Archaeobotanical analysis from the long-term rural settlement of Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo): preliminary data

The project ¿Harvesting Memories: Ecology and Archaeology of Monti Sicani landscapes¿ aims to analyse the long-term relationship of landscape dynamics and settlement patterns in a Mediterranean inland of Central-Western Sicily. The project combined different interdisciplinary approaches of vegetation science, landscape ecology, history and archaeology in order to diachronically understand and reconstruct the human- society-environment interactions. From 2017 to 2019 a new rural settlement has been investigated in Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo). The excavation in Contrada Castro showed a clear case of long-term occupation of an hill-top site during Late Archaic/Classical age (6 th -5 th c. BC) and the Byzantine and Islamic period (7 th -11 th c. AD). Soils from the archaeological excavation were sampled to obtain evidences about paleo-vegetation and vegetal paleo-diet. Archaeobotanical data (seeds and charcoal remains) represent an informative source in human-environmental dynamics to collect specific data on a small scale in terms of chronology and topography (Hastorf, Popper 1988; Pearsall 2009). Furthermore, presence of edible plants as cereals, pulses and fruit characterize their use as economical resources. Unfortunately, archaeobotanical analyses from archaeological sites in Sicily are still not very common (see http://brainplants.successoterra.net/sites.html). For the reconstruction of the paleo-environment and the use of arboreal resources from the three chronological phases of the site, a total of 239 liters of soils were analysed. Taxonomical identification was made by optical microscopy through the comparison with the reference collection and specific atlases (fig.). More than 400 wood charcoals were observed, about 80% of them was identified. Thanks to comparisons with the current vegetation, so far 8 species have been identified - Quercus cfr. ilex (fig.), Pistacia cfr. terebinthus, Rhamnus alathernus, Fraxinus ornus, Ulmus canescens, Acer cfr. campestris, Ostrya carpinifolia, Populus cf. nigra; identification reached the detail of genus or subfamily in 6 cases - Quercus cf. robur / pubescens, Phillyrea sp., Sorbus sp., Rosacea cfr. Pirus sp. and maybe Moracea. The arboreal vegetation is therefore represented by evergreen oaks, semi- and deciduous oaks, maples, ash trees, associated with riparian species such as elm, poplar and hornbeam, and shrub species such as backthorn, terebinth, sorb, plum. Cultivated species are mostly not represented. Despite the widespread presence of the evergreen oaks in the whole record, differences between the three chronological phases were identified, highlighting a selective use of the wild species present in the area and a specific collection of wood for the hearths. 1) Hastorf C.A., Popper V.F.1988, Current Paleoethnobotany. Analytical Methods and Cultural Interpretations of Archaeological Plant Remains, Chicago. ISBN: 978022631893 2) Pearsall D. M. 2009, Paleoethnobotany: A Handbook of Procedures, Second Edition, Walnut Creek. ISBN-10: 1598744720 3) BRAIN Network, http://brainplants.successoterra.net/sites.htmlFinanciación: beca "Juan de la Cierva-incorporación, IJCI-2017-31494, MINECO), IJCI-2017-31494" y proyecto "Harvesting Memories" de la Universidad de Palermo (financiado por Bona Furtuna LLC)

Estimating "land use heritage" to model changes in archaeological settlement patterns

International audience; In this paper, we present a method to calculate a "land use heritage map" based on the concept of "memory of landscape". Such a map can be seen as one variable among others influencing site location preference, and can be used as input for predictive models. The computed values equate to an index of long-term land use intensity. We will first discuss the method used for creating the land use heritage map, for which kernel density estimates are used.We will then present the use of these land use heritage maps for site location analysis in two study areas in SE France. Earlier analyses showed that the influence of the natural environment on settlement location choice in the Roman period is limited. In contrast, land use heritage seems to have a stronger influence on the placement of new settlements. We will discuss the implications for predictive modelling of settlement patterns

Interpreting transformations of people and landscapes in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: archaeological approaches and issues. Edited by Pilar Diarte Blasco and Neil Christie. Oxford: Oxbow Books. 2018. 236 pp. ISBN 9781789250343

This volume presents the results of two conferences in 2016, one in Rome and the other in Leicester, which focused on possible interpretations of the changes that occurred in the western part of the Roman empire between the fourth and seventh centuries, especially in light of archaeological data.Financiación: beca Juan de la Cierva-incorporación, IJCI-2017-3149

Late Antique, Byzantine and Islamic rural settlement patterns in Sicily (4th-11th c. AD) - general overview and new data from the site of Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo)

