Impact of Anthropogenic Activities on Woodland in Northern Syria (4th–2nd Mill. BC)

Evidence from Charcoal Assemblages and Oak Measurements

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12653598
AutoresKatleen Deckers (0000-0001-8087-5306, University of Tübingen, Institute for Archaeological Sciences Tübingen, Germany, autor correspondente), Federico Polisca (0000-0002-7381-9987, University of Padova, Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali Padova, Italy), Simone Riehl (0000-0002-1744-0032, University of Tübingen and Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (SHEP), Tübingen, Germany), Michelle De Gruchy (0000-0002-7856-8013, Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, UK), Dan Lawrence (0000-0001-5613-1243, Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, UK)
Ano2021
Volume29
Fascículo2
Páginas129-164
Data de publicação2021-10-27
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEnvironmental Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1461-4103 • E-ISSN: 1749-6314
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14614103.2021.1989977
OpenAlexW3210121611
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas60

In this paper charcoals from the Syrian sites Tell Mozan and Tell Jerablus are investigated to understand the impact of 4th to 2nd millennium BC settlement on the vegetation. Charcoals from these sites have been identified and oak fragments have been measured for their maximal diameter and annual ring widths. Our results show that while oak had reached its maximal expansion in the Mid-Holocene, and vegetation in the Euphrates Valley was lusher than today, strong anthropogenic impact on the vegetation was occurring, probably already prior to the Late Chalcolithic period. Due to potentially enormous herds of sheep and goat, and possibly large-scale agriculture with perhaps some understory cropping, oak was growing very slowly, to the degree that it must often have had a shrub-like appearance. People did not apply systematic oak woodland management practices, such as coppicing or pollarding. They used dung as an additional fuel, probably to cover for shortages in wood resources. The land appears to have been used both intensively and extensively to a degree that was not sustainable in the long term. This, combined with aridity impact on the oak, probably led to a decrease in oak proportion at Mozan in the Middle Bronze Age

Acorn · Agroforestry · Archaeology · Biology · Charcoal · Coppicing · Geography · Habitat · Holocene · Radiocarbon dating · Shrubland · Vegetation (pathology · Woodland · Woody plant · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis · Environmental Science · Ecology · Forestry

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