Persistence of the cultural landscape in Campania (Southern Italy
Transcript
Persistence of the cultural landscape in Campania (Southern Italy
Journal of Archaeological Science 39 (2012) 399e406 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas Persistence of the cultural landscape in Campania (Southern Italy) before the AD 472 Vesuvius eruption: archaeoenvironmental data E. Allevato a, *, M. Buonincontri a, M. Vairo a, A. Pecci b, M.A. Cau b, c, M. Yoneda d, G.F. De Simone e, M. Aoyagi f, C. Angelelli g, S. Matsuyama f, K. Takeuchi h, G. Di Pasquale a a Centro Museale “Musei delle Scienze Agrarie” e MUSA, Università di Napoli Federico II, via Università, 100 80055 Portici, Italy Equip de Recerca Arqueològica i Arqueomètrica, Universitat de Barcelona (ERAAUB), Spain Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Universitat de Barcelona, Spain d Laboratory of Human Evolution System, Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan e St. John’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3JP, UK f Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Faculty of Letters, The University of Tokyo, Japan g “Sapienza” Università degli Studi di Roma, Dipartimento di Storia dell’Arte, Italy h Laboratory of Landscape Ecology and Planning, Department of Ecosystem Studies, Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan b c a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Received 18 May 2011 Received in revised form 10 September 2011 Accepted 23 September 2011 Cultural landscapes were prominent during the Early Roman period when agronomic knowledge allowed the spread of intensive land exploitation in most of the available land. The aim of this contribution is to explore whether for the Campania region (Southern Italy) archaeoenvironmental data would support continuity or change in the cultural landscape of Roman tradition in the 4th and 5th centuries. To do so, new data from two sites located on the northern slopes of the Vesuvius, both buried by the AD 472 eruption have been investigated. Charcoal analysis, 14C dating, and chemical analysis of organic residues were carried out in order to study the landscape and the food production at these sites. The results suggest the persistence of the Roman cultural landscape until the 4th and 5th centuries in this area. The landscape is in fact strongly marked both in agriculture and woodland exploitation and management, being characterized by managed chestnut forests as well as valuable cultivations of walnut, large vineyards, olive groves, and probably orchards and crops. The integrated approach with archaeobotanical and archaeometric analyses proves to be a powerful method for the study of the past landscapes, providing a good insight into the environment. Furthermore, this study provided the most ancient evidence of chestnut silviculture for wood. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Charcoal analysis Residue analysis AMS radiocarbon dating Wine 5th century Timber 1. Introduction A cultural landscape is a landscape designed and intentionally created by man where mankind’s activities affected both natural processes and primeval vegetation patterns (Berglund, 1991). Such landscapes became particularly prominent during the Roman period, when technological advancement and agronomic knowledge increased the exploitation of most available land. In Late Antiquity, among other aspects, economy and settlement patterns underwent a series of different transformations in many Italians regions (Francovich and Hodges, 2003). In Apulia, Lucania, and Sicily, the number of settlements increased and several villas were restored and enlarged between the 4th and the 6th c. AD * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 081 25 39 237. E-mail address: [email protected] (E. Allevato). 