The Archaeobotanical Archive: plants used by man (which, where, how, when?) - The web-site for the Green Cultural Heritage in Emilia Romagna (Northern Italy).

This history is reconstructed throughout the study of Holocene pollen, recorded in a variety of deposits (stratigraphic sequences, archaeological layers and moss polsters) as well as macroremains (seeds/fruits and wood/charcoal) mainly recorded in archaeological sites. This research began with a general census of pollen of woody plants surely or probably used by man, and was based on published and unpublished studies [1, 2, 3]. The Holocene records from more than 150 sites were subdivided into six chronological phases (Preboreal, Boreal, Atlantic, Subboreal, Subatlantic and Recent = the last fifty years) and three altitudinal belts (Plain, Hills, Mountains; see Fig.1). The anthropic woody pollen types (cultivated /cultivable = CC) were 70 (=52% of all woody pollen types) and were grouped into 15 categories according to their vegetational, ecological and anthropic significance (Tables 1,2,3). Then the history of single CC species or groups was studied, based on pollen and macroremains.This paper describes the web site presenting updated results of the research.