Experimentación en arqueología: Los conos de perfume. De la pared al laboratorio

En algunas manifestaciones iconográficas del Antiguo Egipto se pueden ver sobre el cabello de hombres y mujeres unos adornos que tradicionalmente se han interpretado como conos de perfume. Existen algunos argumentos en contra de esta lectura. En este estudio se han llevado a cabo varias réplicas con diversos materiales para comprobar su eficacia y su comportamiento. Los resultados obtenidos apoyándose en las representaciones murales consolidan las teorías sobre una perfumería asociada al peinado y sin embargo la experiencia levanta sudas sobre la forma en la que se aplicaban. El trabajo ha dado lugar a dos propuestas de sujeción de los conos de perfume a las pelucas y abre la puerta a futuras investigacionesIn some images of the Ancient Egypt iconography several ornaments over the male and female hair can be appreciated which have been traditionally interpreted as perfume cones. Nowadays there are arguments against this interpretation. In this work several replicas have been made with different materials in order to confirm their effectiveness and performance. The results added to the known iconography strengthen the idea of some kind of perfume associated to the hair, although it weakens the ones of how they were done. This work also offers two different proposals of the attachment of the cones to the wigs, and it opens the door for future investigation

Madrid, villa para la Corte. Arqueología y Edad Moderna: transformación de la ciudad entre los siglos XVI-XVII

La elección de Madrid como capital responde a nuevas necesidades de Felipe II. La Villa se postula como la mejor opción y en 1561 la Corte se instala en Madrid, que debe adaptarse a la nueva situación transformándose por completo en un proceso que se prolonga durante muchos años. Durante los siglos XVI-XVII la ciudad crece hacia el Este, creando y destruyendo espacios, y habilitando infraestructuras para el abastecimiento y la vida: viajes de agua, caminos, lugares de culto, de ceremonia... Todos esos cambios, resumidos en este artículo, son visibles en los restos arqueológicos que hoy en día se descubren gracias a trabajos de gestión y los pocos que hay de investigación. La protección de esos restos y su contenido social se han incrementado conforme se han multiplicado las intervenciones a lo largo de las últimas décadas. Actualmente, la ciudad de Madrid cuenta con un rico patrimonio de la Edad Moderna que permite entender su evolución a través del tiempoBecause of Philip II new needs, Madrid is seen as the best option to become the new capital. In 1561 the Court arrives to Madrid, which has to adapt to its new condition during many years. During the 16th and 17th centuries the city expands to the East, destroying old spaces and creating new ones for the growing population. The city changes to protect new settlements, new underground water canals, commonly called “viajes de agua”, which are dug to providenecessary water. Addiotionally worship places, new ways and spaces to help the commercials exchanges are built. These changes, summarised in this article, are visible in archaeological remainings today because of discoveries, and few pieces of research carried out about the old city. During the last decades, society is becoming aware of the importance of these pieces of researches, and archaeological works are multiplying, while increasing the protection and social content of the discoveries. This effort brings up now a rich heritage from the modern age that helps to understand the evolution of the city across the tim

The Iberian Peninsula's Burning Heart' Long-Term Fire History in the Toledo Mountains (Central Spain)

Long-term fire ecology can help to better understand the major role played by fire in driving vegetation composition and structure over decadal to millennial timescales, along with climate change and human agency, especially in fire-prone areas such as the Mediterranean basin. Investigating past ecosystem dynamics in response to changing fire activity, climate, and land use, and how these landscape drivers interact in the long-term is needed for efficient nature management, protection, and restoration. The Toledo Mountains of central Spain are a mid-elevation mountain complex with scarce current anthropic intervention located on the westernmost edge of the Mediterranean basin. These features provide a perfect setting to study patterns of late Holocene fire activity and landscape transformation. Here, we have combined macroscopic charcoal analysis with palynological data in three peat sequences (El Perro, Brezoso, and Viñuelas mires) to reconstruct fire regimes during recent millennia and their linkages to changes in vegetation, land use, and climatic conditions. During a first phase (5000?3000 cal. BP) characterized by mixed oak woodlands and low anthropogenic impact, climate exerted an evident influence over fire regimes. Later, the data show two phases of increasing human influence dated at 3000?500 cal. BP and 500 cal. BP?present, which translated into significant changes in fire regimes increasingly driven by human activity. These results contribute to prove how fire regimes have changed along with human societies, being more related to land use and less dependent on climatic cycles.This research was funded the project REDISCO-HAR2017-88035-P (Plan Nacional I+D+I, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness). Reyes Luelmo-Lautenschlaeger is funded by an Formación del Profesorado Universitario (FPU) grant (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports)

Vegetation history in the Toledo Mountains (Central-Iberia): human impact during the last 1300 years

