Botanical Evidence Research Articles

Anthracological analysis of wooden shaft remains from the Roman‐period sacrificial lake of Nidajno, Czaszkowo 1 site, north‐eastern Poland

AbstractHere, we report on an archaeobotanical study of charred wood remains from eight iron spearhead sockets from a sacrificial aquatic site at Nidajno/Czaszkowo 1, Mazurian Lakeland, NE Poland (c. second–fifth c. CE), in search of botanical evidence for the selection of wood for manufacture of wooden shafts used with iron spearheads. The samples were analysed using a Nicon Eclipse ME600 metallographic microscope. The results show significant botanical data for Fraxinus excelsior L. and Tillia sp.The results of this research illustrate the material standard of the finds from a unique sacrificial site of the Scandinavian ‘sacrificial bog’ type, such as the sacrificial site at Nidajno/Czaszkowo 1—one of the most scientifically prospective in the entire zone of the North European Barbaricum. They also reveal a clear preference in the way spears and javelins were made, linked to the use of ash wood for this purpose. This choice is rational, justified by the technological and operational properties of this type of wood, but it also has connotations from the world of symbolic religious imagery.

Glucosinolates in non-Brassicales plant species: Critical literature evaluation and testing of two high chemical quality reports

Glucosinolates (GSLs) are secondary metabolites mainly found in the plant order Brassicales. We critically evaluate reports of GSLs in other orders of flowering plants, propose standards for future reports and subject two cases to rigorous testing. Reports of GSLs in non-Brassicales species should live up to state-of-the-art scientific standards concerning chemical evidence, botanical evidence and biological replication. Occurrence of GSLs in the family Putranjivaceae, order Malpighiales (genera Putranjiva and Drypetes) was reasonably supported, but state-of-the-art confirmation was required. Hence, the taxonomic identity of Putranjiva roxbughii seeds with the previously known GSL profile was confirmed using DNA-based methods. Similarly, good suggestive evidence exist from the family Violaceae, order Malpighiales, but in need of confirmation. No other report of any GSL in a non-Brassicales species meet the proposed scientific standards, but suggestive evidence exists for the family Phytolaccaceae, order Caryophyllales and to a lesser extent family Celastraceae, order Celastrales. A recent report of a GSL in a tropical plant suggested to be a species in the order Sapindales was subjected to a rigorous testing in terms of chemical analysis, biological replication and botanical identification including DNA sequencing. We confirmed the original report concerning chemical structure and reproducibility but revised the botanical identification to a species from the Brassicales order (family Capparidaceae). Hence this paper also reports myrosinase activity, isothiocyanate-type GSL products from roots and stems, and GSL profile of roots, stems, leaves and fruits of Capparis sepiaria L., dominated by Leu-derived 2-methylpropyl GSL in vegetative parts, Val-derived 1-methylethyl GSL and Ile-derived 1-methylpropyl GSL in fruits, and additionally Trp-derived indol-3-ylmethyl GSL and 4-hydroxyindol-3-ylmethyl GSL in immature fruits. Several other GSLs were searched for and conclusively not found above the limit of detection.

Everyday Life in the Tropics

Swedish emigration to the US during the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century is well documented by historians and statisticians, but this is not the case with Swedish emigration to Cuba, which is largely unknown. This article introduces the project Everyday Life in the Tropics: The “Forgotten” Swedish Immigrant Colony in Bayate, Cuba and the results of its initial fieldwork at the former colony of Bayate and its surroundings in November 2022. The objective of this work was to initiate documentation of the material remains of the Bayate colony, which flourished from 1905 to 1920 and was finally dissolved in the 1930s, through a survey of the remains of buildings and other structures and investigating the extent and nature of these for future research. It is stressed that the areas inside and outside the nucleus of the colony hold huge potential for further archaeological investigations/excavations, and for studying the social and material aspects of the everyday life of the colonists, through the combination of historical, archaeological, anthropological and botanical evidence. It is also possible to focus on the colonists’ construction of identities due to their cross-cultural interactions with Cuban society, and on how these eventually led to social and material continuity or change.

