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113
VI/1/2015
INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA
NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
A look at the region
PAPAVER. Centre for Human and Plant Studies of Postglacial Europe
and Northern Africa, 2013–2015
Jaromír Beneš
a*
, Adéla Pokorná
a
, Alexandra Bernardová
a
, Michaela Divišová
a
, Petra Houfková
a
,
Ondřej Chvojka
b
, Kateřina Kodýdková
a
, Veronika Komárková
a
, Klára Paclíková
a
, Karel Prach
c
,
Michal Preusz
d
, Kamila Lencová
a
, Jan Novák
a
, Tereza Šálková
a
a
University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Science, Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology, Na Zlaté stoce 3, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
b
University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Archaeology, Branišovská 31a, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
c
Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Na Zlaté stoce 1, 370 05 České Budějovice
d
University of West Bohemia, Faculty of Arts, Chair of Archaeology, Sedláčkova 15, 306 14 Plzeň, Czech Republic
1. Introduction
In the beginning of 2013, the Ministry of Education and the
European Social Fund of the Czech Republic granted the
Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology (LAPE)
fnancial support to create a new body called
Papaver, Centre
for human and plant studies in Europe and Northern Africa
in the postglacial period
. The Papaver Centre is not regarded
as a regular organizational unit, but as temporally-limited
grouping of researchers, teachers and students from LAPE
and the Department of Botany of the Faculty of Science and
the Institute of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy from the
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice.
The aim of the Papaver Centre project has been to
develop ties within 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, and up to the coldest areas of the north. The
purpose of the project has been to connect and coordinate
key experts of international repute and thus provide the
South Bohemian team the dynamics and impulses for
development of top quality research by means of internships,
lectures, workshops, conferences, as well as by everyday
communication tools. The project has created a suitable
environment for young researchers and PhD students by
including them in clearly-defned structures of ongoing
research on attractive topics. Team activity has been based
on three panels in the felds of environmental archaeology,
paleoecology, and vegetation ecology. The aims of such
activity have been to coordinate with each other and create
a team producing synergistic outcomes. A further aim of
Volume VI ● Issue 1/2015 ● Pages 113–123
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
benes.jaromir@gmail.com
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received: 28
th
July 2015
Accepted: 2
nd
September 2015
Keywords:
archaeobotany
palaeoecology
archaeology
South Bohemia
Europe
Africa
education
ABSTRACT
Papaver Centre was constituted in 2013 at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice,
Czech Republic. The name of centre represents common and interesting genus of plants which is
distributed from Northern Africa across Europe to the polar latitudes. The aim of the Papaver Centre
is to develop ties within the 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. This paper describes recent educational and scientifc activities of the centre.
One of main results is realization series of international lectures of top scientists, which substantially
improved capabilities of members in the Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology.
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IANSA 2015 ● VI/1 ● 113–123
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, Tereza Šálková:
PAPAVER. Centre for Human and Plant Studies of Postglacial Europe and Northern Africa, 2013–2015
114
the project has been to stabilize and extend the operational
range of the research group, which connects archaeological
directions in landscape development research with the latest
trends in botany. The research centre bears the name of the
genus of poppies (Papaver), the representatives of which are
distributed from the coldest areas on Svalbard to the warmest
of northern Africa, and thus represents the region targeted by
the project’s research interests.
2. Papaver Centre and research development
in 2013–2015
In accord with the project’s idea to create conditions for
top science, the members of the Papaver team actively
contributed to the scientifc goals of their different projects.
The synergy between several active research grants and the
Papaver project was extraordinarily useful. The support has
enabled interdisciplinary space to be created for several
specifc palaeoecological, archaeobotanical and botanical
research tasks. The Papaver project has been led by the head
of the centre, archaeologist and archaeobotanist Jaromír
Beneš, and the scientifc supervisor for the whole team,
botanist and vegetation ecologist Karel Prach. The Papaver
team itself has been organized into three thematic panels. The
paleoecological group, led by J. Novák, has integrated and
organized activities connected with a multi-proxy approach
focused on the reconstruction of the Holocene vegetation
changes in terms of vegetation, climate, and human impact
upon environmental changes throughout Europe (Bešta
et al.