ABSTRACT: Mid-mountain ecosystems provide a broad diversity of resources, heterogeneous relief, and a mild climate, which are all very useful for human necessities. These features enable different strategies such as the terracing of the slopes as well as wide crop diversification. Their relations lead to a parallel co-evolution between the environment and human societies, where fire and grazing become the most effective landscape management tools. This paper presents the results obtained from a multi-proxy study of the Bermú paleoenvironmental record, which is a minerotrophic mire located in the Quintos de Mora National Hunting Reserve (Toledo Mountains, central Spain). The bottom of this core has been dated in the Islamic period (ca. 711-1100 cal AD), and the study shows how the landscape that was built over time in the Toledo Mountains up to the present day is narrowly linked to human development. This study shows the increasing human pressure on the landscape, as well as the subsequent strategies followed by the plant and human communities as they faced diverse environmental changes. Thus, it is possible to attest the main role played by the humans in the Toledo Mountains, not only as a simple user, but also as a builder of their own reflexion in the environment.Funding: This research was funded the project REDISCO-HAR2017-88035-P (Plan Nacional I+D+I, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness). Reyes Luelmo is funded by a FPU grant (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports)

Sensitivity of Eurasian Rear-Edge Birch Populations to Regional Climate and Local Hydrological Conditions

South rear-edge populations of widely distributed temperate and boreal tree species such as birches (Betula pubescens and Betula pendula) are considered particularly vulnerable to climate warming, and at the same time, they constitute genetic reservoirs of drought-adapted ecotypes. Here, we compared radial growth patterns and responses to climate, river, or reservoir flows and a drought index of rear-edge (southernmost) populations (Toledo Mountains, central-southern Spain) with populations located in northern Spain of B. pubescens and B. pendula. Then, we performed a comparative analysis across Europe of B. pendula populations. The main climatic constraint of birch growth was a high summer water deficit, although the effect of local hydrological conditions was particularly important in rear-edge populations. We found declining growth trends in rear-edge stands dating from the early 21st century, related to decreasing water availability and increasing aridity. Our results also suggested distinct growth patterns and climate-growth associations of B. pendula across Europe that show how populations further south and in warmer locations were more sensitive to drought stress. Drought-induced growth decline can be exacerbated by local human land uses, leading to reduced river inflow, thus endangering birch populations at their southern distribution limit. Protection of threatened rear-edge birch populations requires adequate management of local water resources

Diversity and conservation of the Gredos Regional Park peatlands (Iberian Central System, Spain): Geomorphological and geobotanical characterisation and incoming threats

High-mountain peatlands are essential ecosystems for habitats, biodiversity, water, and carbon cycling, but there is little comprehensive information in central Iberia. We present results of research concerning the distribution, geormorphology, floristic, geobotany, and habitat diversity of peatlands in the Gredos Regional Park (Iberian Central System). We identified 72 peatlands covering 117 ha and ranging in size from 0.01 to 17.34 ha. Peatlands occur primarily in the upper orosubmediterranean bioclimatic belt at 1775–2230 m asl. From a geomorphological point of view, 9 different peatland typologies have been defined. Multivariate analyses (agglomerative cluster analysis and principal component analysis) of 103 relevés allowed us to classify the sampled peatland stands into 7 plant communities and 4 European habitats that formed along complex hydrogeomorphic conditions, and to propose a new subassociation of other community previously described (Caricetum echinato-nigrae lycopodielletosum inundatae). The main threat to Gredensean peatlands is pastoral pressure, which affects 15 of them intensively, mainly between the upper supramediterranean and the lower orosubmediterranean bioclimatic belts (~1314–1700 m asl). Seven bryophytes and three vascular plants documented in the Gredos Regional Park peatlands are included in the IUCN Red List. From the point of view of conservation priority, the most threatened correspond to transition mires communities (Habitat 7140) growing in oligotrophic and minerotrophic peatlands (Caricion nigrae vegetation). Particularly, the Iberian Central System endemic Sedo lagascae-Eriophoretum latifolii association is the one that has achieved the highest score in the five criteria considered in this regard because Meesia triquetra, a species with the category of “critically endangered”, inhabits it

New challenges in archaeopalynology: pollen analysis on roman bivalve shells from south-western Europe and North Africa

The European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) is a native species that was consumed as a luxurious product by the Romans. In the Strait of Gibraltar area, between southwest Iberia and North Africa, numerous oyster shells have been found in Roman archaeological sites located in both, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The origin of these oysters is unknown, as so if theywere farmed or harvested in thewild and/or even imported for consumption. This study presents the results of pollen analysis of oyster shells from six archaeological sites in the Strait of Gibraltar area dated between the 1st and 6th centuries AD. This is the first time that such research is undertaken in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa; the second worldwide for a discipline rarely known until now: conchopalynology. Our study suggests that differences observed in pollen spectra could be used to identify the origin of the consumed specimens, i.e. where they were grown or harvested, discriminating whether oyster shells originated from the Mediterranean Sea or the Atlantic Ocean coastline.This work was funded by the projects GARVM III (PID2019-108948RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), ARQUEOSTRA (FEDER-UCA18-104415), ARQUEOFISH (P18-FR-1483, PAIDI 2020), and GARVMTRANSFER (PDC2021-121356-I00)

