ABSTRACT A small-scale excavation of the Roman period site St. Petkina Niva in North Macedonia revealed several storage vessels. One of the vessels was placed in situ, with the inner surface coated with a black matter. The soil samples from the excavated contexts exhibited an abundance of organic material, including charred archaeobotanical macroremains, charcoal, animal bones and molluscs. In addition to other plants and seeds, grapevine charcoal fragments and pips have been identified. Geometric morphometric analysis of the grape pips showed that most of them came from domesticated vines. Chemical residue analysis identified the black matter from the storage vessel as pine tar, in antiquity used as a natural antiseptic and a content preservative, often in association with wine containers. Our combined results thus indicate vine cultivation and local wine production. Two of the grapevine seeds yielded identical 14C data, narrowing the chronology to the second half of the 3rd – end of the 4th century AD. Additionally, the analysis of anthracological and malacological remains showed a diverse composition of vegetation around the site during the Roman period, dominated by plane tree and other tree species of orchards, combined with a steppe environment, influenced by human activities.

ABSTRACT Long-term vegetation recordscan inform woodland creation and mire management. We present two dated pollen recordsfrom Alston Moor, UK, to investigate long-term vegetation change and itsrelationship with human activity. Core AM2 provides a predominantly extra-localpollen signal, core AM3 contains a regional signal. During the Neolithic andBronze Age, the area was largely wooded. Short-term, small-scale reductions intree cover may be anthropogenic or climate-induced. Clearance starts in theLate Iron Age and intensifies in the Roman period, with pollen and dung fungalspores indicating significant impact from animal husbandry, and evidence forcereal cultivation. Woodland regeneration took place from the late fifth untilthe fifteenth century, with evidence for continued human impact on thevegetation from pastoral agriculture. The area was cleared in the Modernperiod. The treeline remained above 405 m AOD for most of the area’s history.Although heather was long established on the highest part of the moor, theincreased importance of grasses goes back only a few centuries, creating anovel landscape appearance. Most of the vegetation history of the region wascharacterised by more extensive tree cover, especially on the lower slopes.Tree planting initiatives could contribute to the restoration of ecologicalcomplexity..

ABSTRACT This palaeoenvironmental investigation into prehistoric landscape change was set in the Preseli region of Pembrokeshire, west Wales from where Stonehenge’s bluestones originate. It aimed to investigate whether the movement of bluestones to Stonehenge, considered to have formed Stonehenge’s first stage c. 3000 BC, was accompanied by an out-migration of people, leaving the Preseli region largely uninhabited in succeeding centuries until c. 2200 BC. Potentially, this might be reflected in the palaeoecological record by a reduction in anthropogenic land-use indicators. Detailed analyses that involved pollen, macrofossil, non-pollen palynomorph (NPP), loss-on-ignition (LOI550) and stratigraphical investigations of multiple core sequences from heathland on the slopes of the Preseli Hills, in combination with archaeological spot samples from five prehistoric sites in the locality, were undertaken. This multi-core and multi-site approach has allowed for an interpretation of local environmental change from the Early Holocene to the Late Bronze Age. An insight into human population dynamics has been gained in an area where palaeoecological investigations have traditionally been hampered by a lack of deep peat sequences. The Mesolithic and Neolithic were largely dominated by woodland species while increases in pastoral indicators began during the Early – Middle Neolithic contemporary with activity at important bluestone sites. Significant expansion of pastoral and arable farming did not occur until the Late Bronze Age. However, despite a scarcity of archaeological remains from c. 3000–2200 BC, the presence of cereal pollen during this interval hints at a continued human presence in the landscape after the transportation of the bluestones.

ABSTRACT Insect remains can provide unique insights into past environments, yet their preservation and post-depositional alterations – particularly chromatic changes – remain poorly understood. Recent excavations along the French Atlantic coastline uncovered numerous archaeological structures dating from the Neolithic to Late Antiquity. Archaeoentomological samples collected from these structures reveal significant variations in the preserved insect remains. The frequency of morphological alterations, degree of fragmentation, and quantity of subfossil insects recovered vary between samples, influenced by the type of archaeological structure, the embedding substrate, the storage methods, and the taxa considered. Chromatic alterations, visible to the naked eye, appeared more uniform. This pilot study initially aimed to determine whether fibre-optic reflectance spectroscopy could detect original colouration no longer visible to the naked eye, by comparing archaeological specimens with modern reference material. Spectral analyses showed colour differences correspond to taphonomic alterations rather than hidden original hues. By documenting these changes and assessing spectroscopy’s applicability to archaeoentomological material, this study establishes a methodological baseline and reference dataset, opening new avenues for insect taphonomy research and improving palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.

ABSTRACT Early animal husbandry emerged in the Fertile Crescent during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (10th–9th millennium BCE) and spread rapidly across Southwest Asia, albeit with regional variation. In the Southern Caucasus, evidence for neolithisation appears only in the early 6th millennium BCE, 2,000–3,000 years later. The sudden appearance of Neolithic settlements in this region is often linked to the migration of people with domesticated plants and animals. Understanding how these agropastoralists adapted subsistence strategies to novel environments offers valuable insight into the ecological flexibility of Neolithic communities. Here, we use sequential stable carbon (δ¹³C) and oxygen (δ¹⁸O) isotope values measured in sheep tooth enamel from Gadachrili Gora (ca. 5900–5400 cal BCE), a Late Neolithic settlement in southern Georgia, to reconstruct herding practices and assess how livestock management was adapted to local conditions. The results support a model of year-round lowland pasturing in a humid, cultivated river valley dominated by C₃ vegetation. Moderate δ¹⁸O amplitudes (mean = 3.5‰) reflect predictable seasonal variation in temperature and precipitation, consistent with grazing in the alluvial plain. Relatively low δ¹³C amplitudes (mean = 1.7‰) suggest continuous access to well-watered forage, with possible seasonal movement between local woodlands in summer and meadows or fallow fields in winter. Patterns of covariation between δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O varied among individuals, but most showed positive or indeterminate trends, supporting year-round lowland grazing rather than seasonal vertical transhumance. Together, these findings add to evidence of Neolithic livestock strategies in the Southern Caucasus and provide insight into how agropastoralists adapted to environmental variability.

