Veget Hist Archaeobot (2003) 12:253–262 DOI 10.1007/s00334-003-0022-7
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Daniele Arobba · Rosanna Caramiello · Angiolo Del Lucchese
Archaeobotanical investigations in Liguria: preliminary data on the early Iron Age at Monte Trabocchetto (Pietra Ligure, Italy) Received: 12 December 2002 / Accepted: 15 September 2003 / Published online: 18 November 2003 Springer-Verlag 2003
Abstract The archaeological site we studied is part of an early Iron Age hill fort (8th/7th cent. b.c.), located 800 m from the coast on the top of a hill named MonteTrabocchetto. This paper concerns an excavation, called “saggio O”, which disclosed a very varied stratigraphy characterised by highly anthropogenic layers and by a pit, presumably used as a silo for food storage, which was very rich in charred seeds and fruits. The study of the pit content showed the dominance of Hordeum vulgare, while Triticum dicoccon, T. monococcum, T. aestivum/ durum, Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica were less strongly represented. Some edible Leguminosae were also found (Lens culinaris, Vicia faba var. minor and V. ervilia). In the frequented areas around the pit, herbaceous weeds and fruit tree macro-remains were present (Prunus cf. spinosa, Corylus avellana, Quercus sp. and Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris). The identification of a large number of botanical taxa has provided important information on food of plant origin and agricultural practices during the early Iron Age on the Ligurian coast, the protohistoric archaeobotanical aspects of which are largely unknown.
Introduction There is very little existing documentation on the Iron Age in western Liguria, and the Province of Savona is very poor in studied sites, materials and datings. Most of the known sites consist of hill forts, villages located in a high and strategic position which allowed the occupiers to control access both from the hinterland and the coast. The Monte Trabocchetto site, located immediately behind Pietra Ligure (Province of Savona), at 193 m a.s.l. and 800 m from the coastline, belongs to this category (Figs. 1, 2a). It covers an area of about 4,000 m2 and may be considered an important archaeological site. The place was known for sporadic archaeological finds in the past, and the first important evidence dates from the late 1920s when, during quarrying work, most of the hillock was transformed, uncovering about 200 Iron Age metal objects and artefacts. The finds, which were dated as belonging to the 7th cent. b.c., have today been partially lost. Among the various finds were the characteristic iron wheels which, in more recent studies, have been attributed
Keywords Archaeobotany · Early Iron Age · Hill fort · Crop plants · Liguria · Italy
D. Arobba ()) Istituto Internazionale di Studi Liguri, Museo Archeologico del Finale, Chiostri di S. Caterina, 17024 Finale Ligure, Italy e-mail:
[email protected] R. Caramiello Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale, Universit di Torino Viale Mattioli 25, 10125 Torino, Italy A. Del Lucchese Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Liguria, Via Balbi 10, 16126 Genova, Italy
Fig. 1 Position of Monte Trabocchetto site in Italy and Liguria
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Fig. 2a–d Monte Trabochetto site. a General view of the hill (the arrow shows the position of the site); b remains of a dry-stone perimeter wall of the hill fort; c silo pit; d occupation layer of
“saggio O” (post holes can be noted, as can traces of dry-stone wall and a cobble floor)
to the presence of a chariot grave (Piva 1934; Tizzoni 1979; Odetti 1996). The material which is still available today is housed in the Museo Civico di Archeologia Ligure at Genoa Pegli. The original layout of the protohistoric settlement is today difficult to understand because of repeated terracing work for agricultural purposes and the gravel pit operations in the immediate vicinity. The further discovery in the early 1990s of materials coming from this zone has stimulated new archaeological research, which has uncovered anthropogenic layers and dry-stone structures (Fig. 2b). Along the south side of the hill, in a flattish area, a stratigraphic sequence has been found which shows an early occupation layer. Unfortunately this is very limited because of the absence of any protective structure, and it is under a series of dry-stone wall terraces and banking. The excavation, known as “saggio O”, sited in a flattish area of the slope, has brought to light two more or less contemporary archaeological contexts in a primary position. The first corresponds to a pit, about 2 m in diameter and 30–80 cm in depth (Figs. 2c, 3a, b). The upper part of the pit has been ruined by recent terracing and agriculture (SU 2, 1). Therefore, only the base of the