Discrimination of Camellia cultivars using iD-NA analysis

Recently, many new cultivars have been taken abroad illegally, which is now considered an international issue. Botanical evidence found at a crime scene provides valuable information about the origin of the sample. However, botanical resources for forensic evidence remain underutilized because molecular markers, such as microsatellites, are not available without a limited set of species. Multiplexed intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) genotyping by sequencing (MIG-seq) and its analysis method, identification of not applicable (iD-NA), have been used to determine several genome-wide genetic markers, making them applicable to all plant species, including those with limited available genetic information. Camellia cultivars are popular worldwide and are often planted in many gardens and bred to make new cultivars. In this study, we aimed to analyze Camellia cultivars/species through MIG-seq. MIG-seq could discriminate similar samples, such as bud mutants and closely related samples that could not be distinguished based on morphological features. This discrimination was consistent with that of a previous study that classified cultivars based on short tandem repeat (STR) markers, indicating that MIG-seq has the same or higher discrimination ability as STR markers. Furthermore, we observed unknown phylogenetic relationships. Because MIG-seq can be applied to unlimited species and low-quality DNA, it may be useful in various scientific fields.

The wild Scots Pines (Pinus sylvestris) of Kielderhead

In the British Isles, Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is currently considered to be native only in the Scottish Highlands. Once widespread throughout the archipelago, the species is thought to have declined to extinction outside the Scottish Highlands c.4500 cal BP, and c.1550 cal BP in Ireland. However, there have been discussions about whether some naturally occurring populations may have persisted outside the Highlands into modern times, and potentially may still be alive today. One such population is the enigmatic “Kielderhead Pines” in a remote valley just on the English side of the Scottish border at the heart of the c.60,000 ha Kielder Forest in Northumberland. Debate about the origins of this small population of apparently wild living pines has been ongoing since the 1950s, which has inspired the creation of the “Kielderhead Wildwood” to support its conservation and restoration. We outline the status, significance and the state-of-play in 2023 of our understanding of the origin of these trees, summarising research on the age of the trees, bioclimatic studies, possible botanical evidence of flora and lichen species typical of the Scottish pinewoods and genetics. We conclude that the explanation for the occurrence of the Kielderhead Pines - that they are locally native - remains a possibility, but we recognise and recommend that further research is required. We summarise the conservation efforts that have taken place to secure the pines within a landscape of restored, wild native upland woodland and mires i.e. re-creation of a Northumbrian equivalent of the Caledonian Forest. We also reflect on how the Kielderhead Pines support the case for greater consideration of the restoration of W18 pine woodland vegetation in appropriate locations outside the Scottish Highlands. We conclude by reflecting that one day these few pines, discovered in an isolated valley in Kielder Forest in the 1950s, may be seen as the start of something much bigger in the uplands of northern England, southern Scotland and beyond.

250 years of flood frequency and discharge in an ungauged Corsican mountain catchment: A dendrogeomorphic reconstruction

The primary goal of paleoflood hydrology is to estimate the frequency and magnitude of past floods. Botanical evidence, and particularly scars on trees, has been used repeatedly as paleostage indicators to reconstruct peak discharges and flood height. Yet, these reconstructions depend on the presence of visible scars on tree stems which tend to be masked as trees grow older. Here, we estimated flood magnitude using an alternative approach based on growth disturbances in tree-ring series, tree positions and the minimal discharge necessary to submerge the root collar of a tree as estimated by hydraulic modeling. We tested the reliability of this newly developed approach by using the traditional scar-based reconstruction as a benchmark. To this end, we sampled 60 trees showing evidence of flood damage on their stems along a 787-m long segment of the Asco river (Corsica, France). Based on 440 growth disturbances dated in tree-ring series, we reconstructed 28 floods between 1759 and 2020 and 18 during the 20th century. Using the two-dimensional Iber hydraulic model and detailed topographic data of the study site obtained from UAV imagery, we estimated that peak discharges of the 28 reconstructed events ranged between 10 and 210 m3s−1, with 200 m3s−1 being considered as the threshold for extreme floods. Not only do the scar-based and root collar submersion approaches yield similar results, findings are also clearly in line with the sparse information available from historical archives and short gauge station records on past floods. The unprecedented length and depth of the record presented here opens new avenues for climate change and flood impact research.

