area, while the heath areas were used as grazing grounds. The ancestral heaths were very stable elements in the landscape and were kept in existence for thousands of years. In fact, it is argued that these ancestral heaths were the most important factor in structuring the barrow landscape. Show less