pit is preserved and it is not completely ascribable to one of the types described for silos of this period (Alonso 1999). The other archaeological contexts which have been examined consist of anthropogenic occupation layers (SU 24, 23, 28, 29, 16, 22) which have produced fragments of pottery, the remains of metal objects, whorls, grindstones, remains of animal bones, etc., and various kinds of structures, including cobble floor, patches of clay plaster and post holes (Figs. 2d, 3b). The first goal of the archaeobotanical investigation was to reconstruct the role of the pit: was it a silo for the storage of foodstuffs of plant origin, in that the material stored inside was very homogeneous? We wanted to work out differences in the seed content between the pit and the other, surrounding stratigraphic units. The presence of much carbonised material, which was noticed during the excavation, made us think that the site was affected by a fire, after which it was abandoned. In the pit, some pottery was found in the part nearest the surface (SU 12), while the deepest part (SU 12R) was sterile from an archaeological point of view. The archaeological finds are still being examined but, on the basis of the kind of pottery
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Fig. 3a, b Monte Trabocchetto–”saggio O”. a Sketch of plan of pit (SU 12R and 12); b stratigraphy of pit and occupation layers (SU 24, 23, 19, 16, 22). SU 2 and 1 consist of modern agricultural layers (SU stratigraphic unit)
found in SU 12, the pit is attributable to the early Iron Age. This dating is also confirmed by the fact that no imported pottery has been found–such pottery is generally typical of Ligurian late Iron Age sites. 14C dating performed at the Centre for Isotope Research of Groningen on cereal caryopses from SU 12R has indicated the date of 2550€40 uncal b.p. (GrN 21523; one sigma=796– 786–600 b.c.); the lower layer (SU 19) has yielded wood charcoal dated at 2540€160 uncal b.p. (GrN 21526; one sigma=830–779–404 b.c.). The dates agree on a period between the 8th and 7th cent. b.c., and thus to the early Iron Age (Del Lucchese 1999). In the Liguria Provence area of northern Italy and southern France, traditionally considered as the home of the Ligurian people, the
villages dating from the late Bronze Age–early Iron Age (14th/7th cent. b.c.) found so far are characterised by groups of small, single-room buildings, constructed in non-durable materials (load-bearing posts, clay and reeds, etc.). The buildings were rectangular or oval, separated from one another and arranged without any apparent order according to the topographical features of the site. As they were generally hill-top settlements, probably for strategic and/or defensive reasons, the surfaces were often finished with a dry-stone retaining wall. All these non-durable buildings were frequently renovated or restored and were actually the centre of a much larger, utilized space which included areas of open-air craft or domestic activities (external hearths), shelters and other covered or enclosed areas for cattle, food stores and probably cultivated areas (Maggi 1990). The site in question is attributable to this kind of village, and the study of the macro-remains from Monte Trabocchetto, where the biological material is abundant and highly localised, is the first valid attempt to try to interpret the agronomic activity of the early Iron Age in western Liguria. It therefore forms an important basis for improving our knowledge of the plant husbandry during the early Iron Age in northern Italy, and this was the second important goal for our investigations. To date, other Ligurian archaeological sites, including the neighbouring hill fort of Bergeggi (Del Lucchese et al. 1994), have provided only few data on botanical macro-remains from the 4th–3th cent. b.c. (Nisbet 1994).
Materials and methods Sixty litres of earth, corresponding to all the material present, was taken from two stratigraphic units of the pit (SU 12R and 12), and in total 500 l from the occupation layers which make up SU 24, 23, 28, 29, 19, 16 and 22 (Fig. 3b, Table 1). The remains were separated from the samples by water flotation, which was carried out by G. Viarengo (Viarengo & Tiscornia Co.). Two fractions were extracted: one with remains with a diameter >1 mm, the other with a diameter of 0.5–1 mm. All the archaeobotanical remains were examined using a stereomicroscope with a magnification of 10–63. Fragments were counted considering two parts as one remain; smaller fragments were added up until they reached the unit value.
