Archaeobotany in Florence (Italy): Landscape and urban development from the late Roman to the Middle Ages

Abstract

Archaeological excavations in Florence (Italy) offered the opportunity of collecting archaeobotanical data along stratigraphic sequences and pits from late Roman to Middle Ages; until now, no archaeobotanical data of this range of time were available for Florence. To achieve a more comprehensive reconstruction of the antique landscape and of the plant uses in the city, the results of plant micro- and macro-remain analyses were compared. During the late Roman Period, mixed oak forests covered the surrounding hills, while only scattered riverine thickets grew in the Arno river plain, which was mostly open. In the city, the increase in richness of cultivated plants, weeds and ruderals follows the advancement of urbanization from the late Roman to the Middle Ages when the abundance of remains of cereals, figs, grapevines and other fruits showed that cultivation and/or food processing were performed close to and even within the town wall. Peaks of heather (Erica spp.) pollen suggested that its flowering branches were introduced in the site and possibly used as building material or for the maintenance of the Arno river bank. Thus, this integrated archaeobotanical approach provided new insights into the environmental and ethnobotanical history of Florence, highlighting the occurrence of horticulture within the city wall.

Keywords::

• Landscape history
• Middle Ages
• plant use
• pollen
• seeds/fruits
• heather

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Corrigendum

Acknowledgements

The archaeological information here reported is unpublished and has been kindly provided by the archaeologists working on the site. The authors wish to thank the following site archaeologists: Dr Giuseppina Carlotta Cianferoni and Dr Monica Salvini for providing the dig documentation; Dr Paolo Lelli and Giovanni Roncaglia for their assistance during sampling and for providing information for Piazzale degli Uffizi. We are indebted to Dr Anna Maria Mercuri, Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, for her constructive review.