0305-4403/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.09.026 (Brogiolo and Chavarría, 2005). In Campania region pottery findings provide evidence of an active economic system (Arthur, 1985; Arthur and Patterson, 1994; Savino, 2005) and, in the Vesuvius region, of a sudden population rise in the 4th and 5th c. AD (Pagano, 1995). In northern Italy, northern Tuscany, and along the Tyrrhenian coast, since the 3rd c. AD, villas and farms were either abandoned or underwent several structural declines, although some of them were later partially recovered. The demise of large villas was often interpreted as related to land abandonment; nevertheless, as stated by Christie (2004), there is no reason to believe this. Archaeoenvironmental studies can be a powerful method in drawing out the rural landscape dynamics, but the few studies carried out with this methodological approach, did not attempt any diachronic analysis. In Southern Italy, archaeobotanical data from San Giovanni di Ruoti in Lucania, revealed a broad range of agrarian activities in the 5th c. AD (Monckton, 2002). Between 400 E. Allevato et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 39 (2012) 399e406 the 4th and the 6th centuries AD, the site Mola di Monte Gelato in the region of Rome had a rural landscape similar to that characterising the Early Imperial period (Giorgi, 1997). In the same region for the 5th c. AD, in the site La Fontanaccia (North of Rome), the recovered carporemains were considered as evidence of an agricultural regression (Sadori and Susanna, 2005). Finally, in Maremma (southern Tuscany - northern Latium), in the villa of Settefinestre (Orbetello, southern Tuscany), the study of the botanical remains showed a return to wild vegetation in 3rd and 4th centuries AD (Jones and Sheldon, 1985). The aim of this contribution was to explore whether archaeoenvironmental data would support stability of the Roman cultural landscape in the 4th and 5th centuries in Campania region. For this reason, both charcoal analysis with extensive 14C dating and chemical analysis of food production residues were carried out at two sites located on the northern slopes of Vesuvius (Fig. 1). 2. The sites The two sites under investigation do represent good examples of still functioning Roman villae, with different transformations until the 5th c. AD. Both archaeological sites are situated on the edge of the Vesuvius National Park, on the north-western foothills of the SommaVesuvius volcano (Fig. 1). The area is characterised by a Mediterranean climate, with mild rainy winters and relatively arid warm summers. The present vegetation on the slopes of Mt. Somma is characterised by a mixed mesophilous forest and abandoned chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) coppices. Quercus ilex L. is present on the steeper inland slopes with thinner soils. 2.1. Site A: the so-called Villa of Augustus at Somma Vesuviana In 2002, a JapaneseeItalian multidisciplinary team led by the University of Tokyo begun the excavation of the so-called Villa of Augustus at Somma Vesuviana (Site A, 40 520 33.1000 N 14 250 26.5200 E, elev. 133 m). The site was discovered in 1932, when only a small test trench was carried out and the architectural remains were interpreted as part of the villa where the Emperor Caesar Octavianus Augustus died in AD 14. The new evidence rather suggests that the building belongs to a later phase, from the 2nd c. AD with later additions (Aoyagi et al., 2010), until the partial burial of the structures by the AD 472 Vesuvius eruption (Kaneko et al., 2005; Perrotta et al., 2006). At the end of 4th c. to beginning of 5th c. AD part of the villa begun to be used for the transformation of agricultural products. Around AD 450 an intensive spoliation begun (Aoyagi et al., 2005, 2010). The collapsed walls of the villa were largely re-compacted and showed large trampling evidence, thus indicating a voluntary reuse and continue frequentation of the site until the eruption in AD 472. 2.2. Site B: Pollena Trocchia, Masseria De Carolis The second site lies in Pollena Trocchia, at Masseria De Carolis (Site B, 40 520 00.2000 N 14 220 33.6300 E, elev. 93 m, roughly 4 km far from site A). The site was discovered in 1988 and in 2004, in the framework of the Apolline Project (De Simone et al., 2009), “Suor Orsola Benincasa” University in Naples started a new extensive excavation of the site. The site consists of a bath complex, probably part of a residential villa, set in the 2nd c. AD on the ashes of the Pompeian eruption of 79 AD. Most of the anthropic contexts are dated between AD 350 ca. and AD 472. At that time, the bath complex was no more in use, part of the structures were spoliated, and three infants were buried. In AD 472 the eruption buried two thirds of the site. The remaining structures were later used for a subsequent occupation, until the whole area was definitively buried in AD 505/512 by a new eruption. 