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VI/1/2015
INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA
NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
Editorial IANSA 1/2015
About the Papaver Centre. But not only…
Jaromír Beneš
Welcome to the frst issue of IANSA 2015. Here, we present
three general articles and the frst series of papers connected
with the activity of the Papaver Centre (one of which is a
thematic review). This centre was founded in 2013 at the
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (Czech
Republic), where it brings together natural scientists and
archaeologists along with scientists from abroad. The activity
of this centre is described in detail by myself in a backstory
paper in this issue. The articles in this volume are accompanied
by one book review. First of all I wish to comment on the
signifcance of the newly published general papers, as well as
the articles connected with the Papaver Centre.
Humans and forest, that’s the topic of the introductory
Papaver Centre paper by Manfred Rösch. The author is a
well-known archaeobotanist and palaeoecologist working in
southwest Germany. His study deals with long-term changes
in forest species composition during the Holocene; these
changes were signifcantly caused by human activity. The
basal set of knowledge has been formed by pollen analysis
undertaken in Schwarzwald, today one of the most densely-
forested landscapes in central Europe. The main attention
is focused on silver fr (
Abies alba
). High resolution and
radiocarbon-dated pollen profles from the central cores of
small lakes in Nordschwarzwald (northern Black Forest)
refect the history of the landscape, vegetation and human
impact during the last 11 millennia. The reasons for a
shift from mixed oak forest to dominating
Abies
in the 4
th
millennium BC are not clear, but it could be connected to
changes in the lakes’ ecology and chemistry. Later on,
changes in tree species composition are evident several times
over. To explain these changes is not easy, but the current
species composition is defnitely the result of strong human
impact throughout the Holocene.
Wooden objects, prehistoric trackways of northern
Germany, are the topic of Inke Achterberg, Andreas
Bauerochse, Thomas Giesecke, Alf Metzler and Hanns
Hubert Leuschner, based on the dendrochronology of these
famous wooden constructions. The oldest ones are recorded
from the Neolithic; however, they are also known from
much younger periods in prehistory. The authors constructed
so-called “tree die-off phases” in the mires of this area of
northwest Germany. The precise (dendrochronological) data
can indicate periods of water-table rise and mire expansion.
The study found that the majority of dendrochronological
trackway construction dates in the area are contemporaneous
to die-off phases of peat-preserved trees.
In another article, Andrea Pizzeghello, Massimo Vidale,
Giuseppe Salemi, Vincenzo Tinè and Sergio Di Pilato pose
questions about the meaning of a prehistoric female ceramic
statue from the Chalkolithic period. They try to understand
what constitutes the fgurine as a process in accord with the
theory that fgurines were active subjects of human agency.
In order to understand this process, they made a CT scan
investigation of the female fgurine. The use of this scientifc
method seems to be an effective tool to trace the original
motivation of the fgurine makers. Such research within
these fgurines could stimulate a deeper understanding
of “the chronological, spatial and cultural coordinates of
the various techniques on record” and “help us to focus
new hypotheses on the agencies and social roles in these
prehistoric communities”.
Nutritive value of emmer wheat (
Triticum dicoccum
)
is topic of Michal Hejcman and Pavla Hejcmanová paper.
The authors performed an archaeological experiment
aimed to compare basal factors affecting emmer nutritive
characteristics. They demonstrate differences between
old and modern technologies and cereals and suggest for
example, that in prehistory no strict borders between arable
felds and grasslands probably existed, as many grassland
species were also weeds on arable land. Main result is that
emmer wheat was a popular crop during prehistory, probably
due to its high grain-yield compensation ability, stability
of grain production, good competitive ability to cope with
weeds and high value of its grain.
Volume VI ● Issue 1/2015 ● Pages 3–4
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IANSA 2015 ● VI/1 ● 3–4
Jaromír Beneš: About the Papaver Centre. But not only…
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Tereza Šálková, Petra Houfková, Jaroslav Jiřík, Lenka
Kovačiková, Jan Novák, Martin Pták, Tomáš Bešta, Alžběta
Čejková, Eva Myšková (in a Papaver Centre article)
consider how much data we can gain from concentrated
medieval infll sediment from two wells discovered during a
salvage excavation in the historical core of the town of Písek.
Although the number of sediment samples from the wells
was limited, a suitable set of methods have been applied
with suffcient outputs to illustrate the medieval economy
in an average town of South Bohemia. The authors have
partly managed to reconstruct the environmental conditions
of the town and its surroundings, as well as the economical
background of the town, waste management, food strategy,
animal husbandry and exploitation of natural resources.
The medieval fortifcation of the Jánský vrch Castle in
Javorník (Czech Silesia, Czech Republic) is the topic of
the paper by Hana Dehnerová, Jan Martínek, Martin Moník
and Pavel Šlézar. The authors used sophisticated feld
methods for a virtual depiction of a fortifcation ditch and
buildings. Prospecting with 3D laser scanning identifed
several irregularities on the hill south of the castle. Two
parallel lines south of two prominent elevations within the
hill represent either an extension of the medieval castle or a
siege fortifcation related to the Hussite siege of Javorník in
the spring of 1428.
The review article concerns plant use in the Mesolithic
period with special attention to the area of the Czech Republic,
a Papaver Centre article written by Michaela Divišová and
Petr Šída. Although study of the Mesolithic period, including
plant use and palaeoeconomy, is a traditional topic in Western
Atlantic Europe, archaeobotanical data about the Mesolithic
period in central Europe are less well known. Some gaps in
knowledge are partially flled in this new review, which has
collected knowledge in a European context and summarized
some new results of Mesolithic studies in the Czech
Republic. Michaela Divišová is also the author of the book
review of The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and
Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers.
The backstory was written by a large team from the
Papaver Centre, in particular: Jaromír Beneš, Adéla
Pokorná, Alexandra Bernardová, Michaela Divišová, Petra
Houfková, Ondřej Chvojka, Kateřina Kodýdková, Veronika
Komárková, Klára Paclíková, Karel Prach, Michal Preusz,
Kamila Lencová, Jan Novák and Tereza Šálková. The paper
comments on the three years of effort by an interdisciplinary
team consisting of paleoecologists, archaeologists, and
vegetation ecologists in order to create an effective space for
the study of climatic, cultural as well as landscape changes in
vegetation and crops along a gradient from northern Africa
across central Europe. The Czech Papaver team has been
complemented and supported by known scientists from Italy,
Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark and Japan.
Moreover, the next volumes of the IANSA journal will
publish further results of the Papaver Centre’s activity. We
think the activity is both fruitful and promising.