Table 1 Sequences of the stratigraphic units of the Monte Trabocchetto site, indicating the texture and archaeological features, colour of the sediments and the volume of examined samples SU
Textural and archaeological characteristics
Munsell soil colour
Sample vol. (l)
1, 2 12 12R 22 16 19
Silt matrix layers, disturbed by recent agricultural activity Silty soil with charred remains and occasional pottery shards Silty soil with charred remains without pottery shards Silty soil with fine gravel, rich in pottery and animal bones Gravelly soil with a sandy matrix, rich in pottery and animal bones Sandy–gravelly soil with animal bones and charcoal, occasional pottery shards, two grindstones Patches of clay plaster in SU 19 Sharp-edged limestone cobble pavement on surface of SU 23 Sandy soil with gravelly lenses with pottery, animal bones and occasional charcoal Gravelly layer with scarce archaeological finds
5YR4/2 2.5YR3/2 2.5YR3/2 10YR4/4 10YR4/4 10YR5/3
-
2.5YR3/4 10YR4/6 10YR6/8
120 20 120 -
29 28 23 24
10 50 60 10 170
256 Table 2 List of macrobotanical remains from Monte Trabocchetto (absolute count and percentages). Fr Fruit (includes different fruit types), sf spikelet forks, rs rachis segments, s seed, fr st fruit stone, cu cupule
Archaeological zones Stratigraphic units Sample volume (l) 14-C dating (cal.) Count Crop plants Hordeum vulgare (fr) Hordeum vulgare (rs) Triticum dicoccon (fr) Triticum dicoccon (sf) Triticum monococcum (fr) Triticum monococcum (sf) Triticum aestivum/durum (fr) Triticum sp. (rs) Hordeum or Triticum (fr fragm.) Panicum miliaceum (fr) Panicum or Setaria (fr) Setaria italica (fr) Setaria sp. (fr) Lens culinaris (s) Vicia faba ssp. minor (s) Vicia ervilia (s) Vicia sp. (s) Herbs Lolium sp. (fr) Euphorbia helioscopia (fr) Calendula sp. (fr) Chenopodium cf. album (fr) Chenopodium cf. polyspermum (fr) Chenopodium sp. (fr) Rumex sp. (fr) Galium sp. (fr) Oxalis sp. (fr) Thymus sp. (fr) Other Lamiaceae (fr) Iris sp. (fr) Trees and shrubs Prunus cf. spinosa (fr st fragm.) Corylus avellana (fr st fragm.) Quercus sp. (fr fragm.) Quercus sp. (cu) Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris (s) Not determined Total
As SU 12 and 12R have provided archaeological remains of the same age, we thought we would put the seeds together in one sample, separating them from those deriving from the other six stratigraphic units regarding the occupation layers. There is a higher frequency of cereal macro-remains in 12R, which corresponds to the deeper part of the pit. A collection of present-day seeds and fruits was used for comparative purposes as well as specific atlases (Beijerinck 1947; Katz et al. 1965; Renfrew 1973; Brouwer and Sthlin 1975; Berggren 1981; Schoch et al. 1988; Anderberg 1994). Because it is difficult to distinguish naked hexaploid wheat grains (Triticum aestivum s.l.) from tetraploid ones (T. durum or T. turgidum) in the absence of parts of the ear, we have used the term Triticum aestivum/durum for naked wheat, following the approach of various earlier authors (Van Zeist 1980; Jacomet et al. 1989; Hubbard 1992; Bux i Capdevila 1997; Bux i Capdevila et al. 1997; Cubero 1998). The results are reported in Table 2 as absolute values and in percentages; the main categories of specimens are also reported in percentage histograms (Figs. 4 and 5). The nomenclature of the scientific plant names follows Pignatti (1982).
Silo pit 12-12R 60 8th–7th centuries b.c.
Anthropogenic layers 16-19-22-23-28-29 500 8th–7th centuries b.c.