2015). Up to now the scholars involved in the Papaver project
have contributed into many multi-proxy palaeoecological
and archaeobotanical studies in central Europe (Hlásek
et al.
2014; Hlásek
et al.
2015; Chvojka
et al.
2014; Pokorná
et al.
2014). The attention of the project has also been focused on the
anthracological research at many important archaeological
sites (Novák 2014a; Novák 2014b). Anthracology is an
effective method for the study of macrovegetation in the
landscape (trees and shrubs). Other anthracological studies
highlight the importance of pedoanthracological research for
the reconstruction of woodland history; for example, in the
sandstone area of North Bohemia (Prostředník
et al.
2014).
The environmental archaeology group has been led
by J. Beneš. This panel has focused on research into the
Mesolithic/Neolithic transition in central Europe; however,
the younger post Neolithic periods of human impact on
nature in prehistoric Bohemia and Moravia have not been
omitted. The aim of the Papaver team has also been to
investigate Mesolithic hunter-gatherers through a broad
interdisciplinary approach. The members have participated
in a range of archaeological excavations, occuring in certain
regions of the Czech Republic, namely the Třeboň basin in
south Bohemia, and the north Bohemian pseudokarst area of
Bohemian Paradise (Šída
et al.
2014; Divišová, Šída 2015).
Apart from the excavations themselves and artefact analyses,
a number of palaeoecological and archaeobotanical analyses
have formed integral components of the research. A variety of
questions regarding former human behaviour, environment,
plant use, human impact on the landscape,
etc.
, are being
investigated using the tools of environmental archaeology,
such as pollen analysis or analysis of plant macroremains.
In addition, the issue of the last hunter-gatherers in the
region and their transition to farming, which is of special
importance, has been addressed by examining specifc sites
together with artefactual and ecofactual material recovered
from sediments dated from the Mesolithic onwards.
A second connection between environmental archaeology
and archaeobotany has been created in the case of the
Bronze Age period and Early Iron Age period in south
Bohemia. The aim of our research has been the notifcation
of current macro-remains analysis of the prehistory cultural
sediments in the region of South Bohemia. The analysed
assemblage consists of a cluster of sites dated in a time span
from the Late Neolithic to the Early Iron Age period. The
samples have been obtained during the course of salvage,
as well as scholarly, excavations between the years 2005
and 2015 (Šálková
et al.
2014). In our research, macro-
remains analysis represents another source of interpretation
of archaeological features, inflls, and cultural layers, and
makes possible the reconstruction of the palaeoeconomy
of settlement areas (
e.g.
housing, economy, structure of
utility plants and weeds, burial rites), as well as the natural
environment in the background of human sites (
e.g.
Šálková
et al.
2015; Hlásek
et al.
2014; Chvojka
et al.
2014; Hlásek
et al.
2015; Fröhlich
et al.
2014).
The third direction of research in the environmental
archaeology panel has been the study of the relationship
of plants and humans in the medieval period and Early
Modern Age in historical Czech lands. The archaeobotanical
attractiveness of such research in these relatively young
periods is that it increases a direct and unmistakable link
to the present we live in now. This is especially obvious in
the comparative research into the development and changes
in individual types of cereals used during the malting
process and subsequent brewing between the 13
th
and 18
th
centuries. As a result, we have managed to penetrate specifc
production processes, and the qualitative and quantitative
aspects of brewing and malting before the advent of modern
technology (Kočár
et al.
2015).
Medieval and Early Modern agriculture as a cardinal
factor in the transformation of landscape and human-
induced changes in vegetation has been under the focus
of Papaver Centre members. In the case of terraced felds
in Malonín (South Bohemia), we have established a new
methodology in how to date such changes (Houfková
et al.
