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The Roman town of Herculaneum, due to its burial by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79, provides the rare opportunity to study the diet of middle and lower class Romans living in an urban context in mid-1^st century AD Italy. Knowledge concerning Roman diet, prior to the growth of bioarchaeology in the 1960s and 1970s, was derived from the ancient texts and focused primarily on the elite diet. The diets of the poorer classes have often been considered monotonous and unhealthy and consequently, malnutrition is believed to have been widespread in urban centres. Collaboration between the numerous sub-disciplines of bioarchaeology, including archaeobotany and zooarchaeology, has begun to take place amongst scholars working on the Vesuvian sites and diet is currently being studied using a more holistic approach. The ancient sources act as a secondary resource and it is now the physical food remains that play a crucial role in examining Roman diet and associated topics such as trade, health and nutrition. This thesis investigated the bioarchaeological remains from the Cardo V sewer that ran beneath the shop/apartment complex of Insula Orientalis II in Herculaneum. It is the first large scale study to combine both new and existing bioarchaeological material from Herculaneum in an effort to provide the site with its own bioarchaeological data set, particularly with regards to food and diet. In total, 220L of soil was examined for carbonized and mineralized seeds, seashells, eggshells and fish bones. 194 taxa were identified, included including 94 botanical, 45 fish, 53 shellfish and two bird taxa. 114 of the 194 taxa can be considered edible foodstuffs. The statements of the ancient authors concerning dietary diversity have been examined in light of these findings and found to be comparable. The material displayed little taphonomic bias when compared to Pompeian bioarchaeological assemblages. The excellent preservation of the material, combined with data from modern food sciences, has allowed for much needed interpretation to take place in the areas of health and nutrition. The variety of cereals, fruits and seafood indicate close connections with the nearby land and sea and consequently, the economic implications of such extensive resource exploitation have been considered. A nutritional analysis of the finds have shown that diets were nutrient dense and healthy, enabling the people of Herculaneum to achieve modern day stature as well as survive and recover from illness. Thus it can no longer be assumed that those of moderate means ate an unhealthy and monotonous diet, that malnutrition was widespread in urban centres, and finally, that descriptions of foodstuffs in the ancient sources apply only to the wealthy.

Food is the foundation upon which societies are built. It is a means of survival, a source of wealth and prosperity and can be used as a means of social display. In Iron Age Atlantic Scotland, a wide range of food resources were open to exploitation. Among these, barley is likely to have been an important backbone to the system. Far from being at the mercy of the elements, the Iron Age population of Atlantic Scotland was able to extract surpluses of food from the landscape which could be manipulated for social, political and economic gain. One means through which this could be achieved is feasting, a practice considered significant elsewhere in the Iron Age. With such ideas at its core, this thesis examines the main arenas for consumption events in Iron Age Atlantic Scotland (dwellings) in detail, considering also the underpinnings of the system in terms of food production and accumulation, in particular the barley crop. The distribution of food processing and preparation between a dwelling and its associated ancillary buildings at Old Scatness provides insights into the organisation of life on the settlement.

Limited knowledge about the 3000-year period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age in central Anatolia, Turkey, prevents any understanding of change or continuity in crop production, consumption and crop husbandry techniques. This research aims to address this bias through the examination of archaeobotanical remains from the four central Anatolian Chalcolithic sites of Çatalhöyük West, Çamlıbel Tarlası, Canhasan I and Kuruçay and the consequent investigation of their crop economies. This work draws on multiple methods and techniques to understand the plant-related activities that occurred at the sites. The four chosen sites bookend the Chalcolithic period (c. 6000-3000 cal BC) and provide the opportunity for exploring the interrelationship between crop choice, crop husbandry, settlement size, surrounding environment and social organisation. Differences in crop species such as hulled barley, glume wheats and pulses, particularly lentil and bitter vetch occur at all four sites with species choice community specific. Multiple methods are used to disentangle the depositional processes, such as dung burning, that formed the assemblages, providing an indication of the origin of the archaeobotanical material and allowing inferences about the nature of weed seeds found. Crop processing activities are evident at all sites, with the dehusking of glume wheat contributing significantly to the archaeobotanical assemblage. The analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of crops coupled with the functional ecology of arable weeds, indicate that crop husbandry techniques/regimes were site specific and were influenced by site size/population as well as environmental conditions. The identification of the crops grown and the methods used to cultivate and process them have implications for understanding the social context of such activities, and the broader socio-economic background of a period preceding the great changes in social structure seen in the Bronze Age.