Absolute count
Absolute count
2,288 11 88 3 14 1 2 73 13 27 4 -
% 90.43 0.43 3.48 0.12 0.55
30 3 4 -
0.04 0.08 -
-
0.04 0.04
-
0.04
-
1
1
0.04 -
-
1
11.90 1.59 1.59 15.08 3.17 0.79 0.79 1.59 2.38 0.79 -
1
0.79
1 3 1
0.79 2.38 0.79 -
3
-
-
-
-
1 1
23.81 2.38 3.17
15 2 2 19 4 1 1 2 3 1
2.89 0.51 1.07 0.16
%
0.04
-
-
1 2,530
0.04 100
2.38 -
1 2 14 1 1
0.79 1.59 11.11 0.79 0.79
1 1 2 2 1 4 126
0.79 0.79 1.59 1.59 0.79 3.17 100
Results Table 1 lists the stratigraphic units, the volumes of the sediments examined, and the sediment types in the two types of site structures. Table 2 lists the taxa, arranged according to agronomic category, and the type of find. The pit revealed a high concentration of carbonised carpological (seed) remains (a total of 2,530 with a frequency of 42.2 remains per litre), while the occupation layers only showed sporadic presence of plant material (a total of 126 remains with a frequency of 0.25 remains per litre). The general comparative histogram shows the content of the pit compared with that of the occupation layers; the x-axis shows the categories of the macro-remains, the yaxis the respective percentages (Fig. 4). Figure 5 shows the percentages of the most important taxa. Some of the macro-remains found at the site are illustrated in Fig. 6.
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Fig. 4 Monte Trabocchetto. Histogram of plant remains in two stratigraphic locations (percentages based on 2,530 remains in silo pit and on 126 in occupation layers)
their value reaches 95.1% of the total, while in the occupation layers it is only 68% (Fig. 4). In all, 2,407 caryopses of cereals and only 14 chaff remains were obtained from the pit; on the other hand, the occupation layers provided 83 remains of cereals, of which 15 were fragments of chaff (Table 2). A detailed examination of the cereal component shows that in the pit, hulled Hordeum vulgare (90.86%) was mainly present (Figs. 5, 6a), 68.88% of which belonged to the variety hexastichum and 21.98% to the variety tetrastichum. The distinction between the two varieties is based on the length/breadth (L/B1.8) ratio, as indicated by Jacomet et al. (1989, p. 322). Less abundant were Triticum dicoccon (3.6%; Figs. 5, 6b) and T. monococcum (0.55%; Figs. 5, 6c), with sporadic finds of the caryopses of Panicum miliaceum (Figs. 5, 6d) and Setaria italica (Figs. 5, 6e). In the samples taken from the occupation layers, there were far fewer remains but a more diverse spectrum; this is more useful for drawing up a general picture of cereal growing. So, for example, the few caryopses of Triticum aestivum/durum were found only in the occupation layers. Leguminous remains Some Leguminosae were found in the pit, representing 4.63% of the total specimens (Fig. 4, Table 2). Lens culinaris (Fig. 6f) is the most common (62.39% of the total of the 117 Leguminosae seeds in the pit) in its small, traditional form (average diameter=2.91 mm), and some members of the genus Vicia, including Vicia faba ssp. minor (Fig. 6g; 11.11% of the Leguminosae seeds in the pit) and V. ervilia (Fig. 6h; 23.07% of the Leguminosae seeds in the pit), together with fragments which could not be more closely identified (3.43%). In contrast, Leguminosae in the occupation layers were found only sporadically, and Vicia ervilia was absent.