3. Materials and methods 3.1. Charcoal analyses Sediment samples, ranging from 5 to 10 kg according to the size of the archaeological layers (herein- Stratigraphic Units- SU), were collected from 22 to 6 SU in sites A and B respectively. Sediments were then sieved by water with 4.0 and 2.0 mm sieves. Charcoal fragments, sorted in the fraction over 4.0 mm, were identified (50e350 for each SU), by an incident light microscope working between 100 and 1000 magnification referring both to wood atlases (Greguss, 1955, 1959; Schweingruber, 1990) and to the reference collection of the Centro Museale “Musei delle Scienze Agrarie” e MUSA, Università di Napoli Federico II. A total of 2848 charcoal fragments were analysed (1821 and 1027 from site A and B respectively). The percentages of each taxon on total fragments were calculated for each SU. Fig. 1. Archaeological sites in Campania region cited in the text. E. Allevato et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 39 (2012) 399e406 3.2. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating The contexts were dated through the analysis of pottery and other artefacts. Fifteen charcoal samples from site A were dated by AMS dating. In particular, eleven of these fifteen datings were aimed at better clarifying the use of chestnut (Di Pasquale et al., 2010). Whereas, other four charcoals of Olea europaea, Juglans regia, Quercus deciduous type, and Abies alba, were dated to assess the presence of these other species in the landscape. The datings were carried out by AMS at the Center for Isotopic Research on Cultural and Environmental Heritage, INNOVA CIRCE, Seconda Università di Napoli (Marzaioli et al., 2008; Terrasi et al., 2008) and at the Laboratory of Human Evolution System/Human Evolution and Bone Chemistry, University of Tokyo (Yoneda et al., 2004). The radiocarbon dates were calibrated using OxCal 3.10 calibration program (Bronk Ramsey, 2005) considering the Reimer et al. (2004) calibration curve. 3.3. Analysis of the organic residues in the vats and dolia In site A, three vats were discovered in 2006 (Fig. 2). The West (vat W) and East (vat E) vats are shallow and large, while the North vat (vat N) is deep and narrow. The East (vat E) and North (vat N) vats are connected to each other by a channel, which suggests that some liquid moved from the shallow and large East vat to the deep and narrow North one. There is no evidence of a connection between these two vats and vat W. In 2008e9 the excavation of a lower terrace unearthed seventeen dolia. Along the wall of the terrace, a narrow channel allowed the liquid contained in the vats to flow into the dolia. The system of vats and dolia was dated on the basis of ceramic evidence to the second half of the 4th c. AD. The comparison with other archaeological sites 401 suggests that this site was used for wine production. In order to verify this hypothesis samples have been taken from the vats, the channel, and one dolium to perform organic residue analysis. Five samples were taken from the plastered coating of the vats: two from the vat E (samples E1 and E4), two from the vat N (samples N5 and N6) and one from the vat W (sample W7) (Fig. 2). One sample was taken from the channel (sample C1), and two samples from the coating (sample D1) and the ceramic matrix (sample D2) of one of the dolia. All samples were grounded and analysed, following Mottram et al. (1999), to obtain the total lipid extract. For the identification of wine, a new extraction method with KOH and ethylacetate was used (Pecci et al., submitted). All the extracts were derivatized adding 25 ml of N,O-bis (trimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA, SigmaeAldrich) and heating them at 70 C for 1 h. Gas chromatographyemass spectrometry was performed by a gas chromatograph CP3800 (Varian, Walnut Crick, CA, USA), equipped with a 30 m 0.25 mm (i.d.) 0.25 mm film thickness fused silica capillary column, and a mass spectrometer Saturn 2000 (Varian, Walnut Crick, CA, USA), operated in the electron ionization mode (70 eV) in a mass range m/z 40e650. 