Paleoparasitological and Archaeobotanical Studies of Fecal Remains from the Argentine Puna (Pueblo Viejo de Tucute archaeological site, province of Jujuy, 11th to 15th centuries)

ABSTRACT Paleoparasitological and archaeobotanical studies provide useful information to reconstruct past scenarios where humans and animals inhabited. However, multi-proxy studies including these research lines are scarce. Here we applied paleoparasitological and archaeobotanical techniques to study a carnivore coprolite and a dung ball from Pueblo Viejo de Tucute archaeological site, in the Argentine Puna. Among parasites, Physaloptera sp., acantocephalan, and ascaridid-like eggs were identified, which shed light on potential parasitic infections and their possible implications for human health. Regarding the botanical evidence, morphotypes related to wild – Prosopis sp. and Geoffroea decorticans – and cultivated plants -Solanum tuberosum and Zea mays- were identified. In addition, pollen grains corresponding to the Amaranthaceae-Chenopodiaceae complex, the families Asteraceae, Myrtaceae and Poaceae, and the genera Taraxacum, Atriplex and Nototriche were found. Also, six diatom genera: Denticula, Pinnularia, Encyonema, Cocconeis, Surirella and Rhoicosphenia were identified. These botanical results suggest that the animals were living with humans or wandering around the settlements, which reinforce the hypothesis of possible zoonotic infections. This is the first ancient dung ball analyzed for this kind of study, proving to be a valuable source of information. Altogether, the results provide novel data to reconstruct paleoecological conditions of the region, which complement the available archaeological information.

Cultivation as a conservation tool for cacti: review of the botanical evidence and a case study of Lophophora williamsii

In this article we review the literature, with a focus on cacti, about the role of cultivation in conservation. We examine in detail the case study of Lophophora williamsii, the peyote cactus, and present arguments that cultivation is not only a necessary conservation strategy for this particular species but is likely the only viable alternative for long-term survival of this cactus in the wild. Concerns about cultivation, as well as recommendations and conservation implications are also discussed.

Evaluating the success of upland hay meadow restoration in the North Pennines, United Kingdom, using green hay transfer

Abstract Traditionally managed mesotrophic species‐rich upland hay meadows conforming to the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) MG3b are one of the rarest grassland types in the United Kingdom, with substantial declines in botanical diversity over the last 50 years. Intensive spring grazing, earlier cut dates and increases in soil fertility cause a decline in characteristic positive indicator species in MG3b meadows, shifting communities from species‐rich MG3b, to NVC MG6 meadows, and finally to species‐poor NVC MG7 meadows. The North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership's Hay Time project aimed to improve the knowledge of upland hay meadows, and to investigate the success of seed addition of key positive indicator species. A landscape‐scale restoration programme was undertaken between 2006 and 2012, harvesting seed from 82 species‐rich donor meadows and spreading seed onto 89 receptor meadows (222.82 ha). Seed was harvested as green hay, using two types of donors: MG6 (classed as restoration, with species such as Rhinanthus minor) and MG3b (classed as enhancement, with species such as Geranium sylvaticum). All 89 meadows were monitored, with a baseline botanical survey and a repeat survey 3–5 years after seed addition. In addition, 41 meadows that did not have seed addition were monitored (controls). Species richness, diversity and floristic composition improved in 77 meadows 3–5 years after seed addition. Eighteen plant species had an increase in frequency in the receptor meadows but did not increase in frequency in the control meadows. The most successful were eight positive indicators which were annuals or fast‐growing perennial plants (Anthoxanthum odoratum, Euphrasia spp., Myosotis discolor, Plantago lanceolata, Ranunculus acris, R minor, Trifolium dubium and Trifolium pratense). However, rarer characteristic MG3b plants such as Alchemilla spp., G. sylvaticum and Cirsium heterophyllum showed little signs of establishing. Botanical evidence is demonstrating that seed addition using green hay is a successful way of restoring meadows to an MG6 community. What is now needed is an effective method to establish characteristic MG3b plants. Hand‐collecting seeds and establishing plug plants, alongside seed addition and maintaining traditional management practises, is one possible way forward.

