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IX/2/2018
INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA
NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
Editorial IANSA 2/2018
CEA 2018: the 14
th
Conference of Environmental Archaeology in
Modena and this Special Issue of IANSA
Jaromír Beneš, Anna Maria Mercuri
Our journal,
Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica, Natural
Sciences in Archaeology
(IANSA) has been closely associated
with the Conference of Environmental Archaeology (CEA)
since its very conception. These modestly organised
conferences were frst held in the Czech language under
the Archaeobotanical working group beginning in 2005 in
Prague, and was then transformed into the CEA from 2010.
Later, the Scientifc Committee decided to hold a conference
every three years in English to open it up to an international
audience. The frst such meeting was organised as the 11
th
Conference of Environmental Archaeology in February
2015, in České Budějovice, Czech Republic, under the
auspices of the PAPAVER Centre (Beneš et
al.
, 2015).
In 2017, the 13
th
Conference of Environmental
Archaeology took place in Nitra, Slovakia: the frst time
outside the Czech Republic (Mlejnek and Hajnalová,
2017). February 2018 saw the conference leave its central
European ‘motherland’ and head down towards southern
Europe: moving to Italy. Its organization was undertaken
by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, under the
direction of the Laboratory of Palynology and Palaeobotany
of the Department of Life Sciences, an interdisciplinary
biological centre in the full spirit of transdisciplinarity within
environmental archaeology. This was the third congress
locally organised by the Modena team since 2013, and was
an obvious continuation of its scientifc activity: proposing a
bridge between palaeoecology and ecology and emphasizing
the role of archaeobotany in environmental archaeology and
the modern science of conservation (Mercuri
et al.
, 2013;
Marignani
et al.
, 2017; Piovesan
et al.
, 2018).
In the CEA of 2018, seven thematic sections were planned,
reporting contributions on:
1) Detecting human impact: the ABG (Archeo-Bio-Geo)
research.
2) Long-term environmental reconstruction for landscape
management.
3) Northern Africa archaeo-environmental changes.
4) Mediterranean archaeo-environmental changes.
5) Reconstructing past landscape: fora insights from
archaeological sites.
6)
Interdisciplinary methods for environmental archaeology
interpretation.
7) Environmental sustainability in a changing world:
lessons from the past. Studies on palaeoecological
reconstructions with archaeological surveys, analyses
of botanical remains, human and animal bones, and
isotopic and molecular data were also presented. The
botanical contribution to archaeology was developed
in several presentations that dealt with transformations
in fora and vegetation as the centre of environmental
reconstructions. Research based on plant macroremains,
non-pollen palynomorphs and pollen data enriched the
long-term perspective of the analytical archaeological
studies (for example, Mercuri, 2014; Mercuri and
Florenzano, 2019). The abstracts were collected together
as part of an e-book, including oral presentations (41)
and posters (20), that were presented at the three-day
conference (Florenzano
et al.
, 2018).
The congress received sponsorships from the Botanical
Society of Italy (SBI), the Italian Institute of Prehistory
and Protohistory (IIPP) and the Society of Naturalists and
Mathematicians of Modena (SNMM), three important Italian
scientifc associations which awarded several contributions
by young scientists (
e.g.
Luelmo-Lautenschlaeger
et al.
,
2018; Figure 1). Moreover, overall patronage was given by
the Superintendence of Bologna, Modena, Reggio Emilia
and Ferrara, along with the Municipality of Modena and the
Emilia Romagna Region, and the archaeobotanical network
BRAIN – Botanical Records of Archaeobotany Italian
Network (
brainplants.successoterra.net
; Mariotti Lippi
et al.
, 2018). Modena’s Civic Museum hosted the Social
Dinner in the wonderful surroundings of the archaeological
rooms of the museum. Financial support was ofered by the
national project SUCCESSO-TERRA (on sustainability
and the Bronze Age in the Po Plain, N Italy; Cremaschi
Volume IX ● Issue 2/2018 ● Pages 115
–118
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IANSA 2018 ● IX/2 ● 115–118
Jaromír Beneš, Anna Maria Mercuri: CEA 2018: the 14
th
Conference of Environmental Archaeology in Modena and this Special Issue of IANSA
116
et al.
, 2016, and this issue), by the Fondazione Anna Maria
Catalano ONLUS and by the CEDAD-Centro di Datazione
e Diagnostica laboratory. The local organization committee
and the Centro Interateneo EDUNOVA – Centro E-learning
di Ateneo, which created the logo (Figure 2), contributed to
the success of the conference.
