The view from the thermal baths of Pompeii: reconstructing the vegetation of the 1st millennium BCE

This study aims to point out the impact of the ancient city of Pompeii on the Sarno floodplain during the 1st millennium BCE. The issue of the development of the Sarno River and its response to past urbanization before and at the time of the volcanic eruption in 79 CE (Vogel and Märker 2010) benefits from the reconstruction of the environmental conditions in the area between the city, the river meander belt, and the sea. Data from an archaeological excavation (Furlan et al. 2019) and geoarchaeological analyses (Nicosia et al. 2019; Deiana 2019) have been complemented by recent palynological analyses performed within the framework of an interdisciplinary research project of the University of Padua. In order to outline the anthropogenic features and the palaeoenvironmental evolution several sediment cores were drilled in 2017 immediately south to the Sarno Baths, the thermal complex located along the southern section of the city wall. After having identified a succession of organic layers which formed the fluvial deposits dated to the 900–750 BCE to 79 CE interval, continuous pollen samples have been recovered from one core (S5). The preliminary results display a strictly local open landscape with a patchy scenario: Herbs prevail on Mediterranean shrubs, riparian trees and wetland plants. The regional vegetation is poorly represented. Intense cultivation of cabbages and other vegetables is also recorded as crops that possibly alternated with pasturelands