2015). Thanks to another research grant, we have performed
archaeological excavations of the long-stripped felds in the
abandoned village Malonín. Our approach has consisted of
a combination of information from different sources such
as historical documents and maps, chronologies based
on the dating of archaeological artefacts,
14
C data, and
the assignment of
210
Pb,
137
Cs concentrations. Our results
have proved that the current pattern of feld margins in the
former village of Malonín is High Medieval in origin. As
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IANSA 2015 ● VI/1 ● 113–123
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, Tereza Šálková:
PAPAVER. Centre for Human and Plant Studies of Postglacial Europe and Northern Africa, 2013–2015
115
recent landscape patterns in many villages in marginal areas
of central Europe can be based on man-made structures
originating in the Medieval Period, we conclude that the
memory of the medieval landscape remains very strong. Our
results have provided arguments for the preservation of such
defned landscape units; this could lead to a conservation
of both long-term historical pattern and recent biodiversity
bound to its exact combination of landscape elements.
The issue of the Medieval and the Early Modern economy
and ecology in historical towns has also been very attractive.
Members of the Papaver Centre have studied two sites:
Písek-Bakaláře (the Medieval secondarily flled-in well;
Šálková
et al.
2015) and České Budějovice, Krajinská street
7 (the Medieval cesspit; Čapek
et al.
2015). In those times
wells were very often secondarily used as cesspits: because
of water contamination or changes in water regimes. Various
aspects of human life and behaviour have been refected
in the waste disposal and storage inside “Well 1” in Písek-
Bakaláře. It has been possible to detect imported material of
different origins and to reconstruct the environment of the
town’s background (meadows, felds, gardens, forests), as
well as animal rearing
(
cattle, sheep, pig, horse, dog, cat),
crops grown (cereals and fruits), and waste management
practices (Šálková
et al.
2015). The faecal infll of the cesspit
in České Budějovice, Krajinská 7 was characterised by the
macroremains of utility plants which refected the food
strategy of medieval burghers (Čapek
et al.
2015).
Since the Early Modern world was not only about
production but also about consumption, a pilot study on
the everyday life of selected “consumers” in the south
Bohemian town of Czech Krumlov (UNESCO) has been
created with an emphasis on the reconstruction of the eating
habits of townspeople during the 17
th
century (Preusz
et al.
2014), using the testimony of archival sources, archaeology,
archaeobotany and archaeozoology. Our investigation has
revealed that changes in the traditional stereotypical diet
and social customs have crystallized over the centuries,
and has opened up entirely new perspectives in the study of
diversity in the eating habits of people in the Medieval and
Early Modern period. In this respect, the Papaver Centre has
carved out a suitable space to bring greater synergy between
history, archaeology and the natural sciences.
A crucial topic of the Papaver Centre has been to create
an organizational milieu for the study of north African and
Mediterranean crops and other materials of plant origin,
and their transmission to central Europe from the end of the
last glacial to the Early Modern period. Archaeobotanical
investigation in NE Africa already has a tradition in LAPE.
We have closely cooperated with a multidisciplinary
archaeological team led by the Czech Institute of Egyptology,
Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, Charles University in Prague.
Several members of our laboratory have already taken part
in expeditions to Egypt since 2005, and in Sudan since 2011.
Among localities of our own interest we can mention Abusir
and the oasis of Bahariya in the Western Desert (Egypt),
and the Sabaloka Mountains in Sudan. The most important
methods in African archaeobotany have been the analysis of
plant seeds/fruits by A. Pokorná and the analysis of wood
and charcoal by J. Beneš and J. Novák (Krejčí
et al.
2014).
A survey of recent vegetation in the archaeological sites
of Lazio has been held during the two vegetation seasons
of 2014 and 2015. In consultation with Italian specialists, a
list of plant species (incl. photo-documentation) related to
the archaeological area of Santa Severa and Santa Marinella
has been created. One of the frst applications of this list
has been for a short botanical guide for students that will
be used for education purposes during the SIS-School of
interdisciplinary studies in September 2015. Members of the
Papaver team have studied the local vegetation in Lazio as
a witness to its ancient history. The analysis of its present
vegetation has enabled tentative extrapolations as to how the
vegetation could have looked in Roman times (Figure 6).
