The environmental and cultural contexts of the late Iron Age and medieval settlement in the Mazurian Lake District,NE Poland: combined palaeobotanical and archaeological data

Pollen analysis of sediments from three lakes and analysis of plant macroremains including charcoal from archaeological sites in the Mazurian Lake District provide new data for the reconstruction of vegetation changes related to human activity between the 1st and 13th century ad. At that time settlements of the Bogaczewo culture (from the turn of the 1st century ad to the first part of the 5th century ad), the Olsztyn Group (second part of the 5th century ad to the 7th or beginning of the 8th century ad), and the Prussian Galinditae tribes (8th/9th–13th century ad) developed. The most intensive woodland clearing occurred between the 1st and 6th/7th century ad. Presence of Cerealia-type, Secale cereale and Cannabis-type pollen, as well as macroremains of Hordeum vulgare, S. cereale, Triticum spelta, T. cf. monococcum, T. cf. dicoccum, Avena sp. and Panicum miliaceum documented local agriculture. High Betula representation synchronous with microcharcoal occurrence suggests shifting agriculture. After forest regeneration between c. ad 650 and 1100, the area was strongly deforested due to the early medieval occupation by Prussian tribes. The archaeobotanical examination of samples taken in a cemetery and a large settlement of the Roman Iron Age revealed strong differences in the taxonomic composition of the fossil plant remains. An absolute dominance of birch charcoal in the samples from the cemetery indicates its selective use for funeral pyre construction. There is a difference between cereals found in both contexts: numerous grains of Triticum have been found in the cemetery, while in the settlement crops were represented mostly by Secale and Hordeum. Grass tubers, belonging probably to Phleum pratense, are among the particularly interesting plant remains found in the cemetery.     

The first archaeobotanical evidence of Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach) in late 12th–mid 13th century a.d. France

Macroscopic charred remains of Spinacia oleracea L. (Amaranthaceae) have been found in the Pyrenean village of Montaillou, France, in several contexts of a house dated to the end 12th–mid 13th century a.d. This is the first archaeobotanical record of this vegetable in France and the earliest European archaeobotanical material so far found. The paper presents the morphological criteria used for identifying the charred remains of the species. After a review of archaeobotanical finds in Europe, hypotheses on the economic status of this vegetable, which is unknown as a wild plant in Europe, are discussed with reference to medieval written and illuminated sources and to archaeological deposits. It appears that Spinacia was first introduced into France from Moorish Spain where it was cultivated at least since the 11th century. The French evidence of Spinacia thus represents a milestone in the history and geographic diffusion of this vegetable into temperate Europe.     

Valuation, appraisal, discounting, obsolescence and depreciation

Previous editions of this Journal have drawn attention to the critical role valuation plays in life cycle analysis and environmental impact assessment (see for exampleVolkwkin andKlöpffer |1|). In particular, the critical role of valuation has heen highlighed in a number of discussions on ‘valuation step’ within life cycle costing, ‘hedonic and contingency’ assessments of environmental impact and both the utility and welfare of ‘pathway’ analysis/assessment (Krkwitt, Mayerhofer, Trukenmüller andFriedrich, 1998;Powell, Pearce andCraighill, 1997;Volkwein, On in andKlöpffer, 1996 |2-4|). Focusing on the utility of market valuation, this paper examines the critique of discounting environmentalists have made in relation to property valuation, investment appraisal and the application of the principle in the income based net annual return model of land use time-horizons and the spatial configuration of building programmes-a criticism implict in ‘valuation step’, ‘hedonic, contingency’ and ‘pathway’ analysis/assessments. It examines the argument put forward regarding the link between the selection of a discount rate, the valuation of property, appraisal of investment and inter-generational downloading of costs associated with the use of land, repair, maintenance and refurbishment of buildings: the downloading of costs, seen by some, to have an adverse impact and work against the introduction of experimental designs aimed at energy saving, clean air environments.     

