Vegetation history and agriculture in the cover-sand area west of Breda (province of Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands) |
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Authors: | Laura I Kooistra |
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Institution: | (1) Biax Consult, Hogendijk 134, 1506 AL Zaandam, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | Botanical investigation of archaeological sites situated in the northwest of the region bounded by the rivers Maas, Scheldt
and Demer (‘MSD region’), west of the city of Breda, has provided a great deal of evidence about the landscape and its use
in the period between 2000 b.c. and a.d. 1500. From pollen analysis, it appears that this cover-sand area gradually lost its woodlands through human activity after
the beginning of the Bronze Age (ca. 2000 b.c.). Patches of woodland did survive there, however, until the early Middle Ages. In contrast to the cover-sand area in the
vicinity of ’s-Hertogenbosch and Oss-Ussen in the northeast of the MSD region, the first large heathlands in the Breda area
did not evolve until the early Middle Ages. In late prehistory, land use in this area was not much different from that in
the micro-region of ’s-Hertogenbosch and Oss-Ussen. In the Bronze Age, Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare (hulled six-row barley) and Triticum dicoccon (emmer wheat) were grown. During the Iron Age, Panicum miliaceum (common millet) and T. spelta (spelt wheat) were introduced, but these crops disappeared during the Roman period. The Roman period is remarkable because
of the lack of any Mediterranean culinary herbs or exotic fruits. Only pollen of Juglans regia (walnut), found around the transition from the Roman period to the early Middle Ages, indicates the introduction of an exotic
tree into the region. From the early Middle Ages onwards, Secale cereale (rye) was the most important cereal, which was grown as a winter crop. In the course of the Middle Ages, arable weeds of
the Sclerantho annui-Arnoseridetum plant community appeared, which is associated with the continuous growing of rye. |
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Keywords: | Vegetation history Farming Cover-sand area Maas Scheldt and Demer regions Palynology Botanical macroremains |
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