Recently, new methods have been introduced in
cooperation with our laboratory: namely the analyses of
starch and plant phytoliths. Our members have taken part in
feld expeditions to Africa on a regular basis. Field work has
comprised the sampling of archaeological contexts as well as
the creation of reference collections, and ecological studies
of recent vegetation. We have established cooperation with
a local botanist in Sudan to enable (among other things) the
more effective application of knowledge about modern plant
behaviour when interpreting past environments.
The vegetation ecology panel, led by Karel Prach, has
mostly focused on the search for current relations between a
diversity of the fora and vegetation in a wider geographical
context. The panel leader K. Prach has long focused on
vegetation dynamics, succession processes, restoration
ecology, and ecosystem restoration. Special attention will
be paid to invasive plants resulting from contemporary
ecological and social changes. One of the main efforts in this
sense is the preparation of a paper (Kočár
et al.
in prep.),
concerning a checklist of wild-growing herbaceous plants in
the prehistory of the Czech Republic. This list of wild plants
is based exclusively on archaeobotanical evidence and will
be available for evaluation by botanists for the frst time. The
Papaver project has also supported the study of vegetation in
abandoned felds as specifc biotopes under long term human
impact (Prach
et al.
2014).
The arctic ecology of plants team has focused on several
topics – vegetation dynamics, pollen deposition and the
relationship between species and geomorphology. The frst
topic of focus has been the palaeoecological analyses of soil
and lake cores retrieved in the feld. Pollen deposition has
been monitored through a system of pollen traps as part of a
pollen monitoring program that is widely used within Europe
(
http://www.pollentrapping.net/vegmapping.html
). Pollen
traps have been newly installed in the central part of Svalbard
along with vegetation mapping around the traps. In 2014
vegetation mapping was also fnished in Abisko, Sweden,
where traps have already been in operation. The relationship
of vegetation and geomorphology has been studied according
to species traits (species composition, cover, biomass) and the
characteristics of the terrain (morphology, slope, aspect, fow
accumulation) as retrieved by detailed LIDAR scanning.
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IANSA 2015 ● VI/1 ● 113–123
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, Tereza Šálková:
PAPAVER. Centre for Human and Plant Studies of Postglacial Europe and Northern Africa, 2013–2015
116
3. Papaver Centre education and international team
building programme
A core part of the Papaver Centre project has been the
scientifc educational program for Czech members of
the Papaver team, which has consisted of meetings, feld
workshops, summer schools and teaching weeks held by
specialists from Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden
and United Kingdom. Archaeobotanists and paleoecologists
from top European institutions have taken part for the frst
time as a team in the Introductory Papaver meeting 2013
(Figures 1 and 2). The education program terminated the
international Conference of Environmental Archaeology in
February 2015 in České Budějovice.
3.1. Field workshops and summer schools
Field workshops and summer schools have been organized
in order to improve the coordination and synergy between
archaeology, archaeobotany and palaeoecology. Three
archaeological feld projects were chosen as subjects for
training and archaeobotanical sampling activity.
3.1.1 Schwarzenberg Lake Mesolithic Occupation feld
workshops
Two feld workshops were led by Petr Šída in the area of
the former Schwarzenberg Lake in South Bohemia in 2013
and 2014. These intensive, on-site seminars were focused
primarily on exploring Mesolithic communities through
excavation. Modern approaches and feld techniques in
hunter-gatherer feld research were presented and discussed.
In addition, an experimental archaeology programme aimed
at the reconstruction of pre-Neolithic cooking methods was
conducted (Figure 3).
3.1.2 Tuchlovice Iron Age Wetland Site feld workshops
In seasons 2013 and 2014, in collaboration with the
Department of Prehistory and Classical Antiquity of the
National Museum Prague, two feld workshops were
Figure 1.
Sabine Karg is lecturing during the Papaver Centre introductory meeting. Photo Klára Paclíková.
Figure 2.
Members of Papaver Centre
international introductory meeting: From
left: Sabine Karg, Anna Maria Mercuri,
Laura Sadori, Manfred Rösch, Kamila
Lencová, Veronika Komárková, Leonor
Peña-Chocarro, Jaromír Beneš. Photo Klára
Paclíková.
