Abstract
A new method to evaluate archaeological wetland sites in a more objective way was tested. Different wetland environments have been sampled in areas of a nature reserve and their macroremain content analysed to build a modern analogue dataset. This dataset was then used to characterise archaeological samples from a navigation channel from the Roman port city Lattara. In the modern analogue samples, the different wetland types (saline/brackish or fresh water) could be differentiated in the correspondence analysis. Within these groups, the sampled area of the littoral (submerged, shoreline, unsubmerged) could also be differentiated. This dataset can therefore provide a basis for the interpretation of the nature and degree of aquatic influence and layer formation processes in archaeobotanical records of coastal sites. In the tested archaeological samples from the navigation channel of Lattara, changes in space and time could be tracked using the modern analogue dataset and geoarchaeological information. The channel lost its fresh water supply and silted up over a short period of time (approx. 100 years).
Highlights
Wetlands have been an important focus of human activity since prehistory due to their wide range of valuable resources, e.g. resources such as food and water, easy transportation on boats, buffering of extreme weather conditions, diversity of habitats etc. [1, 2]
Densities of plant remains in general varied substantially between samples and reached a maximum of 7103 remains/litre to a minimum of 12.7 r/l, with an average of 1418.9 r/l per sample and a median of 532.7 r/l (Table 1). This large variation amongst the samples was most likely caused by the different nature of the sampling spots, no general links could be made between types of habitats and the density of plant remains
Aquatic and wetland plants made up the majority of plant remains, on average 80%
Summary
Wetlands have been an important focus of human activity since prehistory due to their wide range of valuable resources, e.g. resources such as food and water, easy transportation on boats, buffering of extreme weather conditions, diversity of habitats etc. [1, 2]. One thing remained constant: the changing water levels would leave traces in the archaeological sediments, which can be used to assess human responses to their changing surroundings. Interpreting and disentangling these traces remains a very difficult task as there is no modern analogue nor experimental data available [6, 7]. For micro-remains (pollen and phytoliths), studies of modern analogue data were generally more often integrated into archaeological interpretations than for macro-remains [22,23,24,25,26]. For micro-remains (pollen and phytoliths), studies of modern analogue data were generally more often integrated into archaeological interpretations than for macro-remains [22,23,24,25,26]. [27] compared modern analogue phytolith assemblages of different types of rice fields and carried out modern ethnographic studies in order to inform the interpretation of archaeological phytolith assemblages [28]
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