Archaeological charcoals as archives for firewood preferences and vegetation composition during the late Holocene in the southern Mayumbe,Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Analysis of charcoal from an archaeological assemblage near the Lukula community located at the southernmost boundary of the Mayombe forest (Bas-Congo, DRC) yielded 30 taxa used as firewood between 1,200 and 700 cal. b.p. Local people mentioned 71 taxa preferred for use nowadays. The identified taxa belong either to mature rainforest, pioneer forest, regenerating forest or woodland savanna, indicating that ancient and current local populations gathered firewood in several different forest types. Modern firewood preferences do not seem to agree with the archaeobotanical composition. Also, linguistic evidence does not indicate a long exploitation history for all of the recorded taxa. Furthermore, no particular wood qualities such as wood density, calorific value or magical or medicinal properties seem to determine the Lukula assemblage, which was probably composed of waste material from various activities which required different specific firewood characteristics. As such, taxa composition is not biased by human selection, suggesting that it reflects the surrounding environment, which was characterised by mature rainforest with patches of regenerating forest and open vegetation types. Unlike the origin of present-day forest-savanna mosaics from human activity, fragmentation around 1,000 cal. b.p. may have been provoked by a well-known climatic event coinciding with the Medieval Climate Anomaly, which undoubtedly had a significant impact on Central African forest composition.     

Condiments before Claudius: new plant foods at the Late Iron Age oppidum at Silchester,UK

Our understanding of the introduction and adoption of new plant foods in Roman Britain is currently limited by a lack of data from a group of Late Iron Age settlements commonly referred to as oppida (large pre-Roman towns). This paper presents the first evidence of several imported plant foods from Late Iron Age Britain in the form of waterlogged plant remains from the oppidum at Silchester. These were recovered from the basal contexts of two wells, dated to the early first century a.d. One olive stone and several seeds of celery, coriander and dill were identified. The results are compared to archaeobotanical data from elsewhere in Britain and northwestern Europe, demonstrating that Silchester is part of the wider phenomenon of the adoption of new flavourings and fruits in Late Iron Age Europe.     

Holocene anthropogenic landscapes in the Balkans: the palaeobotanical evidence from southwestern Bulgaria

Palaeoecological reconstructions from the region of southwestern Bulgaria were used for inferring the human impact on the vegetation and landscape during the last 8 millennia. They are based on data from pollen analyses of lakes and peat-bogs, plant macrofossils, archaeobotanical finds and radiocarbon dating. During the early Holocene, after 7900?cal. b.p. (5950?cal. b.c.) the climate changed to cooler summers, milder winters and higher precipitation resulting in the formation of a coniferous belt dominated by Pinus sp. and Abies alba. These favorable environmental pre-conditions had a positive influence on the Neolithisation of the Balkans after the 8200?cal. b.p. (6250?cal. b.c.) cold event, which caused drought in the Eastern Mediterranean. Direct evidence from wood charcoal records from the Neolithic settlement layers in the study area shows a slight modification of the surrounding woodlands and an increase of the light-demanding components, probably expressed through larger forest border zones and thinning out of the wood stands. The increase in the number of settlements in the valleys of southwestern Bulgaria intensified the human activity visible in the palaeobotanical record from 6950?cal. b.p. (5000?cal. b.c.) onwards. Between ca. 5700–5100?cal. b.p. (3800–3200?cal. b.c.) signs of anthropogenic influence on the vegetation are virtually absent. The intensity of human impact increased notably after 3200?cal. b.p. (1400–1250?cal. b.c., approx. Late Bronze Age), documented by a rise of pollen anthropogenic indicators. The final transformations in the natural forest cover after 2750?cal. b.p. (800?cal. b.c. onset of the Iron Age) marked the reduction of the coniferous forests dominated by Abies alba and Pinus sp. and the expansion of Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies. These vegetation changes are contemporaneous with increase of the palaeofire activities and the next peak of anthropogenic indicators. The changes in the landscape during the Roman period and the medieval period reflect regional environmental features and were forced by the diversification of anthropogenic activity.     

Agricultural practices in Arctic Norway during the first millennium b.c.