The so-called "late antique agrarian system" characterized Sicily in an exemplary way that is readable in material evidence of the wealth of senatorial elite and its luxury villas but also in the development of large secondary agglomerations / villages along the main roads. This "golden age" of the possessores began to suffer profound changes already from the fifth century, a significant moment in which many villas ruined and started to be reused and reoccupied in different ways. Another important phase of Sicilian countryside dynamics is the Byzantine period, and in particular the thematic age from the late 7th century, which was characterized by more consistent phenomena of public power investments in the construction of castra in rural areas and the emergence of new types of sites (especially in Eastern Sicily). The archeology of the Islamic presence in Sicily has had noticeable progress in recent years allowing better delineation of settlement trends between the end of the 9th and the full of the 11th century, despite this the data on possible pre-Norman fortified sites they still remain rather uncertain, awaiting further research in the field. As case study of as early medieval settlement in the inland will be presented the ongoing project ¿Harvesting Memories¿ (University of Palermo) and excavation ("Soprintendenza BBCCAA of Palermo"), supported and funded by Bona Furtuna LLC, in Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo) in the Monti Sicani area in Central Western Sicily. The site, otherwise unknown from the written sources, has revealed an interesting sequence related to the re-occupation of a 6th 5th century BC building complex during the Early Middle Ages. At the current state of the research ¿ the most telling evidence for a new occupation of the site between the 7th -early 8th century is connected with the burial of two peri-natal individuals. From the second half of the 8th-9th century new buildings testify for a further development of this settlement. Lastly, between the 10th-11th century the complex undergoes a drastic reshaping and the entire settlement¿s topography changes significantly and all the rebuilt structures feature a new orientation. The archaeological evidence yielded so far illustrates well the informative potential of the site in order to understand and reconstruct the economic trends and human- environment interactions of an early medieval community in the countryside of Western Sicily

Les bains de Cefalà (Xe-XIXe siècle) : pratiques thermales d'origine islamique dans la Sicile médiévale / I bagni di Cefalà (secoli X-XIX) : pratiche termali d'origine islamica nella Sicilia medievale, by A. Bagnera and A. Nef (eds.)

Les bains de Cefalà (Xe–XIXe siècle) : pratiques thermales d’origine islamique dans la Sicile médiévale / I bagni di Cefalà (secoli X–XIX) : pratiche termali d’origine islamica nella Sicilia medievale, by A. Bagnera and A. Nef (eds.). Collection de l’École Française de Rome 538, Rome: École Française de Rome, 2018, 640pp., €90. ISBN-13: 9782728312504Financiación: beca "Juan de la Cierva-incorporación, IJCI-2017-3149

El impacto de las sociedades islámicas en ciudades y paisajes cambiantes entre los siglos VII y XI (África, Sicilia, al-Andalus)

Financiación: beca "Juan de la Cierva-incorporación, IJCI-2017-3149

Landscape trajectories and an Early Medieval settlement in Central-Western Sicily: the case of Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo)

Since 2015 the ongoing 'Harvesting Memories' project (University of Palermo, 'Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA.' of Palermo, Bona Furtuna LLC) have investigated the long-term landscape trajectories and the settlement pattern in a small inland area of the Monti Sicani district (central-western Sicily). The Castro/ Giardinello Valley and the Mt. Barraù area (Corleone, Palermo) is a typical Mediterranean inland, a palimpsest for analyzing formative-processes and changes of a Sicilian rural landscape and the relationship with vegetation cover dynamics and land-use. The fieldwork confirmed the long occupation of this area characterized by archaeological evidences dating back to the Protohistory, Classical period, Middle Ages and Late Modern age. The detection of the high intensity of human presence across the time represents a fruitful point of start to understand the historical dimension of the human impact on this specific environment. In particular, this paper aims to present the result an excavation carried out in the most relevant site of the area: the hill-top plateau of Contrada Castro. This settlement, completely unknown in written sources, revealed an interesting sequence of re-occupation of a 6th-5th century BC site during the Early Middle Ages. The first evidence ¿ at current state of the research ¿ of a new occupation of the site dated back to the 7th-early 8th centuryAD when two peri-natal individuals were buried. In the second half of the 8th-9th centuryAD new buildings documented the development of the settlement before a reshaping ¿ over collapse layers ¿ of the settlement topography with a new orientation of the structures during the 10th11th centuryAD. The archaeological data of this excavation indicates the high potentiality of the site for the reconstruction of economic and human-environment interaction trends of an early medieval community during the complex transition from the Byzantine to Islamic period

Archaeology of Sicilian countryside during Late Antiquity, Byzantine and Islamic periods (4th-11th c. CE)

[EN] From the 4th century, the so-called “late antique agrarian system” characterized Sicily in an exemplary way that is readable in material evidence of the wealth of senatorial elite and its luxury villas but also in the development of large secondary agglomerations / villages along the main roads.This "golden age" of the possessores began to suffer profound changes already from the 5th century, a significant moment in which many villas ruined and started to be reused and reoccupied indifferent ways.Financiación: beca "Juan de la Cierva-incorporación, IJCI-2017-3149