INVESTIGATING MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPES: THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE ARCHAEOBOTANICAL APPROACH TO THE NEU-Med PROJECT (TUSCANY, CENTRAL ITALY)

Palynological analyses were carried out in the Tyrrhenian coastal area of the Northern Maremma to analyse the changes that occurred in natural and anthropic environments between the 7th and 12th century AD. Investigations pertained to two off-site cores in the alluvial plains of the Pecora and Cornia rivers (where two lagoons were reclaimed in the Modern Age) and to the archaeological site of Vetricella (sampling the filling of one of defensive ditches). The research is useful to better understand the processes of economic growth that took place during that time period in south-western Tuscany [1]. Moreover, reconstructing the landscape around the archaeological site of Vetricella can provide information on the use of the natural resources and soil. Given the strong multidisciplinary approach of the nEU-Med project, the data provided by the palynological and microcharcoal analyses can be integrated with those from other analyses and specialists to obtain a more detailed picture of the territory. A total of 46 samples (18 from the core Pecora 3; 14 from Cornia 7; 14 from the north trench of the ditch in Vetricella) were treated and analysed. The samples present well-preserved pollen grains in Pecora 3 and Cornia 7, while the Vetricella samples show prevalently low preserved grains. The pollen diagram suggests some main features of the landscape. A more open landscape was spread next to Vetricella, in the Pecora river basin, while the Cornia 7 was characterised by a slightly higher tree/shrub cover. Forest cover was featured by oak woodland with mesophilous trees (Quercus, Ostrya/Carpinus and Carpinus), and wet woods with hygrophilous trees (Salix and Alnus). The wet environments are marked also by herb plants like Typha/Sparganium. In regard to human activities, the spectra include the presence of cereals, anthropogenic indicators (API) and indicators of grazing (LPPI). Cereal pollen was a marker of both the cultivation of crop fields or the transport of cereals to the archaeological site. Microcharcoal analyses attest the presence of (regional and local) fires, especially in the bottom part of the sequence, during a phase with the decrease of Quercus and growth of Erica (a postfire pioneer shrub) in the pollen spectra.