Palaeoecological investigations of mires suggest that agriculture was established north of the Arctic Circle in Norway during the late Bronze Age (1100?C500 b.c.) and Pre-Roman Iron Age (500?C1 b.c.). The lack of archaeobotanical and archaeological investigations has made it difficult to assess the nature of this early agricultural expansion into the Arctic in any detail. Here we present the first well documented archaeobotanical investigation from north Norway that covers this agricultural pioneer phase. Remains of charred seeds show that barley (Hordeum) was already being cultivated in the late Bronze Age, and that wheat (Triticum) was introduced in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Large amounts of crowberry (Empetrum) seeds are also typical of the Pre-Roman Iron Age and were obviously an important food plant at the time, at least locally. Charcoal rich layers dated to the late Bronze Age suggest that the local birch forest was initially cleared away with the help of fire, possibly related to a slash-and-burn cultivation practice. Lithostratigraphic and pollen-analytical results indicate that the cultivation practice of the Pre-Roman Iron Age was a form of bush-fallow system with intensive soil re-working alternated with long periods of fallow.     

Integrated archaeobotanical research into vegetation management and land use in El Llano de la Horca (Santorcaz, Madrid, central Spain)

This paper presents an integrated archaeobotanical analysis carried out at the site known as “El Llano de la Horca”, a Bronze and Late Iron Age (3rd–1st century b.c.) Carpetanian settlement in central Spain (3600?±?80 b.p.). Pollen and spore analysis indicates an open landscape dominated by the herb taxa Asteraceae, Chenopodiaceae and Poaceae with an important representation of Glomus. The combination of pollen and charcoal studies also reveals the presence of Pinus sylvestris-nigra, P. pinaster-pinea, Juniperus thurifera, Quercus faginea, Q. ilex and Q. suber as the main trees used. Occurrences of Alnus, Corylus, Fraxinus and Juglans suggest the existence of water courses nearby. The archaeobotanical data is correlated with the geographical setting and archaeological context. The evolution of settlement patterns in central Spain, as well as the economy of other Carpetanian sites, is also considered to evaluate how this territory was managed for its vegetational resources since the Bronze Age (BA). Changes are expected as a consequence of different socio-economic factors at this site, especially when the settlement became an important Carpetanian oppidum. The combined results demonstrate a subsistence system based on cereal agriculture, in which naked wheat was dominant, together with some hulled barley and some erratic occurrences of hulled wheat. Furthermore, livestock breeding and metalwork activities seem to have resulted in a significant loss of woodland in order to clear land for crop fields and cattle grazing to cope with the needs of the growing Carpetanian community.     

Vegetation history and landscape management from 6500 to 1500 cal. b.p. at Lac d’Antre, Gallo-Roman sanctuary of Villards d’Héria, Jura, France

The lake sediment record was used to reconstruct past vegetation dynamics and human impacts from the middle Neolithic (6500 cal. b.p.) to the Middle Ages (1500 cal. b.p.) around Lac d’Antre in the southern Jura mountains of France. This lake was surrounded by the Gallo-Roman sanctuary of Villards d’Héria, which has been widely investigated by archaeologists and enables a comparison between palaeoenvironmental proxies and archaeological data. Pollen and microscopic charcoal analyses were conducted on a 500 cm sediment core with eleven radiocarbon dates providing the chronological control. In a mixed oak woodland context, the successive development of Taxus, Fagus and Abies were mainly caused by climatic variations during the Neolithic, in which there was weak human impact. The first significant signs of human activity were detected during the Bronze Age from 3900 cal. b.p., followed by an increase of human pressure and woodland clearances during the Iron Age, from 2700 cal. b.p. The occupation of the Gallo-Roman sanctuary was continuous with the Iron Age occupation. All the analysed palaeoenvironmental data indicate that the strongest human impact occurred during the Gallo-Roman period, which matches the occupation of Villards d’Héria previously dated by archaeologists from 2000 to 1700 cal. b.p., 1st to 3rd century a.d. Moreover, there appears to have been a new period of human settlement close to the lake at the beginning of the Middle Ages. The low charcoal accumulation rate (CHAR) recorded during the Bronze and Iron Ages suggests that fire was not the main agent used to clear the dense woods to create new cultivated fields and pastures. High CHAR values recorded during the Roman period may represent fire use for domestic and agro-pastoral activities.     