This special issue brings seven contributions that were
made at the Modena conference and a backstory based
on the plenary lecture given by Mauro Cremaschi at the
opening session. In the vast majority their themes touch on
the archaeobotany and palaeoecology of southern Europe –
from France to the Balkans. The frst contribution, prepared
by the Czech-Macedonian team, concerns the archaeobotany
of the Neolithic. The paper by Jaromír Beneš
et al.
maps
the noticeable possibilities of the site of Vrbjanska Čuka in
Pelagonia (Republic of Macedonia), where the Neolithic
tell is investigated in an interesting environmental setting.
The paper integrates the analytical knowledge of several
archaeobotanical disciplines, as well as an analysis of
molluscs describing the local early and middle Holocene
environment. The article about fuel practices in Roman
North Africa written by Erica Rowan presents the extensive
use of pomace. The author, who has developed this topic
(Rowan, 2015), focuses on the ways in which the Romans
brought together olive oil and pottery production. The paper
emphasizes the role of archaeobotanical research in modern
contexts by remarking that today, in the face of increasing
energy demands, pomace is once again being recognized as
an important resource for sustainable development in the
Mediterranean area.
Chiara Molinari and Carlo Montanari describe the
“wooded-meadows system”: a former multifunctional use
of vegetation that had been widespread in Europe since the
Neolithic. They document this type of human and vegetation
interaction in the Ligurian Apennines (Italy) between
the Middle Ages and the frst half of the 19
th
century. The
charcoal kilns of the northern Apennines are investigated by
anthracologists and palaeoecologists under the leadership
of Alessandra Benatti. The charcoal fragments contained in
these anthropogenic structures, located in the mountain areas
of Monte Cimone and Corno alle Scale in the Tuscan-Emilian
Apennines (northern Italy), at high altitudes, have enabled the
reconstruction of human-forest relationships
during the last
centuries. Comparison between the anthracological results
and other ethnobotanical and historical-social information
has made it possible to improve our knowledge of an activity
that was fundamental to past mountain needs and economies.
Environmental archaeology from mountain landscapes is
Figure 1.
The award ceremony at the
closing session of the CEA2018 of Modena.
Figure 2.
The logo of the CEA2018 of Modena.
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IANSA 2018 ● IX/2 ● 115–118
Jaromír Beneš, Anna Maria Mercuri: CEA 2018: the 14
th
Conference of Environmental Archaeology in Modena and this Special Issue of IANSA
117
also developed by Yannick Miras
et al.
, who investigate the
Holocene trajectories of landscape evolution arising from the
interplay between human impact and adaptability, climate
oscillations and environmental evolution. Their results
substantially extend our knowledge concerning landscape
development in the Lower Auvergne Mountains (France).
Unique archaeobotanical and archaeozoological fnds from
the New World in the Early Modern period are presented in an
article by Claudia Moricca
et al.
which presents an interesting
assemblage – from the seeds of pumpkins to the pelvis of a
guinea pig – from a pit infll found in Rome. Their results
improve our knowledge of the eating customs and daily habits
of a high-status Renaissance clerical community. Mariotti
Lippi
et al.
prepared a thematic review on the reconstruction
of Mediterranean forests using palynology: proposing a
bridge between the palaeobotanical and phytogeographical
approaches, and suggesting that pollen analysis can help to
reconstruct the Meso-Mediterranean forest.
The backstory reports on the national research
project SUCCESSO-TERRA (fnanced by PRIN-MIUR
(PRIN20158KBLNB, PI: M. Cremaschi), which sponsored
the CEA 2018 and was based on the cooperation between
two partner units, the geoarchaeologists of the University
of Milan and the palynologists of the University of Modena
and Reggio Emilia. The archaeological excavation of three
key sites (Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio, Vasca di
Noceto and San Michele di Valestra) and surveys in northern
Italian regions have led to interdisciplinary results useful
for an understanding of the rise and fall of the Terramare
culture, which developed in the Po Plain during the Middle
to Recent Bronze Age (Cremaschi, 2014; 2018; Mercuri
et
al.
, 2015; Cremaschi
et al.
, 2016). The Archaeological Park
of the Terramara di Montale, which was built on the basis
of impressive archaeological and archaeobotanical research
producing palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, celebrates
this Bronze Age period and therefore the CEA 2018 organized
the post-conference excursion to this archaeological park
located in the province of Modena (Figure 3).
Figure 3.
Post-conference excursion
of the CEA2018 of Modena: visit to the
Archaeological Park of the Terramara di
Montale (Castelnuovo Rangone, Modena).
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th
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