Frontier Terramare: preliminary palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from the Terramare of Ronchi di Caorso (PC)

The Terramare of Ronchi di Caorso is an archaeological site inhabited during the Middle and Recent Bronze age (3550–3170 BC), representing the westernmost Terramare village of the Po Plain, in northern Italy. In fact, archaeological material of both the classical Terramare production as well as more western productions were found during excavations, demonstrating a mixture of cultures and extensive exchanges at this settlement. Preliminary palynological analyses were performed on 20 samples, coming from the west moat of the settlement. About 50 different pollen taxa were found, mostly belonging to non-arboreal plants (NAP). The forest cover, when present, is mostly represented by deciduous Quercus and other elements of the mixed oakwood (Carpinus betulus, Ostrya carpinifolia, Corylus avellana, Tilia, Fraxinus excelsior and Acer campestre). Additionally in the most recent phases of exploitation of the site we detected the presence of hygrophilous species as Alnus and Pinus, thus suggesting a cooler condition that in the previous phases. Among NAP, plants belonging to the API (Anthropogenic Pollen Indicators) and LPPI (Local Pastoral Pollen Indicators) groups are predominant, including especially cereals (Avena/ Triticum, Hordeum), Cichorieae and other Asteraceae, Brassicaceae and Ranunculaceae. Generally, the pollen assemblage shows an open landscape, with very low forest cover around the site, that is mostly characterised by grasslands and synanthropic communities. Many remains of cereals (grains, fragments, glume bases, spikelets) characterise the samples studied so far from a carpological point of view. Among them, various species of wheat (T. monococcum, T. turgidum ssp. dicoccon, T. spelta), barley (Hordeum vulgare) and millet (Panicum miliaceum), accompanied by undetermined fragments of cultivated pulses. Dogwood and elderberry are the food fruits attested with herbaceous and anthropogenic weeds (mainly Chenopodium, Rumex, Lysimachia). Ash and deciduous oak are the first remains identified through the anthracological study, confirming what was reconstructed from the pollen analyses.