4. Results 4.1. Charcoal and wood analysis The analysis of the charcoal provided the identification of 24 taxa (Table 1); 11 are common to both sites. C. sativa represents the most abundant taxon: chestnut wood is the most attested in all SU of site A, and it is often the only wood used as construction material. This wood was largely employed for architectural structures and probably as firewood. Fig. 2. Plane of the site A: sampling for the organic residues analyses in vats and dolium. 402 E. Allevato et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 39 (2012) 399e406 Table 1 Result of charcoal analysis at site A and site B. At the head of table, main features and archaeological dating of the contexts (SU). Among the other trees used as construction material in site A, there are Abies alba, Pinus pinea, and Fraxinus ornus, found in small quantities in one roof (SU 220), while Quercus deciduous was employed to replace a marble threshold (T 6/7). In site B, together with chestnut as structural timber in a roof, Quercus deciduous was used (SU 108). In this site there is also a high percentage of Arundo, which was probably used for the creation of a false-ceiling (incannucciata). Corylus avellana, Ulmus, Ostrya carpinifolia, Ostrya/Carpinus and Populus are also present in both sites, together with chestnut, ash, and deciduous oak, representing typical elements of the mixed deciduous forest. The presence in site A of typical mountain vegetation trees, like A. alba, Fagus sylvatica, and Acer pseudoplatanus/platanoides, is quite remarkable. On the other hand, the Mediterranean evergreen vegetation is scarcely represented: Quercus evergreen type is attested in the mud flow associated with the AD 472 eruption and in a waste dump of site A; while the taxon Phillyrea/Rhamnus was discovered in two fireplaces at site B, both the plants are maquis shrubs. The most abundantly cultivated tree is O. europaea, which is attested in both sites (up to 60% in site A and up to 27% in site B), J. regia and Pinus pinea are scarce. Vitis vinifera up to 20% and a small amount of Ficus carica were found only in site B. Moreover, several types of Rosaceae and a coniferous were also identified, but for them it was not possible to reach the genus/species identification level. 4.2. Dating The results of the radiocarbon dating are summarized in Table 2. Both sigma 1 (68,2% probability) and sigma 2 (95.4 probability) calibration intervals are shown. Radiocarbon dates of chestnut (S1eS7, S12eS15) range along a large time interval (Table 2) spanning over the entire lifetime of the site. The oldest date (BC 363eBC 3 at 95.4% confidence level) corresponds to a beam of A. alba (S8) (Table 2). The date of deciduous Quercus threshold (S9) spans between the 1st and the 3rd c. AD; J. regia (S10) and O. europaea (S11) can be referred to the same period; both the date intervals are very large (Table 2), but they are compatible with the archaeological dating of the fireplace from which the samples were taken. 4.3. Residue analyses The identification of tartaric acid, which is considered to be the marker of wine (Guash-Jané et al., 2004; Mc Govern, 2004) in the pitch coating of the dolium analysed (Fig. 3), allows confirming the archaeological hypothesis that the installation was actually used for the production of wine. No traces of wine markers were identified in the ceramic matrix of the same dolium, which only preserves traces of the resin/pitch of the coating. This could be due to the thickness of the coating that stopped the liquid substance to get into the porous matrix. E. Allevato et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 39 (2012) 399e406 403 Table 2 Radiocarbon and calibrated ages of selected charcoals. Radiocarbon dates have been calibrated by using OxCal 3.10 (Bronk Ramsey, 2005) and the Reimer et al. (2004) calibration curve. Samples ID with stars (*) were dated by AMS at the Center for Isotopic Research on Cultural and Environmental Heritage, INNOVA CIRCE, Seconda Università di Napoli (Marzaioli et al., 2008; Terrasi et al., 2008); samples with plus (þ) at Laboratory of Human Evolution System/Human Evolution and Bone Chemistry, University of Tokyo (Yoneda et al., 2004). Sample Id US Taxa Contexts Lab code Radiocarbon age þS1 þS2 *S3 *S4 *S5 *S6 þS7 þS8 þS9 þS10 þS11 þS12 þS13 þS14 þS15 107 107 403 403 402 220 220 220 t6/7 318 318 318 208e317 215 215 Castanea sativa Castanea sativa Castanea sativa Castanea sativa Castanea sativa Castanea sativa Castanea sativa Abies alba Quercus deciduous