The Role of Palynology in Archaeoecological Research: Reconstructing Human-Environment Interactions during Neolithic in the Western Mediterranean
Source abstract
Abstract
This paper provides an overview of the potential of palynology within palaeoenvironmental research to reconstruct past landscapes and assess the relationship between vegetation and the first farming communities. The analysis of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs in natural records evidenced how the adoption of farming and new sedentary settlement patterns resulted in major landscape transformation on extra-local or regional scales in the Western Mediterranean, affecting sclerophyllous and riparian forests in North Corsica, Mediterranean maquis in South Corsica, and oak forests in NE Iberia. In addition, palynology has been confirmed as a relevant source of data to address the local palaeoenvironmental evolution in lakes, wetlands, and archaeological sites, providing evidence of the presence of flocks (spores of coprophilous fungi), and changes in hydrology (salinity, dryness/wetness, aquatic/palustrine phases) and in geomorphology (soil erosion indicators). Finally, the spatial analysis of pollen and NPP intra-site distribution is presented here as a valuable tool to assess the social use of space in archaeological sites. In that sense, archaeopalynology has provided detailed information about site formation processes, social use of space, and the use of plants and fungi in the site of La Draga (Girona, Spain).
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Medieval Architecture and Archaeology
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Affiliations
Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain
Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
Funding
Juan de la Cierva- Formación contract (MCINN, Spain) · Research group GAPS (AGAUR)
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