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Life on a hilltop: vegetation history, plant husbandry and pastoralism at the dawn of Bergamo-Bergomum (northern Italy, 15th to 7th century bc)

Cores and trenches drilled or dug in religious and secular buildings in the hilltop town of Bergamo (northern Italy) were investigated by means of micro/macrobotanical and pedochemical analysis to unravel the cultural vegetation history of the area during ca. seven centuries across the Bronze—Iron A...

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Autores principales: Pini, Roberta, Ravazzi, Cesare, Comolli, Roberto, Perego, Renata, Castellano, Lorenzo, Croci, Camilla, De Amicis, Mattia, Khair, Davide Abu El, Furlanetto, Giulia, Marsetti, Diego
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7605146/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33162679
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00334-020-00802-1
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author Pini, Roberta
Ravazzi, Cesare
Comolli, Roberto
Perego, Renata
Castellano, Lorenzo
Croci, Camilla
De Amicis, Mattia
Khair, Davide Abu El
Furlanetto, Giulia
Marsetti, Diego
author_facet Pini, Roberta
Ravazzi, Cesare
Comolli, Roberto
Perego, Renata
Castellano, Lorenzo
Croci, Camilla
De Amicis, Mattia
Khair, Davide Abu El
Furlanetto, Giulia
Marsetti, Diego
author_sort Pini, Roberta
collection PubMed
description Cores and trenches drilled or dug in religious and secular buildings in the hilltop town of Bergamo (northern Italy) were investigated by means of micro/macrobotanical and pedochemical analysis to unravel the cultural vegetation history of the area during ca. seven centuries across the Bronze—Iron Ages. We explore the predictive power of biological proxies, nutrients, and coupled (14)C datings to reveal early phases of human settlement and activity in a modern urban context with low visibility and difficult accessibility. Our records suggest that a farming centre was active on the Bergamo hilltop as early as the 15th century bc. Crop and animal husbandry reached a high point between the 11th-8th century bc. Plant and biogeochemical proxies predict extensive and diversified cereal cropping, flax and grapevine cultivation, as well as herd stalling at a watering pond, free range livestock growing in woodlands, and pastoralism, shown by hay making and overgrazing evidence. The suggestive hypothesis of carding wool is mentioned but is currently untenable. Furthermore, we identified a possible phase of abandonment starting from the 8th century bc, to be further investigated, and in agreement with archaeological data suggesting settlement decline in the 8th-6th century bc. Our research highlights the dedication to pastoralism of the Bergamo hill since prehistoric times. The settlement position was strategic for pastoralists to exploit biological and water resources in space, season and elevation, i.e. from the plain to higher Alpine pastures. Ethnographic examples and Middle Age written sources strongly support this picture. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00334-020-00802-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-76051462020-11-02 Life on a hilltop: vegetation history, plant husbandry and pastoralism at the dawn of Bergamo-Bergomum (northern Italy, 15th to 7th century bc) Pini, Roberta Ravazzi, Cesare Comolli, Roberto Perego, Renata Castellano, Lorenzo Croci, Camilla De Amicis, Mattia Khair, Davide Abu El Furlanetto, Giulia Marsetti, Diego Veg Hist Archaeobot Original Article Cores and trenches drilled or dug in religious and secular buildings in the hilltop town of Bergamo (northern Italy) were investigated by means of micro/macrobotanical and pedochemical analysis to unravel the cultural vegetation history of the area during ca. seven centuries across the Bronze—Iron Ages. We explore the predictive power of biological proxies, nutrients, and coupled (14)C datings to reveal early phases of human settlement and activity in a modern urban context with low visibility and difficult accessibility. Our records suggest that a farming centre was active on the Bergamo hilltop as early as the 15th century bc. Crop and animal husbandry reached a high point between the 11th-8th century bc. Plant and biogeochemical proxies predict extensive and diversified cereal cropping, flax and grapevine cultivation, as well as herd stalling at a watering pond, free range livestock growing in woodlands, and pastoralism, shown by hay making and overgrazing evidence. The suggestive hypothesis of carding wool is mentioned but is currently untenable. Furthermore, we identified a possible phase of abandonment starting from the 8th century bc, to be further investigated, and in agreement with archaeological data suggesting settlement decline in the 8th-6th century bc. Our research highlights the dedication to pastoralism of the Bergamo hill since prehistoric times. The settlement position was strategic for pastoralists to exploit biological and water resources in space, season and elevation, i.e. from the plain to higher Alpine pastures. Ethnographic examples and Middle Age written sources strongly support this picture. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00334-020-00802-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2020-11-02 2021 /pmc/articles/PMC7605146/ /pubmed/33162679 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00334-020-00802-1 Text en © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Original Article
Pini, Roberta
Ravazzi, Cesare
Comolli, Roberto
Perego, Renata
Castellano, Lorenzo
Croci, Camilla
De Amicis, Mattia
Khair, Davide Abu El
Furlanetto, Giulia
Marsetti, Diego
Life on a hilltop: vegetation history, plant husbandry and pastoralism at the dawn of Bergamo-Bergomum (northern Italy, 15th to 7th century bc)
title Life on a hilltop: vegetation history, plant husbandry and pastoralism at the dawn of Bergamo-Bergomum (northern Italy, 15th to 7th century bc)
title_full Life on a hilltop: vegetation history, plant husbandry and pastoralism at the dawn of Bergamo-Bergomum (northern Italy, 15th to 7th century bc)
title_fullStr Life on a hilltop: vegetation history, plant husbandry and pastoralism at the dawn of Bergamo-Bergomum (northern Italy, 15th to 7th century bc)
title_full_unstemmed Life on a hilltop: vegetation history, plant husbandry and pastoralism at the dawn of Bergamo-Bergomum (northern Italy, 15th to 7th century bc)
title_short Life on a hilltop: vegetation history, plant husbandry and pastoralism at the dawn of Bergamo-Bergomum (northern Italy, 15th to 7th century bc)
title_sort life on a hilltop: vegetation history, plant husbandry and pastoralism at the dawn of bergamo-bergomum (northern italy, 15th to 7th century bc)
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7605146/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33162679
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00334-020-00802-1
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