type Juglans regia Olea europaea Castanea sativa Castanea sativa Castanea sativa Castanea sativa Beams of the roof Beams of the roof Collapse of the roof Collapse of the roof Wooden structures Collapse of the roof Collapse of the roof Collapse of the roof Treshold Fireplace Fireplace Fireplace Trunk next a fireplace Infiling of a waste dump Infiling of a Waste dump YM-Somma6 YM-Somma8 dsh715 dsh718 dsh716 dsh717 YM-Somma2 YM-Somma3 YM-Somma1 YM-Somma12 YM-Somma10 YM-Somma11 YM-Somma9 YM-Somma5 YM-Somma7 1814 1947 1681 1910 1519 1836 2000 2130 1917 1721 1697 1930 1777 1861 1941 In the sample taken from the West vat (W7), tartaric acid is present together with several acids that are found in modern wine, such as succinic, malic, acetic, and benzoic acids (Flamini, 2003), suggesting the storage of wine also in this vat. No traces of any possible content were identified in the other two vats (North and East), nor in the channel that connected the vats and the dolia. Nevertheless, the connection with the dolia containing wine suggests that they were used for the production of this substance. Probably grapes were pressed in the East vat and the liquid produced passed to the North vat to carry out the fermentation process. Afterwards it was distributed to the dolia. In samples taken from the western vat, dehydroabietic acid was identified suggesting the presence of Pinaceae resin. In the Northern vat, retene and metildehydroabietic acid were also found, indicating that pitch was obtained directly from the wood (Mills and White, 1977; Colombini et al., 2005). These substances were probably used to coat the vats. Columella suggests that barrels, jars, and other vessels (in which wine has to be stored), should be treated with pitch forty days before the vintage (De Re Rustica 12.18.5). Than it is possible to suggest that the same lining was applied to the vats. Fig. 3. Chromatogram obtained by ethylacetate hydrolysis extract of the dolium encrustations. 58 55 26 22 40 25 58 58 56 59 56 57 56 56 56 Calibrated age 1 Sigma 2 Sigma AD 127eAD 316 BC 17eAD 125 AD 341eAD 406 AD 71eAD 124 AD 442eAD 601 AD 134 eAD 214 BC 86eAD 70 BC 347eBC 55 AD 4eAD 200 AD 254eAD 386 AD 259eAD 408 AD 3eAD 130 AD 139eD 335 AD 85eAD 219 AD 3eAD 126 AD 72eAD 377 BC 84eAD 216 AD 259eAD 422 AD 29eAD 132 AD 430eAD 619 AD 90eAD 241 BC 165eAD 124 BC 363eBC 3 BC 39eAD 227 AD 138eAD 428 AD 219eAD 532 BC 45eAD 223 AD 93eAD 396 AD 23eAD 322 BC 51eAD 220 5. Discussion The charcoal assemblages clearly demonstrate the dominance of a cultural landscape consisting in a mixture of intensively managed woodland and cultivated lands, reflecting strong interactions between man and natural resources. 5.1. Woodlands In both sites, C. sativa was the main taxon largely used both for both structures and firewood. Radiocarbon dates from site A indicate that this wood was almost exclusively regularly used for the entire lifetime of the building. Two 14C dates from a fireplace (S12 and S13) and two from the infilling of a rubbish dump (S14 and S15), all archaeologically dated to the 5th c. AD, were found unexpectedly older than their recovery contexts (SU 318, SU 208e317 and SU 215). This testified for either timber reuse as fuel or for contamination of the layers by collapsed roof structures; thus these samples are not used to assess wood exploitation for fuel in the 5th c. AD. However, the latest dating from chestnut structural timber (S5) testifies that this tree was still present in the landscape, at least until the 5th c. AD. C. sativa is traditionally considered coming from Asia Minor and its diffusion is ascribed to the Romans for fruit production; these assumptions are regularly quoted in botanical textbooks, such as several Florae as well as in palaeoethnobotanical and biogeographical treatises (Di Pasquale et al., 2010 and reference therein). The large time range of obtained 14C dates, together with the large amount of chestnut charcoal in the assemblages, testifies for uninterrupted exploitation of a local resource between the 1st BC and the 5th AD. This evidence suggests the existence of chestnut forest before the Villa construction, but also unvaried extent of chestnut wood usage with probable no changes in management. Furthermore, chestnut timber has been also found in the LongolaPoggiomarino Iron Age site (Fioravanti, pers. com), located