At the origins of Pompeii: the plant landscape of the Sarno River floodplain from the first millennium bc to the ad 79 eruption
| Autor: | Jacopo Bonetto, Cristiano Vignola, Michele Mazza, Elda Russo Ermolli, Cristiano Nicosia, Laura Sadori, Guido Furlan |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Vignola, C., Bonetto, J., Furlan, G., Mazza, M., Nicosia, C., Russo Ermolli, E., Sadori, L. |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Mediterranean climate
010506 paleontology Archeology Floodplain Plant Science 01 natural sciences Shrubland 0601 history and archaeology Vesuvius 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Palynology geography.geographical_feature_category 060102 archaeology Land use Backswamp Paleontology 06 humanities and the arts Vegetation Archaeology Geography Iron Age Brassicaceae Pollen Pompeii (pre-)Roman age pollen brassicaceae |
| Zdroj: | Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 31:171-186 |
| ISSN: | 1617-6278 0939-6314 |
| Popis: | The ad 79 eruption of the Vesuvius severely affected the floodplain surrounding the ancient city of Pompeii, i.e. the Sarno River floodplain. The landscape was covered with volcaniclastic materials that destroyed the ecosystem but, at the same time, preserved the traces of former environmental conditions. This study provides—for the first time—a pollen sequence reconstructing the environmental evolution and the plant landscape of the Sarno floodplain between 900 and 750 cal bc and ad 79, i.e. before and during the foundation of the city, and during its life phases. Previous geomorphological studies revealed that the portion of the Sarno floodplain under the “Pompeii hill” was a freshwater backswamp with patchy inundated and dry areas. Palynology depicts a thin forest cover since the Early Iron Age, suggesting an open environment with a mosaic of vegetation types. The local presence of Mediterranean coastal shrubland, hygrophilous riverine forest and mesophilous plain forest is combined with the regional contribution of mountain vegetation through the sequence. Oscillations between inundated and wet ground characterized the studied area until the ad 79 eruption. Such a natural environment shows anthropogenic traits since pre-Roman times: pasturelands, cultivated fields and olive groves, which probably occupied drier soils. The most important change in the land use system was the introduction of cabbage cultivation in the fourth century bc and its intensification from the second century bc, when Roman influence grew. The presence of tree crops and of ornamental trees reveals the opulence of the Imperial age until the catastrophic eruption. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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