Evidence of ‘new glume wheat’ from the Late Neolithic (Copper Age) of south-eastern Hungary (4th millennium cal. b.c.)

In 2000, remains of an unknown Triticum species—later named ‘new glume wheat’ (NGW)—were identified in the archaeobotanical material of Neolithic and Bronze Age Greek sites. The presence of NGW was later reported from several other locations across Europe, from the seventh to the first millennium cal. b.c. During the systematic archaeobotanical survey of the multiperiod site of Hódmez?vásárhely–Kopáncs I., Olasz-tanya (5310–2936 cal. b.c.) more than 2,000 cereal remains were recovered. During the morphological analyses, ten spikelet forks showed the distinctive traits of NGW, therefore morphometric analyses were conducted on the remains to reinforce the morphological identification. The results suggest that both approaches—morphological and morphometric—should be applied in parallel to securely separate the NGW remains from Triticum turgidum L. ssp. dicoccum (Schrank) Thell. (emmer) and T. monococcum L. ssp. monococcum (einkorn). All NGW glume bases were recovered from Late Copper Age features (3338–3264 cal. b.c.) of the settlement, which represent the Baden culture of the Great Hungarian Plain. Similarly to other Baden culture sites of the Carpathian Basin einkorn and emmer dominated the crop production of the settlement. The ratio of the NGW remains within the cereal assemblage was measured to be 0.48 %, which suggests that NGW did not have the status of a regular crop; still it may have been part of the accompanying weed flora of the cereal fields during the fourth millennium in the south-eastern Great Hungarian Plain landscape.     

The Iron Age in the Mrągowo Lake District,Masuria, NE Poland: the Salęt settlement microregion as an example of long-lasting human impact on vegetation

Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal and geochemical analyses of sediments from Lake Sal?t (NE Poland) were used to reconstruct vegetation changes related to the activity of the West Balt tribes during the Iron Age, in the period between the second half of the 7th century bc and the beginning of the 10th century ad. We distinguished five phases of human impact on environment. Woodland clearing around the studied lake started at the end of the 7th century bc. The most characteristic feature of this area during the whole Iron Age was a very high representation of semi-natural Betula woodlands, which was probably linked to a shifting agriculture. This type of land use lasted for over 1,500 years, until the second half of the 9th century ad. The greatest reduction in Betula woodlands took place between cal. years 650 and 450 bc. Its regeneration took place after ca. ad 830 when human activity decreased.     

LignicolousHyphomycetes from Czechoslovakia 3.Sporoschisma,Sporoschismopsis andCatenularia

The species of three genera—Sporoschisma Berk. etBr.,Sporoschismopsis Hol.-Jech. etHennebert andCatenularia Grove are treated in this paper from Czechoslovakia:Sporoschisma juvenile Boudier,S. mirabile Berk. etBr.,Sporoschismopsis moravica Hol.-Jech. etHennebert andCatenularia cuneiformis (Richon) Mason. The studied fungi produce the conidia in basipetal succession, endogenously or subendogenously, quite internally in large phialides or only inside open swollen collarettes.     

Flax in Neolithic and Bronze Age Greece: archaeobotanical evidence

This paper presents an overview of archaeobotanical finds of Linum usitatissimum from Neolithic and Bronze Age Greece, bringing together published records of this plant as well as some recently retrieved, unpublished finds. In addition, charred flax seed concentrations from five prehistoric sites from the region of Macedonia in northern Greece, are examined in detail. The Neolithic sites are Makriyalos, Mandalo, Arkadikos, Dikili Tash, dated to the Late and Final Neolithic and Archondiko, dated to the end of the Early Bronze Age. Archaeobotanical composition and contextual information are used in order to explore the cultivation and potential uses of flax at each site. By the 5th millennium b.c. a flax weed flora had probably developed in the region. The use of flax seed for oil extraction and flax stems for flax fibre preparation can only be speculated upon and these uses are discussed within the context of other archaeological finds related to plant oil production and weaving. It is also possible that flax may have been used for medicinal purposes. Despite a striking paucity in archaeobotanical remains from southern Greece, textual evidence available from the Mycenean palace archives in Linear B clearly documents the cultivation of flax and flax fibre production.     

