Trees and Tree Cultivation in the Prehistoric Aegean: A Synthesis of Archaeobotanical Data

Summary

Our presentation, based on an overview of archaeobotanical data from the Aegean from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age, attempts a synthetic approach to the cultivation of trees. This work is part of the PLANTCULT research project funded by the European Council Research (ERC Consolidator Grant, GA 682529). As archaeobotanical data we consider the macro-remains of fruits/seeds and burnt wood from archaeological sites. In addition, we use palynological information when available. Our goals are: A) to investigate the characteristics of the natural local vegetation around the Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in the study area, B) to investigate the presence/absence and frequency of occurrence of trees that became incorporated in the diet, economy and trade of the prehistoric Aegean, and C) to comment on the cases of the almond tree and the olive. More specifically for the olive tree, based on mapping the presence of the plant in the archaeobotanical record, the beginnings of olive cultivation and the factors that led to it are discussed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22026