on the South Eastern slope of the Vesuvius, confirming its early presence in the area before the Roman period. The big sized timber assortments needed for the beams of the building led us to hypothesise that chestnut forest was managed as a high forest for timber production. In fact, if chestnuts are exploited for wood they cannot be used for fruit production. From 404 E. Allevato et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 39 (2012) 399e406 a cultural perspective, this evidence suggests that, at least in this area, the Romans regarded this tree as a wood rather than cultivated for wood, thus disproving the traditional idea on the reason for its introduction by the Romans (Di Pasquale et al., 2010). This fact is confirmed by the evidence of use of chestnut as fuel in site B too. On the whole, these data point out the first clear case of chestnut silviculture in Western Europe (Di Pasquale et al., 2010). Other trees of mixed deciduous forest are scarce and limited, in both sites, to deciduous Quercus, F. ornus, and Corylus avellana (Table 1). In particular, the percentages of deciduous oak are very low in site A and hardly reach 25% in site B. This fact can be considered a further prove of the chestnut forest dominance. F. sylvatica charcoals were found in site A as main firewood in an oven for cooking built in the last decades of the 5th c. AD, just before the eruption buried the site. It is very likely that the firewood was collected in proximity to the site. The discovery of F. sylvatica waterlogged branches in the mud flow associated with the AD 472 eruption suggests that probably these trunks and branches were carried towards the plain from the slopes of the volcano. Nowadays, beech is absent on the Mt. Vesuvius while it spreads on the Lattari Mts (20 km from Mt. Vesuvius) above 750 m of altitude (Fig. 1). Other archaeobotanical data from Vesuvius region already suggested the presence of beech at lower altitude in the 1st c. AD (Castelletti, 1984). Furthermore, anthracological data from the Pompeii area (1st c. AD) proved that beech was the main firewood in the city (Robyn Veal, pers. comm.), thus suggesting its large availability in the surrounding area. The data provided by this work strengthen the hypothesis of the presence of beech on the North slope of Vesuvius until the 5th c. AD. A. alba wood has been exclusively found in site A; it was identified in small quantities in a collapsed roof, coherently with its technological properties and with its wide use as construction timber in Roman Age (Allevato et al., 2009). Fir was also identified in one of the infilling layers of a storage pit used in the 5th c. AD as waste dumps. The 14C dating of a fir charcoal coming from the collapsed roof (S8, Table 2) is older than the building age and could testify for a reuse of this timber. In the Roman Period, fir was vastly used for ship construction: in Campania fir is attested in all the shipwrecks (1ste3rd c. AD) discovered in Neapolis’ harbour (Allevato et al., 2009, 2010 and references therein). The extensive analyses of the beams at Herculaneum are revealing a large use of this tree (Moser, pers. com). On the whole, the wood and charcoal data from this area clearly suggest a wide presence of fir at least in the Early Roman period in Central-Southern Italy and brings into question Kuniholm’s idea of the Alpine provenance of this timber (Kuniholm, 2002). C. avellana is scarcely attested in the wooden log depot of site B, while it reaches 30% in one of the waste dumps at site A. Hazelnut was already cultivated in Roman times (White, 1970 in Zohary and Hopf, 2000), but in Italy the wild form of this plant is very common in the mixed deciduous woodland. Due to the weakness of wood anatomy in distinguishing the wild hazelnut from the cultivated one, our data cannot be securely interpreted. Archaeobotanical data from Campania confirm that hazelnut was part of Roman food: great amount of shells (food leftovers) have been discovered in the harbour of Neapolis from the 1st c. AD to mid-5th c. AD; similarly, shells and casts of hazelnut were also discovered in sites buried by the AD 79 eruption in the Vesuvius surroundings (Jashemski, 1979; Meyer, 1988). One last problem deals with the deforestation occurred in Roman times. Several historians (Delano-Smith, 1979; Braudel, 