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IANSA 2015 ● VI/1 ● 113–123
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, Tereza Šálková:
PAPAVER. Centre for Human and Plant Studies of Postglacial Europe and Northern Africa, 2013–2015
117
conducted during the Tuchlovice archaeological excavation in
the foodplain of the Tuchlovický stream in Central Bohemia.
This action loosely followed the salvage excavation and
fndings of the years 1966–1968, during which exceptionally
well-preserved fnds from organic materials, especially wood,
were discovered in the stream foodplain settlement from
the Roman period. These workshops stimulated the mutual
transfer of knowledge and skills between archaeologists and
natural scientists. Papaver team members in the feld learned
about the methodology of archaeological research in the
river foodplain and performed sampling for the analyses of
wood items, plant macroremains, and pollen.
3.1.3 Archaeological summer schools in Netolice
The Papaver Centre organized between 2013 and 2015 three
summer archaeological schools in Netolice, close to České
Budějovice in South Bohemia. Na Jánu fortifed settlement
is situated in Netolice. The site and its surroundings are being
explored by several institutions, including the University
of South Bohemia (Beneš
et al.
2012). Archaeological
explorations of the Netolice fortifed settlement have
been systematically going on since 2000, when the frst
extensive excavations of the fortifed settlement’s ruins
and graveyard were carried out. This fortifed settlement is
generally classifed as one of the Přemyslid Early Medieval
administrative castles in the South Bohemia region, built
at the beginning of the Czech state during the 10
th
century.
As one of the administrative centres in South Bohemia, the
fortifed settlement was built in the ancient manner before
the time of stone castles and towns. The castle’s location on
the trade route between Linz and Prague gave it a particularly
favourable position for growth.
Archaeological investigations have discovered a church,
cemetery and a complex settlement structure. Researchers
and students of the Institute of Archaeology and Laboratory
of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology organized during
2013–2015 three Archaeological summer schools there
(Figure 4), which offered not only scientifc feld education
in bioarchaeological and archaeobotanical disciplines, but
also attracted the public to visit open lectures and costume
days, where it was also possible to taste the results of the
useful-plant experimental cooking according to accepted
archaeobotanical knowledge. During the summer the Papaver
Centre organized a full schools education programme in
archaeobotany and palaeoecology. This activity comprised
onsite sampling and training analysis in the area of the
Netolice hillfort acropolis, but also palaeoecological training
in its hinterland.
4. Papaver Centre international teaching weeks
One of the most attractive and visible features of the Papaver
Centre has been its teaching weeks, all of which have been
guided by top European researchers as listed below. The aim
of the courses was to improve the knowledge of the Czech
team members in theoretical perspectives and practical
skills. We describe the content of the courses completed
in the following paragraphs; these courses attracted not
only Papaver Centre members, but also other students and
researchers from the Czech Republic.
Sabine Karg
, Copenhagen, Denmark, 10.–13. 2. 2014,
Staple and wild food resources during Neolithic and Medieval
Times in Northern and Central Europe
. In this course,
Sabine Karg lectured about the systematics of cereals and
pulses archaeobotany. The connection between practical
archaeobotany and archaeological explanation was a common
feature in Sabine´s teaching. A considerable portion of the
Figure 3.
Petr Šída during preparation
of cooking experiment in Schwarzenberg
Mesolithic workshop, Czech Republic.
Photo: M. Divišová.
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IANSA 2015 ● VI/1 ● 113–123
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, Tereza Šálková:
PAPAVER. Centre for Human and Plant Studies of Postglacial Europe and Northern Africa, 2013–2015
118
northern and central European experience was demonstrated.
Special attention was paid to prehistoric fax technology.
Laura Sadori
with
Alessia Masi
and
Caterina Pepe
,
La Sapienza, Roma, Italy, 19.–21. 5. 2014,
Archaeobotany
and Palynology of the Mediterranean
. Laura Sadori with
her two assistants lectured about one of the crucial topics
of the Papaver Centre: plants and the human world of the
Mediterranean. The lectures were concentrated on the pollen
analysis of lake sediments, but also on climatic development,
which has been recorded in the stable light isotopes of
fossil plants. Additionally, some valuable environmental
records in archaeological areas such as Portus Traianus were
demonstrated.