Amperometric microbiosensor as an alternative tool for investigation of d-serine in brain

This paper discusses the application of a reagentless, selective microbiosensor as a useful alternative tool for monitoring d-serine in neural samples. The main components of the 125-μm-diameter disk biosensor were d-amino acid oxidase for d-serine sensitivity (linear region slope, 61?±?7?μA?cm^–2?mM^–1; limit of detection, 20?nM), and poly-phenylenediamine for rejection of electroactive interference. The response time of the biosensor was of the order of 1?s, ideal for ‘real-time’ monitoring, and detection of systemically administered d-serine in brain extracellular fluid is demonstrated. Exploitation of this probe might resolve queries involving regulation of d-serine in excitotoxicity, and modulation of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor function by d-serine and glycine in the central nervous system.     

The trilobiteProtostygina and the composition of the Styginidae, with two new genera

The Styginidae is regarded as an exclusively Ordovician family of trilobites, separate from the Scutelluidae. The hitherto poorly known genusProtostygina Prantl &P?ibyl, 1949 is revised. It is recorded with certainty only from the Llanvirn of the Czech Republic, and the type species is a senior synonym of“Raymondaspis” rubensi rubensi P?ibyl &VANěK, 1968 and“R.” rubensi lybar ?najdr, 1976. Two new styginid genera are proposed:Cyrtocybe, with type species“Raymondaspis” turgida Whittington, 1965, is known from the upper Arenig and lower Llanvirn of Newfoundland, Maine and Norway; andPromargo, with type speciesP.forteyi n. sp., occurs in the Arenig of Newfoundland and Spitsbergen.Turgicephalus Fortey, 1980 is regarded as a junior synonym ofRaymondaspis P?ibyl inPrantl &P?ibyl, 1949. Three genera are excluded from the Styginidae:Kirkdomina Tripp, 1962,Pseudostygina Zhou inZhou et al., 1982 andStyginella P?ibyl &Vaněk, 1971.     

Inoceramids from Kreibitz-Zittauer area (Saxony and northern Bohemia): revision ofAndert’s (1911) descriptions

Andert’s (1911) inoceramids (Bivalvia) from the topmost Turonian and Lower and lowermost Middle Coniacian (Cretaceous) of the Kreibitz-Zittauer area (Saxony and northern Bohemia) are revised, partially redescribed and newly illustrated. Ten species are discussed. Of the forms described as new byAndert,Inoceramus weiset is shown to represent deformed representatives ofCremnoceramus crassus (Petrascheck), andI. winkholdioides Andert should probably be synonymized withC. brongniarti (Mantell).Andert’s interpretation ofFlegel’s (1904) species, i.e.I. frechi andI. glaziae, is not correct; the former should be referred toMytiloides scupini (Heinz), while the latter includesC. inconstans (Woods),I. vistulensis Walaszczyk,C. rotundatus (Tröger nonFiege), andM. cf.turonicus Walaszczyk. The speciesI. subquadratus Andert representsC. rotundatus (Tröger nonFiege), and hisI. cuvieri var.planus is referred toC. inconstans (Woods) and toC. cf.transilvanicus (Simionescu). The speciesI. protractus Scupin is referred toC. waltersdorfensis (Andert). The main source localities toAndert (1911), i. e. Sonnenberg near Waltersdorf and “Dachsloch” quarry near Innozenzidorf (Czech: Lesne), are of latest Late Turonian/Early Coniacian (theMytiloides scupini andCremnoceramus rotundatus Zones) and late Early Coniacian (C. deformis- C. crassus Zone) age respectively. The third locality, i. e. railway cutting at Tannenberg station (Czech: Jedlová), is probably or late Early Coniacian or early Middle Coniacian age.