Au Proche-Orient, le Néolithique acéramique (12200-8400 cal BP) correspond à une période de changements sociétaux qui se caractérisent principalement par le mode de vie sédentaire et la mise en place de nouvelles stratégies de subsistance. Bien que les pratiques agricoles et l’élevage aient probablement été initiées en parallèle, les indices de l’agriculture sont les premiers à se manifester, notamment à travers le développement d’un cortège de plantes adventices et la perte progressive de la déhiscence chez l’orge et les blés vêtus. L’objectif de ce travail est de mieux cerner cette période fondamentale de changements, à travers l’étude archéobotanique de deux sites emblématiques. Dja’de el-mughara (10700-10200 cal BP) et Tell Aswad (9800-8400 cal BP), respectivement localisés au nord et au sud de la Syrie, sur le Moyen Euphrate et en Damascène. Les deux sites ont déjà fait l’objet d’analyses mais la présente étude porte sur un nombre beaucoup plus important d’échantillons, issus de fouilles récentes, ayant bénéficié de nouvelles recherches et datations. Elle permet ainsi de revoir certaines interprétations, de comparer le processus d’émergence de l’agriculture dans les deux régions et de restituer les pratiques associées à l’échelle locale, grâce à la nature et la composition des assemblages ainsi que leur distribution sur les sites. / In southwest Asia, the Aceramic Neolithic (12200-8400 cal BP) coincides with a period of social changes characterized by a new sedentary way of life and new subsistence strategies. Plant cultivation and animal husbandry developed together during this period to form a mixed agricultural economy. Evidence for plant husbandry was the irst to manifest itself as seen by the development of arable weeds and the loss of the dispersal mechanism in wheat and barley. This research seeks to better understand this crucial period in human history by examining the charred plant remains recovered from two key sites for this period. Dja’de el-mughara (10700-10200 cal BP) situated in the Euphrates valley in northern Syria and Tell Aswad (9800-8400 cal BP) situated in the Damascus basin in southern Syria. Both sites had already been the subject of archaeobotanical studies. The present study includes a much larger and more representative number of samples thanks to additional excavation and more complete archaeological data not least the dating. These new results presented here allows us to reassess earlier interpretations, better compare the development of agricultural practices in the northern and southern Levant and better understand crop processing and crop management on a local level through spatial analyses and an assessment of potential arable weeds.

Det finns många frågetecken kvar kring konsumtionsbeteende inom förhistoriska kulturer. Målet med denna studie var därför att studera och förbättra förståelsen av det arkeobotaniska materialet i ugnar gjorda för att torka sädeskorn och hur ugnarnas innehåll korrelerar med den växtbaserade matkonsumtionen, samt att försöka se potentiella samband mellan ugnarna, deponerade växtrester i gravar och de två mossliken Grauballemannen och Tollundmannens maginnehåll. De 14 ugnarna, belägna i Sydskandinavien och daterade till järnåldern, analyserades och jämfördes för att se hur deras innehåll förhåller sig både i tid och rum men även jämfört med det övriga åkerbruket från bronsåldern till medeltiden. Det arkeobotaniska fynden visade att i yngre bronsåldern odlades det Hordeum vulgare var. vulgare, vilket följdes av en period då Hordeum vulgare var. nudum odlades. Detta pågick till slutet av romersk järnålder då Hordeum vulgare var. vulgare igen blev den vanligaste grödan att odla. I slutet av järnåldern odlades både Avena sativa och Hordeum vulgare var. vulgare. Övriga sädeskorn som Triticum sp. och Secale cereale har även odlats, dock endast till en mindre grad enligt fynden från ugnarna. De arkeobotaniska fynden jämfördes sedan med den rådande bilden av matkulturen under järnåldern, vilket visar indikationer på att Chenopodium album, Fallopia convolvulus, Persicaria maculosa/lapathifolia, Plantago lanceolata, Poacea, Polygonum aviculare och Spergula arvensis troligen har konsumerats tillsammans med de funna sädeskornen. Flera av dessa påträffades i de samtliga analyserade fornlämningarna.  Jämförelseanalyser i dendrogram mellan gravarnas och ugnars makrofossila rester samt de båda mosslikens maginnehåll visade inga definitiva samband. Dock fanns det gravar som korrelerade relativt starkt med ugnarnas innehåll, möjligen på grund av dess stora fyndmaterial av makrofossil. Dessa kunde visa indikationer på mat och måltid har deponerats i gravar.