Fig. 5 Monte Trabocchetto. Histogram of remains of cereals in the two stratigraphic situations (percentages based on 2,524 remains in silo pit and on 88 in occupation layers)
The seeds from the pit were very well preserved with integral surfaces which preserved, in the case of hulled caryopses, traces of glume and frequently the presence of the embryo in the scutellum; on the other hand, fragments of the ears with grain/rachis connections were missing. In the case of Leguminosae seeds, the hilum with the embryo was often observable. The remains found in the occupation layers were not as well preserved, being more fragmented and with eroded surfaces. Cereal remains In all contexts, the predominance of cereals over other categories of macro-remains can be observed. In the pit
Other remains In the pit there was a general scarcity of macro-remains of other herbaceous taxa (Table 2); the following were found: fruits of Chenopodium (cf. C. album and C. polyspermum), Rumex sp., and of some not closely identifiable Lamiaceae. In the occupation layers, on the other hand, there were more taxa and weeds such as Lolium sp., together with typical plants of local vegetation (Euphorbia helioscopia, Calendula sp., Galium sp., Oxalis sp., Thymus sp. and Iris sp.). Edible fruit tree taxa are generally not well represented (Table 2, Fig. 4); mostly they were found in the occupation layers where there were fragmented macroremains of Prunus cf. spinosa, Corylus avellana and Quercus sp. (Fig. 6i). Only one Vitis vinifera (grape) was found (Fig. 6k) which, according to the dimensions (Mangafa and Kotsakis 1996), is very close to the
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Fig. 6a–k Seed remains from the Monte Trabocchetto site (segment=1 mm). a Hordeum vulgare; b Triticum dicoccon; c T. monococcum; d Panicum miliaceum; e Setaria italica; f Lens
culinaris; g Vicia faba ssp. minor; h Vicia ervilia; i Quercus sp. (fragment of the base of a cupule); k Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris
subspecies sylvestris (L=5.39; LS=1.53; PCH=1.83; B=4.09; T=2.66 mm).
1. The material in the pit is very homogeneous, with the predominance of cereal caryopses (95.13% of the total of macro-remains); the concentrations of caryopses are 42.2 per litre. The macro-remains were concentrated in the base sample: in SU 12R there were 50 pieces/l (98.8% of the total content of the pit) while in SU 12 the frequency was three pieces/l, equivalent to 1.2%. Although the concentration of the deeper part was very low, in any case this difference would suggest that it is really a silo pit. 2. There is one predominant cereal species, hulled barley (90.86%), which is one of the most representative
Discussion Interpretation of the structures and representation of the taxa in the different structures The pit (SU 12R and 12; Fig. 3) may be considered a storage silo and not as a secondary infill of a generic structure for collecting waste, on the basis of the following considerations:
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crops in the early Iron Age in the western Mediterranean. 3. The specimens are in an excellent state of preservation, typical of primary position layers. 4. The discovery of few traces of weeds in the silo pit would indicate the storage of carefully selected foodstuffs: there is only a very limited presence of typical weeds of arable crops and other weedy taxa (0.16%). In contrast, the defined occupation layers show a larger variety of seeds/fruits with a low concentration (three per litre) and a poor state of preservation. More weedy taxa are present (21.41%). As in many other cases, the silo pit provided much material which had been stored food (Bux i Capdevila 1997; Matterne 2001). In addition, it was the result of a single burning event. Such a find provides only little information about a single storage and fire event. The diverse information obtained from the analysis of the occupation layer samples gives a better understanding of what was used during the time of occupation. Therefore, it is worth recommending that, even if there is a storage area extremely rich in seed remains where selected material could have remained for specific reasons, it is important not to neglect the study of occupation areas which can provide a more general picture of agricultural Table 3 Presence of seeds of edible plants from Liguria between the Copper Age and the Iron Age. The map shows the geographical location of the archaeological sites considered: 1 Monte Trabocchetto hill fort, 2 Bergeggi hill fort (Nisbet 1994), 3 Bric Tana (Nisbet and Scaife 1998), 4 Uscio hill fort (Nisbet 1990), 5 Zignago hill fort (Castelletti 1974)