Long-term lahar reconstruction in Jamapa Gorge, Pico de Orizaba (Mexico) based on botanical evidence and numerical modelling

Long-term lahar reconstruction in Jamapa Gorge, Pico de Orizaba (Mexico) based on botanical evidence and numerical modelling

Cuisine at the Crossroads

Investigations at sites across northwestern Honduras—inside and outside the Maya area—have revealed diverse food activities and ingredients. Paralleling the evidence from durable artifact assemblages, we see transformation over time in materials and practices, as well as the movement of elements across the landscape. Botanical evidence points toward a dynamic overlap between northern and southern societies, with northwestern Honduras serving as a sort of regional crossroads. In this article, we compare cuisines from several ancient communities in northwestern Honduras, using microbotanical and macrobotanical residues. We briefly address the political and historic context of the region and provide abridged biographies of several culinary taxa. Of particular interest are milpa annual crops such as maize and squash, managed and cultivated palm species, wild and managed herbaceous species, edible fruit species, and root and tuberous crops such aslerén, sweet potato, and manioc.

The Farming Economy in South and Central Sweden during the Bronze Age - A Study Based on Carbonised Botanical Evidence

The article provides a survey of carbonised seed finds in south and central Sweden which can be attributed to the Swedish Bronze Age, 1800—500 B.C. This period must be considered one of the most dynamic with regard to prehistoric agriculture. The material has been collected at prehistoric dwelling sites and largely consists of household refuse. During the Early Bronze Age agriculture was based on speltoid wheat's and naked barley. Around 1000 B.C. the speltoid wheats and the naked barley decline strongly, while hulled barley takes over as the most important crop. This shift in the choice of crop indicates the introduction of agricultural fertilization and systems with permanent, manured fields.

Microbiomes in forensic botany: a review.

Fragments of botanical material can often be found at crime scenes (on live and dead bodies, or on incriminating objects) and can provide circumstantial evidence on various aspects of forensic investigations such as determining crime scene locations, times of death or possession of illegal species. Morphological and genetic analysis are the most commonly applied methods to analyze plant fragment evidence but are limited by their low capacity to differentiate between potential source locations, especially at local scales. Here, we review the current applications and limitations of current plant fragment analysis for forensic investigations and introduce the potential of microbiome analysis to complement the existing forensic plant fragment analysis toolkit. The potential for plant fragment provenance identification at geographic scales meaningful to forensic investigations warrants further investigation of the phyllosphere microbiome in this context. To that end we identify three key areas of future research: 1) Retrieval of microbial DNA of sufficient quality and quantity from botanical material; 2) Variability of the phyllosphere microbiome at different taxonomic and spatial scales, with explicit reference to assignment capacity; 3) Impacts on assignment capacity of time, seasonality and movement of fragments between locations. The development of robust microbiome analysis tools for forensic purposes in botanical material could increase the evidentiary value of the botanical evidence commonly encountered in casework, aiding in the identification of crime scene locations.