Manfred Rösch
, Landesamt für Denkmalpfege im RP
Stuttgart, Gaienhofen-Hemmenhofen, Germany, 21.–24. 5.
2014,
Former agriculture, lake sediments and pollen analysis
in Germany and the western Alpine region
. Manfred Rösch is
an archaeobotanist with a special focus on the Alpine region
in the postglacial period. He lectures not only covered pollen
analysis and plant macroremains determination, but also
environmental archaeology as practiced today in his region,
with special attention to prehistoric agriculture. Special
attention was also paid to unique bronze vessels of valuable
archaeological situations and their bioarchaeological
potential.
Anna-Maria Mercuri
with
Assunta Florenzano
,
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, 4.–6. 6.
2014,
Palaeoenvironmental studies of the Mediterranean
and Sahara
. Lectures in archaeobotany, palynology and
palaeoenvironmental studies were targeted on some attractive
regions in Italy (North Italian Bronze Age terramaras,
Basilicata in Southern Italy), as well as on the prehistoric
human occupation of the Sahara. Special attention was paid
to paleoclimate development and cultural trajectories in
northern Africa and southern Europe. Particularly fruitful
were the archaeobotanical case studies from countries that
are almost inaccessible today, for example, from Niger.
Lectures were followed by practical demonstrations with
pollen samples and macroremains.
Oliver Nelle
, Landesamt für Denkmalpfege im RP
Stuttgart, Gaienhofen-Hemmenhofen, Germany, 12.–13.
2. 2015,
Wood and wood charcoal analysis
. The aim of
this course was to get acquainted with methods of wood
and wood charcoal analysis. The course addressed several
aspects of taking samples in the feld, sample processing,
microscope work, and data analysis. The potentials and
limitations of wood and wood charcoal analysis were also
discussed, as well as wood anatomy and the application of
microscope wood determination. In addition, other methods
of anthracology (charcoal analysis) were also introduced,
such as fre history reconstructions by the analysis of peat or
lake sediment micro- and macrocharcoals.
Peter Poschlod
, University Regensburg, Germany, 3.–5.
3. 2015,
Driving forces of the history of the central European/
German man-made landscape and selected habitats
. A
holistically conceptualized course focused on Holocene
climate, human diseases, wars, human spirit, technical
progress and economic changes in European agricultural
policy. In these lectures an entire history of central European
calcareous grasslands were demonstrated, as well as specifc
localities affected by humans such as pig grazing areas and
all former diverse habitats. The history, ecology and actual
situation of transhumance in the (French) Alps were also
presented.
Dorian Fuller
, University College London, United
Kingdom, 6.–8. 3. 2015,
Growing Societies: the
archaeobotany of food production and globalization
of agriculture
. The lectures were focused on a global
perspective in archaeobotany and archaeology, for example,
on the changes in pastoral pathways to plant domestication
in Africa. The second main issue dealt with was the
domestication of rice in eastern Asia and the ethnobotany of
rice use. The topic of globalization played a central role in
the lecture about the archaeology of a used planet. A chief
concern of the lectures was on the material culture of Asia
and northern Africa in connection with the use of economic
plants.
Marie-José Gaillard
, Kalmar University, Sweden,
8.–10. 4. 2015.
Pollen-based reconstruction of vegetation
Figure 4.
Archaeobotanical cooking experiment during Archaeological
summer school 2013 in Netolice, Czech Republic: From left: Monika
Hrušková, Michaela Divišová. Photo Martin Pták.
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IANSA 2015 ● VI/1 ● 113–123
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, Tereza Šálková:
PAPAVER. Centre for Human and Plant Studies of Postglacial Europe and Northern Africa, 2013–2015
119
abundance/cover: theory and practice.
The course covered
the theory of pollen analysis, including models of pollen-
vegetation relationships and pollen dispersal and deposition,
and application of the “Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm”
of Shinya Sugita for pollen-based reconstructions of
vegetation abundance/cover. The course included half- day
lectures and half days of group discussions and plenary
sessions on the potential of models and their use in research.