activities as a whole (Jacomet et al. 1989; Willerding 1991). In the case of Trabocchetto, we can mention the only finds of Triticum aestivum/durum and the majority of the fruit tree remains in the occupation layers, the presence of which would not have been shown if only the material from the silo pit had been examined. Comparisons with other archaeological sites in the Mediterranean region Much of the evidence from seed remains of food plants found in the Monte Trabocchetto archaeological area have also been identified at other Ligurian sites. Table 3 provides some of the most significant results from sites dated between the Copper Age and the late Iron Age. From the examination of the material from the silo pit, there emerges the importance of the cultivation of Hordeum vulgare (hulled barley) during the early Iron Age at Trabocchetto. One of the reasons for the early and successful cultivation of barley may be its high degree of climate adaptability and its hardiness, which allows its cultivation on rather infertile soil which is poor in nitrogen and very well drained, such as that of the site in question. These considerations agree with the archaeobotanical data from archaeological sites in the south of France and on the Mediterranean coast of Spain in the
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same period, to which most reports in scientific literature refer (Marinval 1988; Prez and Bux i Capdevila 1995; Bux i Capdevila 1997; Cubero 1998). Other cereals, too, such as Setaria italica (foxtail bristle-grass) and especially Panicum miliaceum (common millet), have been found in many archaeological contexts in the same period, both in silos and pottery containers (Marinval 1992; Matterne 2001). Both species, which have a short spring–summer cultivation cycle, are present at Trabocchetto in small quantities, both in the silo pit and in the occupation layers; they could have provided a further harvest to be used for human food. The presence of P. miliaceum has been ascertained in northern Italy in various pedoclimatic zones of the Po Valley, such as Monte Covolo (Pals and Voorrips 1979), Valeggio (Villaret-von Rochow 1958) and Alba (Motella De Carlo 1995) from the 3rd millennium b.c. In Liguria there are reports of millet in the late Bronze Age (1200–900 b.c.) in western areas (Nisbet 1990), while in eastern areas in the middle Bronze Age (1600–1300 b.c.) the determination is more uncertain, with references to finds of Panicum/ Setaria (Nisbet and Scaife 1998). In the south of France Panicum miliaceum seems to have arrived later, during the Iron Age; one of the oldest finds is from Languedoc (700–625 b.c.) and Spain (700–500 b.c.), where there are numerous finds from the same period (Marinval 1992, 1995). Thus, it would seem that millet was found in Liguria earlier than so far reported for western Mediterranean coastal areas. Caryopses of Setaria italica are present in central Europe and northern Italy in the Bronze Age; in the same period this taxon arrives in France and Liguria (Castelletti 1974). The contemporary presence of Panicum and Setaria in horizons of the same age is rarely mentioned for the south of France, whereas it seems to be a common event in Liguria (Marinval 1995); this is also very common in late Bronze Age lake dwelling sites in Switzerland (Jacomet and Karg 1996). As far as Leguminosae are concerned, it can be observed that their quantity is usually very low at most sites: some authors believe that they are generally underrepresented because of the preparation method, which did not include roasting or parching (as in the preparation of hulled cereals), thus making pulses less likely to become preserved (Castiglioni and Rottoli 1994). However, this hypothesis does not seem sufficient to justify the underrepresentation of Leguminosae in general, since naked grains, not roasted for preparation, have often been found in such quantities as to make one think of a fair representation. In the case of the silo at Trabocchetto, where the charring of the plant remains was probably due to a fire in the silo pit and not to roasting for preparation, the quantity of Leguminosae seeds could correspond to the actual scarcity of these products among the stored material, rather than any underrepresentation. Because the pulses were also present in the human occupation layers, they were probably used regularly.