Agricultural subsistence, land use and long-distance mobility within the Early Bronze Age southern Levant: Archaeobotanical evidence from the urban site of Tell eṣ-Ṣâfī/Gath

The ongoing discussion on the nature of the organization of Early Bronze Age settlements and their social structure in an intensely settled part of the southern Levant (independent 'city-states' vs 'neither cities nor states') calls for data on which to base our understanding of shared economic patterns and regional connections. Here, we report the results of our macrobotanical investigation of the Early Bronze Age III (2,680–2,600 cal BCE) levels at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfī/Gath, a large fortified settlement in central Canaan. A dense residential neighborhood was sampled at high resolution for a multi-faceted analysis of plant use in order to address its economic strategies and regional relationships. The resulting rich and diverse plant assemblage enables reconstruction of the diversity of agriculture, fuel sources, land use practices, mobility, and connectivity. Results of the study provide, for the first time, direct botanical evidence for the structural patterns of an intensive localized agro-pastoral economy and enable comparative analysis of the regional diet. Moreover, the results shed light on rare yet continuous long-distance plant dispersal and human mobility across biogeographical boundaries within the southern Levant.

Palm Trees and Palm Branches in Graeco-Roman Iconography

When Vespasian captured Jerusalem in 70 AD, he put a palm tree on some of his victory coins. Is this palm tree a symbol for victory or rather for the subdued Jews? This controversial question can be clearly answered by making an iconographical distinction between palm trees and palm branches. This article discusses especially numismatic, but also philological, literary, pictorial, and botanical evidence, to defend that only the branches and wreaths of palms were used as symbols for victory, whereas the entire palm tree stood for Phoenicia or Judaea.

Common and much less common scenarios in which botany is crucial for forensic pathologist and anthropologists: a series of eight case studies

It is commonly accepted that crime scene recovery and recording are key moments of any judicial inspection in which investigators must decide on the correct strategies to put into place. Complex outdoor scenarios, presenting partially or entirely skeletonised remains, can benefit more than others by the intervention of environmental specialists (forensic anthropologists, archaeologists, entomologists and botanists). These experts are capable of singling out, correctly recording and recovering environmental evidence that can lead to a more comprehensive reconstruction of a given criminal episode. If human remains are discovered in an outdoor scenario, the on-site presence of a botanist will guarantee a correct approach to the identification, recording and recovery of any botanical evidence. If an on-site botanist is not available, the operators must be capable of both the botanical evaluation of a scene and the implementation of correct botanical sampling protocols.The following collection of unusual case histories that aim at underlining the efficacy of forensic botany will examine the determination of post mortem or the post depositional interval, evidence for a victim’s post mortem transfer, evidence for the identification of a primary crime scene and evidence for the identification of a victim’s dismemberment site. In another two cases, one, we will illustrate the important role that forensic botany played in the discrimination between botanical material used to voluntarily conceal a victim and vegetation that had grown naturally above a disposal site, whereas the other will highlight the protocols implemented for the identification of a murder weapon.

Wine consumption in Bronze Age Italy: combining organic residue analysis, botanical data and ceramic variability

The early consumption of wine or other grape derivatives (such as vinegar or must) is suggested from organic residues analysis conducted on Bronze Age pottery recovered from two sites in north-eastern Italy, Pilastri di Bondeno (Ferrara) and Canale Anfora (Aquileia, Udine). Pilastri is part of the Terramare culture of the Po plain, from which the archaeobotanical context has suggested that Vitis vinifera L. was known and used during the Middle Bronze Age. At Canale Anfora Vitis, macro-remains were found in earlier levels of the local stratigraphy. Organic residue analysis conducted by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry allowed the identification of tartaric acid in twenty samples out of thirty-one recovered from different ceramic vessels (e.g., drinking cups, coarse ware pots, presumed storage vessels) found at the two archaeological sites and dated to the 15th-14th centuries BC. Based on integrated studies, we suggest that grape juice derivatives (including wine or vinegar) were likely consumed at the sites. This is the earliest direct evidence of grape derivatives consumption in this area. Combined with the botanical evidence, these findings contribute to our understanding of the emergence of wine consumption in the western Mediterranean.