Takeshi Nakagawa
, Ritsumeikan University, Japan,
19.–22. 5. 2015,
Quaternary climate changes: standard
theories and challenging the status quo
. These lectures
were targeted on climate development in the Late Glacial
and postglacial development in order to explain standard and
alternative theories about the Younger Dryas. The last forty
thousand years of climatic development were explained in
the context of the Suigetsu lake environmental record in
Japan and also in the global context of radiocarbon-dating
calibrations. Detailed climate reconstructions were discussed
in the context of human cultural development.
5. Creating new perspectives: educational exchanges
of Papaver Centre members
Two institutions, out of many, that were included in the
Papaver project were the University La Sapienza in Rome
and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Modena.
Cooperation with members of La Sapienza university
Figure 5.
Italian archaeologists take
archaeobotanical samples from submerged
well in Etruscan seaport Pyrgi, Italy. Material
from the well is analysed by Papaver Centre
members. Photo Flavio Enei.
Figure 6.
Landscape scenery evocating the
Roman period countryside, Northern Lazio
close Sasso, Italy. Photo K. Prach.
image/svg+xml
IANSA 2015 ● VI/1 ● 113–123
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, Tereza Šálková:
PAPAVER. Centre for Human and Plant Studies of Postglacial Europe and Northern Africa, 2013–2015
120
have long preceded the start of the Papaver project, since
Jaromír Beneš has given several lectures there from 2011
onwards. The initiation of the Papaver Centre has enabled
the cooperation between LAPE and La Sapienza to be
extended. The opportunity to study abroad at the
Museo del
mare e della navigazione antica
in Santa Severa under the
auspices of La Sapienza has become a great contribution for
Czech members of Papaver. Under the supervision of Italian
palaeoecologists and archaeologists, Czech Papaver members
have been able to become familiar with the methodology of
underwater excavations (Figures 5 and 7), with the problems
of processing and interpretating palaeoecological data, and,
above all, with the different approaches of Italian scientists.
As an example we could mention two interesting sites of
archaeological excavation where international teams have
cooperated. The frst site is the former Etruscan harbour of
Pyrgi, in presen-day Santa Severa (Enei 2013a). The harbour
and city, that are these days about 1–10 metres under the
sea, used to be one of the most important points in ancient
Italy for international maritime trade, being a gateway to
the Etruscan realm. The second excavated site includes a
roman villa in the city of Castrum Novum, in present-day
Santa Marinella (Enei 2013b). This city was built along the
sea, on the road known as the Via Aurelia, and soon after
was inhabited by rich Romans (Desibio
et al.
2015). In both
cases, Czech members of the Papaver Centre have mostly
contributed through environmental analyses – analysis of
plant macro- and microremains (Kodýdková
et al.
2013).
The knowledge and methodology acquired by the Czech
team has been essential.
Members of the Papaver Centre have visited the National
Corporation for Antiquities & Museums (NCAM) in
Khartoum, Sudan. They have contacted archaeologists from
Sudan who are interested in the multidisciplinary approach to
Figure 7.
Kateřina Kodýdková and Klára
Paclíková are trained in the bioarchaeological
sampling methods of the Roman amphora
content in Pyrgi. Italy. Photo Jaromír Beneš.
Figure 8.
Study of humans’ and vegetation
past is an important part of archaeobotanical
investigations of Papaver Centre in Sudan.
Members of Papaver Centre sampling soil
for environmental analyses. From left:
Ladislav Varadzin, Lenka Suková, Jan
Novák. Photo Petr Pokorný.
image/svg+xml
IANSA 2015 ● VI/1 ● 113–123
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, Tereza Šálková:
PAPAVER. Centre for Human and Plant Studies of Postglacial Europe and Northern Africa, 2013–2015
121
archaeological investigations and in questions associated with
the history of agriculture and past climate reconstruction. We
have also participated in feld archaeological investigations
in the Sabaloka Mountains near the 6
th
Nile Cataract,
provided by NCAM in cooperation with the University
of Khartoum. During the excavations we have had the
opportunity to meet different methods of archaeobotanical
work in arid environments, as well as various sampling
strategies and interpretations of environmental indicators
(Figure 8). In cooperation with a local botanist we have
had the opportunity to collect specimens for a reference
collection of seeds, which is a fundamental tool for further
archaeobotanical determinations. Our stay in Sudan has been
very benefcial: both from the point of view of methodology
and the establishment of contacts with local specialists.
