Analisi archeobotaniche a Villa San Silvestro

This work provides first archaeobotanical data collected from the archaeological site of Villa San Silvestro. Sediment samples exanimated were obtained from different contexts (hearths, pits, ritual and burial contexts) and their chronology span from the Roman to Early Medieval period (1 c. BC - 6 c. AD). The analysis, carried out on a number of charred remains (n. 285 charcoal fragments and 775 seed/fruit macro-remains), has produced interesting data dealing with past environment and agriculture features. According to the anthracological analysis beech trees and, secondly, deciduous oaks appear as prevailing woodland vegetation during the Roman phase; these two taxa seem to characterized the subsequent phase (6 c. AD), even though their ratio appear opposite (with more important presence of deciduous oaks in charcoal assemblages). Anthracological data contribute to define diachronically a well-preserved environment subject to a continuous exploitation for timber, without producing a real impact on woodland structure. Charred seed/fruit remains are concentred in very few contexts, in particular in sediment samples collected from two graves (T5 and T8). Different type of cereals (above all naked wheat, emmer, einkorn, barley and rye) have been recovered together with legumes, weeds and a “stone” of cultivated plum. These results allow placing the data from Villa San Silvestro in the general archaeobotanical overview of Italian peninsula and to confirm, for the first centuries of the Middle Ages, the persistence over the centuries of the consumption of wheat (usually naked wheat), alongside the increasing of extensive cultivation of rye and various legumes.