Palaeoenvironmental changes in the Iberian central system during the Late-glacial and Holocene as inferred from geochemical data: A case study of the Navamuño depression in western Spain

The Iberian Central System (ICS) is a clue region to reveal Mediterranean/Atlantic inferences over Iberia. We present a multidisciplinary study from western Spain conducted in the Navamuno ˜ depression (ND), covering the last 16.8 ka (cal BP). A reconstruction of the palaeotemperature from the resulting geochemical data highlights four cold and dry intervals, namely, the Oldest Dryas, Older Dryas, Intra-Allerød Cold Period (IACP), and the Younger Dryas, along with warmer intervals: the Bølling (14.7–14 ka) and the Allerød (12.9–12.6 ka); however, the Greenland Interstadial GI-1c (13.4–13.1 ka) is barely distinguishable in the ND. Despite the shortage of biomass to sustain fire, the earliest charcoals are from ~14.4–13.8 ka. Evidence of ash/dust events overprinting the geochemical background starts at ~13.8–12.8 ka. Significant fire activity in the Early Holocene at ~11.7–10.6 ka affected the ND, matching the westernmost ICS data. This period includes short oceanic spells inferred from Cl peaks at ~10.9–10.2 ka and three cold intervals at 11.4, 9.3, and 8.2 ka disrupted the progressive temperature increase. The Mid-Holocene showed a continuously increasing trend towards an arid climate, peaking at 4.2 ka under a pervasive dust influx from North Africa, which has prevailed since almost ~7.9 ka. A prominent volcanic event at ~6.8–5.8 ka is in Navamuno ˜ and Ronanzas ˜ (Asturias, N Spain; Gallego et al., 2013) identified from heavy metal-rich layer, synchronous with the last known eruption of the Calatrava volcanic field (South-Central Spain; Poblete-Piedrabuena et al., 2019). This volcanic eruption could affect many other regions half north of Iberia. The pervasive presence of oceanic aerosols in the last three millennia (2.8 ka ~ ) allowed the formation of a Cl-rich peat layer during the Ibero-Roman humid period ~2.1 ka, before a changing around ~0.4 ka toward colder and drier conditions at the Little Ice Age (LIA) periodThis study was funded by the LATESICE-CGL2016-78380-P, FINICES- PID2020-117685 GB-I00 and MED-REFUGIA-RTI2018-101714-BI00 (Plan Nacional I + D + I, Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities) projects

The Reading Palaeofire Database: an expanded global resource to document changes in fire regimes from sedimentary charcoal records

Sedimentary charcoal records are widely used to reconstruct regional changes in fire regimes through time in the geological past. Existing global compilations are not geographically comprehensive and do not provide consistent metadata for all sites. Furthermore, the age models provided for these records are not harmonised and many are based on older calibrations of the radiocarbon ages. These issues limit the use of existing compilations for research into past fire regimes. Here, we present an expanded database of charcoal records, accompanied by new age models based on recalibration of radiocarbon ages using IntCal20 and Bayesian age-modelling software. We document the structure and contents of the database, the construction of the age models, and the quality control measures applied. We also record the expansion of geographical coverage relative to previous charcoal compilations and the expansion of metadata that can be used to inform analyses. This first version of the Reading Palaeofire Database contains 1676 records (entities) from 1480 sites worldwide. The database (RPDv1b – Harrison et al., 2021) is available at https://doi.org/10.17864/1947.000345

Paisajes de supervivencia y patrimonio medioambiental. Evolución de la vegetación en la Comarca Histórica de los Montes de Toledo

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Departamento de Geografía. Fecha de lectura: 27-01-2022Esta tesis tiene embargado el acceso al texto completo hasta el 27-07-2023Los Montes de Toledo son una formación de media montaña en el interior de la península ibérica, que se caracterizan por sus relieves heterogéneos, sus abruptas sierras y sus profundos valles. El entorno mediterráneo en el que se encuadran, cierta influencia atlántica y su amplia variedad de ecosistemas han dado lugar a una extraordinaria biodiversidad, entre la que destacan taxones propios del ámbito mediterráneo, pero también algunas especies relictas que sobreviven acantonadas en distintos enclaves refugio. La larga relación del ser humano con estas montañas ha transformado dicha diversidad, y ha dado forma al paisaje actual. Este estudio paleoecológico, llevado a cabo sobre ocho secuencias en el interior de los Montes de Toledo, ha permitido reconstruir la evolución de la vegetación desde el Neolítico Final (ca. 6018 cal. BP/ca. 4069 cal. BC) y entender el destacado papel del clima, las fuerzas naturales y el ser humano en la configuración actual de este espacio montañoso. Esta memoria refleja el inmenso valor del patrimonio natural, histórico y cultural de la Comarca Histórica de los Montes de Toledo, y ofrece herramientas concretas para la gestión y la conservación de los espacios naturales presentes en el interior de la mism