Our experiences with the specifc conditions of arid NE
Africa may be further utilised in our Laboratory for the
archaeobotanical examination of material from associated
territories (
e.g.
Egypt and Sudan).
Members of the Papaver Centre have also obtained a
better knowledge regarding archaeobotany in Israel, namely
at the Bar Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, where the famous
archaeobotanical laboratory under the leadership of Ehud
Weiss is located. The purpose of our study stay at Bar Ilan
was to become acquainted with their laboratory practice,
develop contacts for future research in the Czech Republic,
and moreover visit key archaeological sites related to the
origins of agriculture. The Czech team was able to look
around Jericho, Ohalo, Ain Mallaha, and the caves of Mount
Carmel, among several other locations.
6. 11
th
Conference of Environmental Archaeology
(CEA), February 2015
The 11
th
conference of Environmental Archaeology
took place between the 9
th
–11
th
February 2015 in
České Budějovice (Figure 9). Up to now it has been a
traditional conference interconnecting archaeobotanists,
palaeoecologists and vegetation scientists together with
archaeologists. Up until the 2014 conference the focus
has been on Czech, Slovak (and Polish) scientists only,
the conference language having been Czech. However, in
2015, thanks to the PAPAVER project, the conference has
become international. Though a considerable proportion,
more than one hundred, of the participants were still from
the Czech Republic, there were now participants from
Germany, Italy, Estonia, Russia and Iceland also taking part.
The topic of the conference – “LIFE IN FLUX – Humans,
animals and plants in postglacial ecosystems of Europe
and northern Africa”– was connected with the scope of
the whole PAPAVER project. Particular sections were also
similarly structured – from questions regarding vegetation
development during the Holocene, Mediterranean and
African Archaeobotany, to environmental archaeology in
general (Bernardova, Kodýdkova (Eds.) 2015).
The conference was divided into several sections. The
frst section presented the issue of multidisciplinarity in
Holocene investigations within the perspective of European
archaeobotany. The second set of presentations and posters
discussed African archaeobotany and environmental
archaeology, in particular, in Sudan, Niger and Egypt. The
last section was more general, bringing together diverse
contributions from individual methods of analysis of prehistoric
sites to a multiproxy approach in current archaeology.
7. Concluding remarks
The creation and work of the Papaver Centre has been an
important step in several ways. At an internal university
level it has created a useful working space – integrating
archaeobotanists and palaeoecologists who operate in feld
research with archaeologists in general. The long-term
Figure 9.
Conference of Environmental
Archaeology, February 2015, České
Budějovice, Czech Republic. Photo Klára
Paclíková.
image/svg+xml
IANSA 2015 ● VI/1 ● 113–123
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, Tereza Šálková:
PAPAVER. Centre for Human and Plant Studies of Postglacial Europe and Northern Africa, 2013–2015
122
fnancial and logistical support has enabled the growth and
scientifc potential of the Laboratory of Archaeobotany and
Palaeoecology, and the young Institute of Archaeology, to be
realized. The teaching weeks of invited top world scientists
have, in particular, accelerated the research power of young
members of the Papaver Centre team and enabled them direct
experience of progressive directions of investigation. The
Papaver Centre project has fnally generated new scientifc
plans and stimulated new grant proposals. Last, but by no
means least, the Papaver Centre in 2013–2015 has been
able to systematically support this journal, Interdisciplinaria
Archaeologica – Natural Sciences in Archaeology.
Acknowledgements
This article is supported by the grant ‘Papaver. Centre for
human and plant studies in Europe and Northern Africa in
the postglacial period,’ reg. no: cz.1.07/2.3.00/20.0289. The
Papaver Centre cooperates with several research projects
such as the Prior the Neolithic Project.
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