La recherche menée dans cette thèse porte sur les restes archéobotaniques mis au jour dans le Cimetière I de Pachacamac par le Projet Ychsma ainsi que ceux découverts par Díaz et son équipe dans le cimetière 22 de Octubre d’Armatambo. Les contextes funéraires de ces deux sites correspondent à la culture Ychsma (10ème-15ème siècles). Cette recherche carpologique a pour but de répondre à trois questions de recherche: 1) Peut-on établir un modèle type de trousseau archéobotanique? Qu’en est-il des végétaux participant à la réalisation du paquet funéraire? 2) Quel(s) est (sont) le(s) critère(s) ayant pu avoir une influence sur les offrandes botaniques et les végétaux entrant dans la composition des paquets funéraires? A quel(s) niveau(x) se marque cette influence? 3) Qu’en est-il de la présence de taxons exogènes, particuliers ou présents dans un seul enterrement? Pour ce, j’ai analysé les restes archéobotaniques des deux sites de façon séparée et suivant les angles syn- et diachroniques. J’ai donc effectué des analyses en termes de présence/ absence et de fréquence des taxons dans les contextes funéraires en considérant les enterrements dans leur ensemble mais aussi en les séparant selon divers critères (âge, sexe et rang social relatif). Par la suite, j’ai comparé les résultats obtenus pour les deux sites. Je ne détaille pas ici les résultats de chaque analyse. Je me contente de mentionner les points principaux qui en sont ressortis, à savoir 1) qu’il ne semble pas y avoir eu une taxon-offrande type; 2) que des offrandes alimentaires apparaissent dans toutes les catégories établies; 3) d’autres facteurs (entre autres le rapport affectif aux défunts, la possible manipulation idéologique de ceux-ci par les vivants, le symbolisme des taxons, etc.) ont exercé une influence sur la présence des taxons; 4) que Gossypium barbadense était un élément type dans la réalisation des paquets funéraires. Cette recherche a eu pour conséquence l’apparition de nouvelles questions de recherche qui pourront être abordées ultérieurement sur base notamment d’un travail statistique et regroupant des échantillons de divers sites de la culture Ychsma. / The present investigation focuses on the archeobotanical remains discovered in Pachacamac’s Cemetery I by the Projet Ychsma, and Cemetery 22 de Octubre in Armatambo excavated by Díaz and her team. The funerary contexts of both sites pertain to the Ychsma culture (10th-15th centuries). The aim of this carpological investigation is to answer three questions: 1) Is it possible to establish a model of archaeobotanical grave goods? What about the plants that were used in the realisation of the bundles? 2) What is (are) the criterion (criteria) that could have influenced the archaeobotanical grave goods and the plants used in the making of the bundles? At what level(s) is this influence leaves its mark? 3) What about the presence of exogenous taxa or particular taxa or taxa which appear only in one tomb? In order to answer these questions, I analysed the archaeobotanical remains of each sites separately, using a syn- and diachronic perspective. I realised analyses in terms of presence/ absence, as well as frequency of taxa in the funerary contexts, by taking into account the burials as a whole, but also by separating them according to various criteria (age, sex, relative social ranking). Thereafter, I compared the results of both sites. I would not discuss the research results in detail here, but I will limit myself to mentioning the main conclusions: 1) it seems that there was no typical grave good taxon; 2) alimentary offering appear in all the categories; 3) other factor (among others the emotional connection to the deceased, the possible ideological manipulation of the dead by the living and the symbolism of the taxa) influenced the presence of taxa; 4) Gossypium barbadense was a typical taxon among the plants participating in the realisation of funerary bundles. This research has led to the appearance of new questions. By conducting statistical investigations and by gathering samples from various Ychsma