Validating earliest rice farming in the Indonesian Archipelago

Preserved ancient botanical evidence in the form of rice phytoliths has confirmed that people farmed domesticated rice (Oryza sativa) in the interior of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, by at least 3,500 years ago. This discovery helps to resolve a mystery about one of the region’s major events in natural and cultural history, by documenting when rice farming spread into Indonesia, ultimately from a source in mainland China. At the Minanga Sipakko site in Sulawesi, preserved leaf and husk phytoliths of rice show the diagnostic morphology of domesticated varieties, and the discarded husks indicate on-site processing of the crops. The phytoliths were contained within an undisturbed, subsurface archaeological layer of red-slipped pottery, a marker for an evidently sudden cultural change in the region that multiple radiocarbon results extend back to 3,500 years ago. The results from Minanga Sipakko allow factual evaluation of previously untested hypotheses about the timing, geographic pattern, and cultural context of the spread of rice farming into Indonesia, as well as the contribution of external immigrants in this process.

An application-oriented protocol for flood frequency analysis based on botanical evidence

Flood risk assessment and management typically rely on flood frequency analysis (FFA), such that planning and countermeasures can be designed based on the discharge that has to be expected at a given location for a given return period. In mountain streams, systematic flow time series are often very short or completely missing, which significantly reduces the reliability of FFA. In fast-flowing mountain streams, the inclusion of non-systematic data obtained from botanical evidence (BE) is seen as an optimal alternative to extend systematic data back in time. However, no comprehensive protocol has been defined so far to tackle FFA using BE. On the basis of recent case studies, we present here an application-oriented protocol with guidelines on how to combine systematic and non-systematic data in FFA containing BE. This study is based on work realized in different mountain streams located in Spain, Poland and India, representing quite diverse physiographic characteristics and differing hydrological regimes. We organize the protocol along the different steps that are typically realized in BE-based FFA: i) dating of floods from BE; ii) estimation of flood flows from paleostage indicators (PSI) and hydrodynamic modelling; as well as iii) FFA using the expected moments algorithm (EMA). The ubiquity of trees growing along (mountain) streams, their longevity and the often large number of flood-affected trees makes them an almost unbeatable data source that can be employed readily and with reasonable efforts to improve the reliability of FFA, especially in data-scarce regions. In addition, the EMA represents a highly efficient tool for the collection of information contained in BE as it can be used with interval, censored and binomial-censored data and on any distributional family that can be operated with the method of moments. Accordingly, we call for more work incorporating BE into FFA in mountain streams, such that flood hazard and risk assessment can be undertaken more robustly and, therefore, more effective risk mitigation measures can be envisaged.

Gathered fruits as grave goods? Cornelian cherry remains from a Mesolithic grave at the site of Vlasac, Danube Gorges, south-east Europe

Establishing the use and purpose of wild plant remains recovered from archaeological layers is in many cases far from straightforward. When discovered in a mortuary context, they are generally interpreted as remnants of ritual eating or drinking, offerings to the dead, or mnemonics, if not as accidental inclusions in the grave fills. In the Mesolithic cremation graves at the site of Vlasac in the Danube Gorges, south-east Europe, Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.) fruit stones were discovered; in one case, their number was relatively high. Whereas the fruit stones could simply be regarded as contamination in the burial fill, this study investigates an alternative possibility – that the cherries, or just fruit stones, represented an element of the Mesolithic funerary ritual at Vlasac. The archaeological context in which this plant material was discovered is taken as fundamental to the understanding of taphonomy of the botanical evidence and so it was considered in detail. Examination of the relevant morphological properties and the experimental charring of modern Cornelian cherry fruit and fruit stones enabled reconstruction of the conditions and state in which the fruit stones burned. The results suggest that Cornelian cherry fruit could have had a symbolic role in the complex funerary ritual performed by the Mesolithic community, a role that was meant to ensure the memory of, and a link with, the deceased. This adds to the current understanding of multiple potential uses of wild plants in the past and, excitingly, points to their role in mortuary practices as early as the Mesolithic.