Pollen grains and spores have a highly resistant wall than can preserve over thousands of years. Using this characteristic, palynologist research the past environments and human-environment...Show morePollen grains and spores have a highly resistant wall than can preserve over thousands of years. Using this characteristic, palynologist research the past environments and human-environment relations. For archaeology this is crucial information and often a general part of research on a site. As was the case at the Bronze Age burial landscape at Oss-Gewandeweg. At this site, only remains of burial mounds were left due to agricultural levelling. The remaining features, circular ditch fills were sampled for palynological analysis. However, the samples were taken from a sandy depositional context which is unideal for pollen and spore preservation. In this thesis, the reliability of these samples is assessed. If the samples are not reliable they will portray an false vegetational reconstruction. This has scientific and social implications. Palynology is plays a role in the climate change debate and should be used wrongly because of this societal value. Two research questions have been formulated in order to fulfil this goal. The first research question was aimed to study the taphonomy of the palynomorphs and the effect the sandy depositional context had on the preservation. Besides the typical production bias and dispersal bias, the preservation context increases the differential degradation bias. The sand grains provide gaps through which water can leach and oxidize the pollen. The more oxidized the pollen are, the more susceptible to micro-organism attack. Biological degradation is thus also increased. The preservation states of the pollen in the samples also illustrated the poor preservation. The second research question included a comparative analysis between the ecological reconstruction based on the samples form Oss-Gewandeweg and Oss-Mettegeul, just five kilometres apart. The lower taxa diversity, absence of certain taxa and lower proportionality of certain taxa all point to a worse preservation context compared to the samples at Oss-Mettegeul. Recommendations for future research is to sample sediment which is dark-coloured and fine-grained. If samples from the Bronze Age ditch fill are required, phytolith analysis would be a great alternative. Phytoliths are inorganic and preserve better than pollen, spores and macrofossils.Show less
For a project, sediment samples of a lake located in the Libellenvallei, Meijendel (Wassenaar), were taken throughout the winter. Botanic macrofossils were extracted from these taken samples. These...Show moreFor a project, sediment samples of a lake located in the Libellenvallei, Meijendel (Wassenaar), were taken throughout the winter. Botanic macrofossils were extracted from these taken samples. These macrofossils got identified by multiple students of the University of Leiden. Taphonomic processes were the main focus of this project, and the choice was made to focus on the sexual strategies and the lifecycles of the found taxa. Sexual strategies can be considered a key element when it comes to the forming of a macrofossil assemblage. That can grant researchers plenty of information. The present can serve as a good indication of taphonomic processes that happened in the past. The mission of the project at Meijendel was to better understand the environmental context of archaeological sites. Knowing the taphonomic processes of a modern macrofossil assemblage and having good indications of how these macrofossils ended up at this location, can be a good source of information for less modern archaeological sites. The present can help us with making conclusions of vegetations of the past. Observations of taphonomic processes at different archaeological sites can allow predictive models to be constructed that can show palaeovegetation reconstruction. These predictive models are the reason why this research can be considered valuable for future archaeological research.Show less
El Flaco is an Amerindian site located in the northwestern part of the Dominican Republic and has been excavated by the ERC-synergy research project NEXUS 1492. El Flaco is a precolonial hamlet...Show moreEl Flaco is an Amerindian site located in the northwestern part of the Dominican Republic and has been excavated by the ERC-synergy research project NEXUS 1492. El Flaco is a precolonial hamlet which was occupied between the 10th and 15th centuries AD. One of the goals of the NEXUS 1492 project is to gain new information about the human plant dynamics of the site. One way of investigating this is to conduct paleoethnobotanical analysis on hearth features in which food plants, fuel plants, and plant foods were processed, cooked, and consumed in different ways. The research described in this thesis consists of macrobotanical and phytolith analyses of five hearth features from El Flaco. The main aim of this research is to investigate which plant foods could have been part of the diet of the former inhabitants of El Flaco. With the macrobotanical analysis, only one taxon could be identified, which is Portulaca spp. This taxon is edible, but since it is a highly invasive plant, it was likely accidentally charred and not consumed. The results of the phytolith analysis showed that five taxonomic groups (six taxa) were likely consumed: Marantaceae/Cannaceae, Annonaceae, Cucurbitales (wild), Cucurbita spp. (domesticated), and Zea mays.Show less
On a low-lying plain on the southeast border of the Scarpe, the rare archaeological site of Waziers, dating back to the Eemian stage, was discovered. At this site several flint artefacts and faunal...Show moreOn a low-lying plain on the southeast border of the Scarpe, the rare archaeological site of Waziers, dating back to the Eemian stage, was discovered. At this site several flint artefacts and faunal remains have been discovered. Concerning this site, several research studies have been conducted. Excavations at Waziers in 2017 have provided botanical macrofossil samples for study. Analysis of botanical macrofossils has been carried out to make an environmental reconstruction of the area early hominins exploited at Waziers during the Eemian stage. The data produced during this study has been combined with faunal and palynological data. The botanical macrofossil data shows a changing environment from end of the Saalien stage and during the Eemian stage. The sedimentation of a fluvial lake is implied. The aquatic, open landscape at the end of the Saalien changed to damp wetlands during the start of the more temperate Eemian. The final result was a swamp forest. This is supported by the faunal and palynological data. Researching the environment of Waziers is used to help us understand early hominin behavior and gain information on why to early hominins appear to not have crossed the North Sea Canal during MIS 5e.Show less
Les Cottés is Palaeolithic cave site located in the Vienne region in South-Western France. It is located near the Gartempe river. Nowadays it is a small river but in the past it influenced the...Show moreLes Cottés is Palaeolithic cave site located in the Vienne region in South-Western France. It is located near the Gartempe river. Nowadays it is a small river but in the past it influenced the environment in the valley. There is evidence that correlates the river to the site in the form of pebbles and flint but virtually nothing is known about the landscape shaped by the river during occupation of the cave. This thesis is an initial research and tries to comprehend the difficult fluvial landscape here. By mapping the fluvial history research questions can be answered regarding the influence of the environment in the Gartempe valley on human behaviour. With an augering transect eight different units were distinguished of fluvial depositions and erosion and showed the existence of two palaeochannels buried beneath the surface. The oldest channel had an infilling of peat and was studied in the form of a palynological research. The general picture, which consisted of Pinus and Betula, dated the infilling to the Allerød or Preboreal period. This was done by comparing it to several other sites in France which include the same environment. The local environment in this period shows that the channel got cut off and was not active anymore in this phase. There was still open water present but the accumulation of peat was in progress. The valley would have been characterised by wetland conditions. Two phases identified in this thesis could be of interest for the research at Les Cottés. One interpretation is that the terrace in front of the site is older than the research at Les Cottés and this means that the Pleistocene surface would be buried beneath current floodplain deposits. This terrace in front of the site could have been used as an overview point. The other interpretation is that the terrace was shaped after the occupation at Les Cottes. This would mean that the relative height difference between the cave and the site was very small. Both interpretations would have an impact on the archaeology. This shows that the Gartempe influences could have been bigger in the past.Show less