1987) and ecologists (Quézel and Médail, 2003; Thirgood, 1981) suggest the hypothesis of a huge impact of humans over the Mediterranean woods in this period; while Meiggs (1982), and Grove and Rackham (2001) minimize the implication of wood exploitation on forest decrease. However, the debate about deforestation is still open (Hughes, 2010); our data encourage the idea of a certain stability of the forest cover in Campania throughout the Roman period and Late Antiquity until the 5th c. AD. 5.2. The cultivated landscape P. pinea is a forest tree, but in Italy it is part of the cultivated landscape. It was introduced and widely cultivated for ornamental purposes (Meiggs, 1982) and for its edible seeds (Kislev, 1988; Quézel and Médail, 2003) and its cultivation is traditionally ascribed to the Etruscan civilisation (Quézel and Médail, 2003). Pinewood remains have been found in a small percentage in a collapsed roof in site A. This is in agreement with its mechanical properties. The pinewood is in fact light and elastic, and the trunk straightness, with few branches in its lower part, are good qualities for timber use (Nardi Berti, 2006). This wood was also recovered among the charcoal remains of a fireplace at site A (Table 1) and in the bath complex in site B (Table 1); consequently, to be used as fuel, pinewood should have been easily available near the sites. Stone pine macroremains are commonly attested in the Vesuvius area in the 1stc. AD (De Fiore, 1916; Meyer, 1988; Ciaraldi, 2000; Jashemski et al., 2002; Robinson, 2002). Pinecones and scales are the most frequent fruit in the Neapolis’ harbour sediments (1st c. BCe 5th c. AD) testifying also its trade and the wide use of this fruit. Here, the use of pine timber was also documented in three shipwrecks (Allevato et al., 2010). Olive and walnut were cultivated on the North slope of Mt. Vesuvius, as clearly attested by the wood remains in several SU (Table 1). O. europaea is the most abundant tree after the chestnut, up to 60% in site A (Table 1), where it is frequently associated with olive stones. Olive charcoals were also found in four out of six SU in site B, with percentages around the 20%. If the presence of olive stones exclusively testifies its alimentary use, the abundance of wood in both sites testifies the olive growing in the area. Furthermore, part of the olive charcoal remains in the site B fireplaces belong to small branches, and can be interpreted as pruning residues used as fuel. The selection and cultivation of the olive tree is well documented in the Roman period by several historical sources (i.e. Pliny the Elder in the 1st c. AD lists several varieties of olives for many different uses). Olive macroremains (leaves, fruits, and stones) are frequently attested from the 2nd c. BC (Robinson, 2002) to the 1st c. AD at Herculaneum, Oplontis, and Pompeii (Meyer, 1988). The use of pruned olive branch for weaving a fish pot and the presence of some varieties of olives were recently documented at Pompeii (1st cent. AD, Di Pasquale et al., in press). Pollen data from the Salerno gulf (50 km South of Naples), show that massive Olea cultivation starts in Campania region, only in the Middle Ages (Russo Ermolli and Di Pasquale, 2002). Furthermore, the arrival of large quantities of oil from northern Africa (Savino, 2005; Arthur, 1985; 1994) suggests that olive stands were probably little sized and were used mainly for the production of table olives. The highly fertile Vesuvius area, due to the volcanic nature of the soils, was mainly used to cultivate crops with higher incomes. Archaeobotanical evidence for J. regia generally consists in macroremains, thus this tree had been commonly considered by scholars for fruit production (Zohary and Hopf, 2000). In Pompeii walnut remains are attested also as offerings to the gods and for medicinal preparation (Meyer, 1988; Ciaraldi, 2000; Robinson, 2002). However, in sites A and B (Table 1) the contemporary presence of fruit remains (unpublished data) and charcoals suggests that this tree was cultivated for both food and wood and that it was present in the landscape in the 5th c. AD. E. Allevato et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 39 (2012) 399e406 Walnut is also attested in Herculaneum as timber for furniture (Mols, 2002) and in Neapolis for naval construction (Allevato