The origin of cereal domestication is a key current issue archaeological research in the Fertile Crescent. Archaeobotanical evidence highlights complex scenario for when and where agricultural practices started. Gloss texture analysis sickle blades with confocal microscopy represents new contribution to knowledge this process. A previous study (Ibáñez et al., 2016) pointed Middle Euphrates Leva...

Timber procurement and the use of woodlands are key issues in understanding the open landscapes of the Norse and Medieval periods in the North Atlantic islands. This paper outlines evidence for the timing and mechanisms of woodland use and deforestation in an area of southern Iceland, which is tracked through the mapping and analysis of charcoal production pits. Precise dating of the use of the...

The appearance of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent propelled the development of Western civilization. Here we investigate the evolution of agronomic conditions in this region by reconstructing cereal kernel weight and using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures of kernels and charcoal from a set of 11 Upper Mesopotamia archaeological sites, with chronologies spanning from the onset o...

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is one of the oldest domesticated cereal crops in Eurasia, but identifying foxtail millets, especially in charred grains, and differentiating it from its wild ancestor, green foxtail (Setaria viridis), in the archaeobotanical remains, is still problematic. Phytolithic analysis provides a meaningful method for identifying this important crop. In this paper, the s...

The Harvesting Memories project aims to investigate the historical landscape dynamics in an inner area of Sicani Mountains district Western Sicily (Contrada Castro, Corleone-Palermo). interdisciplinary approach allowed us combine and integrate methods from different disciplines such as ecology, archaeology, archaeobotany GIS-based spatial analysis. In this paper some results have been summarize...

Thirty years after the discovery of an Early Neolithic timber hall at Balbridie in Scotland was reported Antiquity , new analysis site's archaeobotanical assemblage, featuring 20 000 cereal grains preserved when building burnt down early fourth millennium BC, provides insights into farming practices. The results stable isotope analyses cereals from Balbridie, alongside and three other sites, in...

Abstract Recent archaeological investigations in the lagunas di Santa Giusta and Mistras, waterlogged sites central-west Sardinia, Italy, have enabled recovery of archaeobotanical remains, exceptional terms quantity preservation, dated to Archaic Punic periods 7th–3rd century bc . Among finds was a significant amount Olea europaea fruitstones (endocarps), which are discussed here. The morphomet...