Seeds of Vicia faba var. minor and Lens culinaris appear in Liguria starting from the Copper Age–early Bronze Age (3000–1600 b.c.) and middle Bronze Age (1600–1300 b.c.; Nisbet 1990; Nisbet and Scaife 1998; Table 3). In other Italian regions, in the south of France and the Iberian Peninsula, there is evidence of them as early as the Neolithic (Marinval 1988; Hopf 1991; Bux i Capdevila 1997). Seeds of Vicia ervilia found at Monte Trabocchetto show that the crop was cultivated continuously in western Liguria, having already been found at Bric Tana in the middle Bronze Age (1600–1300 b.c.) and at Bergeggi (Nisbet 1994) in the late Iron Age (300– 100 b.c.). This taxon is not very frequent in the western Mediterranean area, although bibliographic data from the 1970s, which would require further verification using 14C dating, would indicate the presence of V. ervilia in the 8th–7th millennium b.c. in the Var and Roussillon regions in France (Courtin 1975; Erroux 1980). Evidence of fruit tree growing The quantity of fruit tree macro-remains at Trabocchetto is very modest and they have been found only in the occupation layers. They may be considered as evidence of seasonal gathering, for which no prolonged storage was envisaged. Thus, at this site one may hypothesise the growing of cereal and horticultural crops but not the cultivation of fruit trees which, in agreement with bibliographical data, is thought to have developed in Italian Liguria some centuries after the evidence from the south of France (Ruas 1996). The finding of only one grape seed in the layers datable to the 8th–7th cent. b.c. of the Monte Trabocchetto site does not allow us to hypothesise the cultivation of grapes at this locality, although in the same period there was the first cultivation of grapes in southern France (Marinval 1997). The measurements which are used to separate the pips of wild vine from those of cultivated type probably require reconsideration, given that selection, which probably occurred by asexual propagation, has given rise to varieties which have diversified with successive, minor modifications over a long period of time. The shape and dimensions of the grape seeds may have undergone similarly gradual variation, constituting a continuum between the wild and cultivated varieties, making discrimination very difficult (Mangafa and Kotsakis 1996).
Conclusions Although it is always very difficult to understand the ways and times during which populations have modified their forms of settlement, there are numerous historicarchaeological observations which have shown the gradual transition of Ligurian populations, from the 2nd millennium b.c., towards stable settlements of a certain
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size. Such settlements, known as hill forts, are generally located on high ground, in protected and easily defendable positions. There is a diversification over time, showing a considerable organisation of space with some areas given over to family dwellings and others used for community use for the harvesting, processing and storage of foodstuffs, suitable for supporting an economy based on agriculture and livestock rearing (Garcia and Rancoule 1989; Marinval 1994; Odetti 2003). The evolution of hill forts into complex villages thus allows the easy recognition of the areas used for storage compared to the normal, less-structured layouts. The bibliography shows that in Liguria a certain number of hill forts of varying structure and complexity have been explored from an archaeological point of view, but parallel archaeobotanical studies have only been carried out in a few cases and sometimes not in a targeted way (Giuggiola 1959; Del Lucchese et al. 1994; Del Lucchese 1999; Del Lucchese et al. 2003). The Monte Trabocchetto site, thanks to its wealth of seed remains, may be considered as one of the most important pieces of a mosaic which is still too poor in specimens to provide a satisfactory picture of agriculture in western Liguria at the beginning of the Iron Age, in an area which has been much modified by generations of farmers who never had enough land. The most extensive flat land near the site in question, being mostly delta and affected by fast-flowing streams, could not provide suitable land for agriculture, in the absence of adequate control. Thus, the flattish land on the hills was the best land resource, although it was sometimes not very fertile (as it is today), but it was more defendable, both from neighbouring populations and from natural calamities. In fact, recent investigations on Holocene coastal sediments in the Albenga and Albisola districts, only a few dozen kilometres from Monte Trabocchetto, have confirmed the presence of slight traces of cereal growing-based agriculture starting in the Atlantic Period and continuing until proto-history and, at least in the case of the Albenga area, until historic periods (Piccazzo et al. 1994; Arobba et al. 2001a, 2001b). The cooperation with the Soprintendenza per i beni Archeologici della Liguria (Ligurian Superintendent’s Office for Archaeological Heritage) will allow us to take samples from other sites of the same kind and also from partly explored hill forts, thus obtaining further archaeobotanical knowledge which should be useful for interpreting the evolution of the Ligurian coast environment and of farming in a crucial transition period leading towards the complex economy of the Roman age. Acknowledgements Research funded by the Italian National Research Council-CNR (Cultural Heritage Project-Chair: A. Guarino; Director: U. Baldini; Subproject 4 Coordinator: G. De Stefano; Operative Unit: R. Caramiello).
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