NDLI: Roman impact on the landscape near castellum Fectio, The Netherlands

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Bos, Valerie Brinkkemper, Otto Bull, Ian D. Engels, Stefan Hakbijl, Tom Schepers, Mans Dinter, Marieke Reenen, Guido Geel, Bas
Copyright Year	2013
Abstract	Castellum Fectio was one of the largest fortifications along the Limes, the northern border of the Roman Empire. The castellum, situated 5 km southeast of Utrecht, the Netherlands, was occupied from around the start of our Era to ca. a.d. 260. It was situated along a river bend of the Rhine that was cut off from the main stream during the occupation of the Roman fort. A 6 m long sediment sequence was recovered from the infill of the residual channel and pieces of Roman wall plaster, glume bases of Triticum spelta and radiocarbon dates indicate that the sediments were deposited during the period of Roman occupation. The combined palaeoecological analyses—palynological, macrobotanical, entomological and geochemical—allow a detailed reconstruction of changing environmental conditions as a consequence of the Roman occupation. The pollen record reveals a dramatic decrease in arboreal pollen, suggesting that the Romans were involved in large-scale deforestation, transforming semi-open parkland to a landscape of meadows and agricultural fields. Non-pollen palynomorphs, botanical macrofossils and insect remains support this conclusion. The recorded mycoflora shows a shift from assemblages characterised by the tree pathogen Kretzschmaria deusta to assemblages dominated by spores of fungi associated with herbaceous plants, concurrent with the decrease in arboreal pollen. The presence of masticated bran fragments of cereals, clover remains, eggs of intestinal parasites and entomological and geochemical data in the upper part of the sequence indicates that these sediments largely consist of faeces that were dumped into the former channel. Surprisingly, seeds of salt tolerant species are encountered in the sediments of this inland site, which was situated outside the influence of the sea. Horses may have brought these seeds to Fectio in their intestinal tracts after grazing in coastal meadows.
Starting Page	277
Ending Page	298
Page Count	22
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09396314
Journal	Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
Volume Number	23
Issue Number	3
e-ISSN	16176278
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2014-03-04
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Roman impact Palaeoecology Palynology Deforestation The Netherlands Paleontology Biogeosciences Climate Change Anthropology Archaeology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Plant Science Archeology (arts and humanities) Paleontology

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1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
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3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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