sites, it will be possible to treat these new questions in the future. / Doctorat en Histoire, histoire de l'art et archéologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Les campagnes de fouilles menées sur plusieurs sites antiques et islamiques en Arabie orientale ont livré des macrorestes botaniques et entomologiques. Les sites inclus dans le corpus sont Qal’at al-Bahreïn (Royaume de Bahreïn), Kush et Mleiha (E.A.U.) et Fulayj et Qalhât (Sultanat d’Oman). Ce travail se base sur des analyses carpologiques, anthracologiques, xylologiques et archéoentomologiques. Il s’attache à déterminer les stratégies d’approvisionnement et de gestion des ressources végétales mises en place par les sociétés des périodes historiques, de l’Antiquité à l’arrivée des Portugais dans l’océan Indien, au sein d’un environnement aride contraignant et d’un contexte de dynamiques commerciales. L’agriculture est reconnue sous la forme de palmeraies, un agrosystème oasien, polycultural et irrigué, au sein desquelles étaient cultivés des céréales, des légumineuses, des fruitiers et des condiments. Des informations concernant les modalités de stockage et des mesures de conservation et de protection des denrées alimentaires ont été mises en évidence dans le contexte incendié de Mleiha. Les ravageurs des produits stockés auxquels les sociétés devaient faire face ont été déterminés. L’acquisition du combustible se basait sur une optimisation des ressources disponibles issues des différentes formations végétales de la région, du système agricole et d’activités de rejets. Un grand nombre de taxons allochtones a été trouvé, correspondant à des plantes cultivées et du bois de plantes sauvages ligneuses, ainsi que des insectes. Les plantes cultivées correspondent surtout à des taxons d’origine tropicale et sub-tropicale pour lesquels il est généralement difficile de déterminer s’ils ont été importés ou s’ils ont pu être acclimatés localement. Le contexte de dynamiques commerciales au sein du golfe Persique et de l’océan Indien aux périodes antique et islamique semble avoir favorisé l’importation et l’acclimatation de plantes allochtones, voire d’insectes, en Arabie orientale. / Excavations conducted on several classical and Islamic period sites in eastern Arabia have provided botanical and insect macroremains. The sites included in our study are Qal’al al-Bahrain (Kingdom of Bahrain), Kush and Mleiha (U.A.E.) and Fulayj and Qalhât (Sultanate of Oman). This work is based on the analysis of seeds/fruits, charcoal (anthracology), wood (xylology) and insect remains (entomology). It aims at understanding the supplying strategies and the management of plant resources by the societies of historical periods, from Antiquity to the arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean, in an environment marked by aridity and a context of trade dynamics. Agriculture is recognised in the form of date palm gardens, an oasis agrosystem with multi-cropping and irrigation in which cereals, pulses, fruit trees and condiments were cultivated. Information concerning the storage as well as measures of conservation and protection of foodstuffs has been obtained from a burnt context at Mleiha. Parasites attacking storage of food that the past populations had to face have been determined. The procurement of fuel was based on the optimal use of resources present in the different local plant communities, in agricultural systems and the use of waste. A large number of allochtonous plant taxa have been identified, corresponding to cultivated plants and wood from wild-growing trees, as well as insects. The cultivated plants correspond mainly to taxa of tropical and subtropical origin for which it is generally difficult to determine if they were brought to the sites as importations or if they could have been acclimatised locally. The context of trade dynamics across the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean during the classical and Islamic periods seem to have favoured the importation and acclimatisation of allochtonous plants, or even insects, in eastern Arabia.