ABSTRACT We present the oldest mortar manufactured and used in Europe, a remarkable artifact recovered from the lower level of the prehistoric site of Martinarri (Treviño, northern Spain), dating to the end of the Upper Pleistocene. A multidisciplinary approach has been applied to study the tool, including analyses of use-wear, phytoliths, pollen, and charcoal. Ethnographic parallels and comparisons with other archaeological contexts have also been explored, suggesting that it was intensively used for processing vegetables, probably acorns, though other possibilities cannot be excluded. This study highlights that the consumption of wild plants was undoubtedly more prevalent in Late Palaeolithic Europe than previously recognised, largely due to a scarcity of direct evidence. The diet of the Martinarri community was supplemented by hunted game, as indicated by abundant faunal remains, and accompanied by other domestic activities such as leatherworking and flint knapping. As part of an overall strategy, the human community occupied Martinarri on numerous occasions, even preparing relatively complex structures, as well as a series of other geographically close deposits: the objective was the comprehensive exploitation of the region.

ABSTRACT Waterlogged preservation is rare in the Mediterranean, but when present, it enables the recovery of a particularly wide variety of plants. The Roman site of Guissona (Iesso, Catalonia, Spain) is one of the very few sites in the Iberian Peninsula with such conditions. This study focuses on waterlogged archaeobotanical material from four wells excavated at Guissona, dating from the mid-1st century BCE to the late 2nd/early 3rd century CE, and a few available dry samples. The spatial and temporal analysis of the material provided useful insights into the local environment and food plant practices across the site. The assemblage included a wide variety of wild plants that allowed reconstruction of the site's natural environment, while their potential involvement in everyday life was explored. The study also identified a wide range of food crops, many of which were Roman imports, reflecting trade links. Notably, seeds of bottle gourd, rye, and coriander are among the earliest found in Spain. The rich assemblage finally sheds light on arboriculture, viticulture, and horticulture at the site. Ultimately, this study illuminates how people in this western province of the Roman empire engaged and intertwined in their everyday life the local environment within the broader, ‘global’ Roman world.

ABSTRACT Negative structures (pits), dated to the second half of the sixth millennium cal BC, have been documented at Lapiás das Lameiras (Sintra, Estremadura, Portugal), an open-air settlement in the Estremadura limestone area. Their sedimentary fill contains a large number of archaeological remains, of both biotic and abiotic origins. This paper presents the complete study of the invertebrates documented in these structures. Marine invertebrates living on a rocky substrate in the intertidal zone predominate: mainly molluscs (e.g. mussels), but also crustaceans (e.g. goose barnacles) are documented. Typical estuarine clams (e.g. Ruditapes decussatus) are less abundant. Gathering shellfish involved travelling to the coast, located today about 10 km from the site. Continental invertebrates are represented by land and fluvial molluscs. When compared with material from the Mesolithic period, the archaeofaunal study at Lameiras indicates continuity in the use of marine resources by the earliest Neolithic groups in the western Iberian Peninsula.

ABSTRACT This paper explores plant management practices at the tell-type settlement of Thessaloniki Toumba in northern Greece during the later Late Bronze Age. Sixty-two amalgamated samples, securely dated to settlement Phase 4, and systematically collected from three buildings (A, B, E) and adjacent streets (X2, X8) on the summit of the mound, were analysed. The results reveal a community deeply engaged in the production, storage, and processing of agricultural surpluses. Key crops include glume wheats (einkorn, emmer and Timopheev's wheat), barley, and broomcorn millet, complemented by pulses, fruits and oil-producing plants. The spatial distribution of ashy, plant-rich deposits - consisting largely of crop-processing by-products and dung-based fuel residues - suggests a flexible and dispersed approach to refuse management within the settlement. In conjunction with published crop and animal bone isotopic data, the archaeobotanical evidence points to a small-scale but intensive mixed farming system. Practices likely included crop rotation, manuring, irrigation and/or the use of naturally moist soils. Animal husbandry combined stalling with free grazing across diverse habitats, including post-harvest stubble fields. Overall, the study demonstrates how plant and surplus management were closely connected with broader socio-economic structures, contributing to community resilience and shaping inter-settlement dynamics during the later Late Bronze Age.

ABSTRACT Radiocarbon dating insects is difficult because insects are small, fragile, and rarely found in sufficient quantities. Interactions between the chitin in the insect body and sources of carbon contamination are less well understood than for collagen and cellulose-based organic materials such as bone and plant remains. Thus there is as yet no single radiocarbon pretreatment that reliably removes all contaminating carbon across all types of insect remains. Various studies have highlighted important information concerning the practicalities and applicability of different approaches to radiocarbon dating insect remains. However, there are no papers that synthesise findings across different studies. Here, we present a review of previous work alongside new data to investigate different chemical approaches to sample processing and long-term storage and their impact on the chemistry of samples and contaminants. This confirms the difficulty of removing contamination from older samples while retaining sufficient pretreated material for subsequent measurement. It also shows that Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy does not always provide sufficient resolution to detect carbon contamination from non-insect sources with confidence. Thus, insect samples that have been in contact with paraffin or stored in ethanol for an extended period of time should not be selected for radiocarbon dating.