Un approccio archeobotanico multidisciplinare per la ricostruzione del paleoambiente e delle pratiche agricole nell'Italia centrale durante la tarda età del bronzo. Il caso di Monte Croce-Guardia (Ancona)

A multidisciplinary archaeobotanical approach for reconstructing palaeoenvironment and agricultural practices for the Late Bronze Age Central Italy. The case of Monte Croce-Guardia (Ancona). The study of past environmental conditions for plant growth is pivotal in tracing the socio- economic evolution of ancient societies, whose development was closely linked to plant exploitation and crop production. Regarding Pre-Protohistory, Bronze Age is a period when intensive land use and increasing woodland clearance, coupled with climatic fluctuations, affected crop selection and production. This is especially relevant when considering the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BCE, when a reduction in rainfall is recorded in the Mediterranean, causing societal collapses and migrations. Monte Croce Guardia, one of the most important Late Bronze Age settlements in Central Italy (12th- 10th cent. BCE) [excavation licensed by the Ministry of Culture to the Dept. of Science of Antiquities, Sapienza University of Rome], provides a valuable case study for investigating landscape transformations under climatic and/or human forcing in the Peninsula. Both anthracological and carpological remains from various settlement areas were identified. Integrating archaeobotanical and palynological analyses, in addition to the study of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes, it was possible to reconstruct changes in plant exploitation strategies and environmental conditions. Among seeds and fruits, the preference of glume wheats on barley over time is evidenced, while the high abundance of millet highlights the importance of this newly introduced drought-tolerant cereal especially in the earliest occupational phases. Charcoal remains together with pollen reveal a landscape modelled by human activities with the significant presence of sclerophyllous vegetation, that suggests different environmental conditions than nowadays. In this respect, the comparison of isotopic carbon content between archaeological and modern wood samples confirms than the climate of the past was drier. By integrating a multidisciplinary archaeobotanical approach, this study provides new insights into the environmental and climatic reconstruction of Central Italy at the end of the Bronze Age, when important societal developments occurred. Furthermore, it significantly enriches the current knowledge of plant exploitation and crop production for one of the less-investigated Italian region.