A travers l'analyse de matériel macrobotanique (charbon et graines / fruits) issus de trois sites majeurs du Later Stone Age (LSA) d'Afrique australe, cette étude s'intéresse à reconstituer les conditions environnementales durant l'Holocène dans la région, en particulier au cours des deux à trois derniers millénaires. L'étude de ce matériel, accompagné de la constitution d'une collection moderne de références de la végétation du bassin Kgalagadi, vise à mieux cerner l'impact quel'environnement a pu avoir sur les sociétés humaines (subsistance, peuplements, etc.) à une période-clé du (LSA), qui marque l'émergence des pratiques pastorales dans la région. L'étude des environnements est ici primordiale pour interpréter les conditions qui ont pu favoriser l'arrivée de ces premiers éleveurs et leurs lieux d'installation. En complément, une approche ethnographique a été menée, en travaillant avec les communautés locales dans la région de l'Erongo en Namibie, qui peuvent aider à comprendre et reconstituer les pratiques passées d'utilisation de la végétation. / Through macrobotanical (wood charcoal and seeds / fruit) analysis from three major Later Stone Age (LSA) sites located in the Kgalagadi Basin in southern Africa, this study is interested in reconstructing the environmental conditions during the Holocene in the region, in particular in the last two to three millennia. Initially this work couples archaeological macrobotanical analysis with the construction of modern reference material in an effort to trace the environmental / vegetal evolution as well as to comprehend socio-ecological and socio-environmental dynamics in Southern Africa during the late Holocene. The scope of this study covers the period spanning the last 3000-2000 years, with the main objective of understanding what relationships humans had with their environment at a time linked with the arrival or the appearance of the first herding practices in that part of Africa. These herding practices are believed to be accompanied by significant human movement from eastern or central Africa southwards. Favourable environmental conditions may have influenced their routes as well as settlement choices, and these are aspects that this archaeobotanical study aims to address. This study also employed an ethnographic approach, working with local communities in the Erongo region of Namibia, so as to make inferences to past vegetation utilisation practices while at the same time discerning and reconstituting past human activities.

Il lavora affronta l'analisi delle strutture di combustione provenienti da diversi contesti archeologici attraverso un approccio multidisciplinare. Le metodologie adottate associano all'approccio contestuale i risultati derivati dall'analisi archeobotanica dei residui di combustione e delle alterazioni termiche. Lo studio tipologico delle strutture di combustione è integrato dai risultati della riproduzione sperimentale delle strutture in modo da selezionare le metodologie di analisi e di intervento nei cantieri archeologici. L'analisi dei resti vegetali (analisi antracologica, carpologica, tafonomica) ha permesso inoltre di ricostruire le strategie ed aree di approvvigionamento del combustibile, il paleoambiente, la paleodieta ed alcuni aspetti dell'agricoltura delle comunità del passato. Tale approccio è stato applicato alla lettura ed interpretazione delle attività connesse con l'uso del fuoco e gestione degli spazi in alcuni contesti archeologici indagati dall'Università del Salento: santuario di Apollo a Hierapolis (Turchia), abitato dell'età del Ferro e fase arcaica di San Vito dei Normanni, abitato dell'età del Ferro di Castelluccio. / This work analyzes the hearth structures from different archaeological contexts through a multisciplinary approach. The contextual analysis is linked to archaeobotanical analysis of fuel and thermal alteration. The experimental replica of hearth structures shed new light about new methodology of studies and definition of proceedings protocol. This approach is applied to three archaeological sites excavated by the University of Salento: Apollo sanctuary at Hierapolis (Turkey), San Vito dei Normanni (Brindisi, South Italy), Castelluccio (Brindisi, South Italy). The archaeobotanical analysis (anthracological, carpological, taphonomical analysis) allowed to reconstruct fuel management, palaeoenvironment, paleodiet and agricolture practice of ancient comunities.