et al., 2009, 2010). Furthermore, pollen data from Pontecagnano (40 km South of our sites) clearly show that walnut was cultivated since the 3rd c. BC (Amato et al., 2009). Also in this case, the archaeological and the radiocarbon dates clearly demonstrated the presence of this tree in the North slope of Vesuvius until mid-5th c. AD. At site B, several kinds of rosaceae were found, but the anatomical features of this family are very homogeneous, making hard to identify them to species level. Then, species belonging to this group could be ascribed to both the wild landscape and to the orchards. Some charcoals of F. carica were detected at site B where it was probably present as scattered trees of the agrarian landscape. 5.3. Vineyards and wine production: chemical and archaeobotanical data It is well known that Ancient Rome played an essential role in the history of wine. In Campania, the major archaeological studies on wine-making in the Roman period mostly rely on the evidence coming from the Ager Pompeianus, where several vineyards and wineries have been unearthed (i.e. Jashemski, 1979; 2002; De Caro, 1994). Archaeological data from Naples reveal that after the AD 79 eruption, wine production and exports decreased abruptly (Arthur, 1991, 2002). In the 3rd c. AD, the wine produced in Campania was still exported to the Roman legions in Britannia and to the western borders of the Empire (Arthur and Williams, 1992). In the 4th c. AD the wine production in the region was probably enough for local consumption and to fulfil the payment of taxes in nature to Rome (annona), while high quality wine was exported to Eastern provinces and, in lower quantities, to Rome (Savino, 2005 and references therein). In general, the Ager Falernus, the Phlegraean Fields, and the surroundings of Vesuvius were still valuable wine regions of Campania in the 4th c. AD (Savino, 2005). The data coming from sites A and B provide new evidence and shed new light on the vineyard cultivation and wine production in the Vesuvius area in Late Antiquity. Charcoals of Vitis vinifera were in fact identified among the firewoods in site B up to 20%, and few pips were found in both sites, suggesting the cultivation of vitis in the surrounding area. Moreover, the archaeological evidence in site A (dolia and vats) shows that wine was produced on an industrial scale at least until AD 450, as 17 dolia were unearthed until now and probably many more are still under the debris of the Vesuvius eruption (Aoyagi et al., 2010). The chemical analyses of the residues allow confirming that the installation found in site A was devoted to the production of wine on analytical base. Wine residues were in fact identified in the sample of the coating of the dolium. Although no trace of the content were identified in the East and North vats, these were linked to each other and to the dolia, suggesting their use for wine production shown by their typical arrangement for such use. On the other hand, the identification of wine markers in West vat suggests a similar use, even if any structural connection to the dolia seems to be lacking. In general, the large-scale production of wine at site A agrees with the historical frame and indicates that in the 5th c. AD the Roman cultural landscape in this area of Campania was not lost yet. 6. Conclusion The integrated combination of archaeobotanical and archaeometric analyses (radiocarbon dating and chemical analysis of organic residues) proved to be a powerful approach to create a new interpretative framework for the study of past landscapes. 405 More than just dates, 14C analyses helped to trace and explain the use of wood, the chemical analyses of residues confirmed that wine was produced in site A, and the charcoal analysis provided a good insight of a marked cultural landscape. On the whole, the provided data, attest the presence of a stable chestnut high forest used for wood exploitation and of a remarkable agrarian landscape, characterised by large vineyards, valuable cultivation of walnut, little sized olive grows for fruit production, and orchards. This landscape agrees with what emerges from written sources suggesting that, in the 4th c. AD, the Campania region was capable to fulfil the annona with several kinds of foodstuffs (Savino, 2005). 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