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Relationships between the Contemporary Distribution of Weed Types and Earlier Settlements along the Lower Vistula Banks (Northern Poland)
Author(s) -
HERBICH JACEK
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
archaeological prospection
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.785
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1099-0763
pISSN - 1075-2196
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0763(199603)3:1<1::aid-arp41>3.0.co;2-9
Subject(s) - human settlement , archaeology , geography , vegetation (pathology) , settlement (finance) , pottery , weed , ecology , habitat , biology , pathology , world wide web , computer science , payment , medicine
Contemporary vegetation on archaeological sites, such as earlier settlements and cemeteries, often differs from the surroundings. This difference consists of, among other things, plant height, intensity of the verdure, presence of some of the plants cultivated in the past and now occurring on the sites of earlier settlements, and the occurrence of epilithic plants on wall remnants. The author's observations indicate that on sites of former settlements, which are now fields, weed species are found that are different from those present in adjacent fields. The aim of this paper is to establish the relationship between this phenomenon and the sites of earlier settlement and to clarify the causes. The most important of these weeds, Adonis aestivalis (pheasant's eye), occurs in Poland mostly on rendzinas in the southern part of the country, whereas in the central and northern parts there are only a few localities on the other kinds of soils, which are also rich in CaCO 3 . In northern Poland it is one of the rarest weed species. Its localities are concentrated along the lower Vistula banks. This is also an area of abundant earlier settlements. All historical and contemporary localities of A. aestivalis in this region have been investigated with the use of standard geobotanical and pedological methods. It was found that this species exists permanently only within the limits of archaeological sites. The greater number of weeds also distinguishes these places from the surroundings. The upper layer of soil on the sites of earlier settlements, etc., contains numerous pieces of daub, pottery, bones and the like and also a much higher CaCO 3 content. The soil thus differs from the heavy, compact, loamy and gleyey black earths of the neighbourhood, which are not favourable for the permanent presence of A. aestivalis , and is more similar to a rendzina, which is optimal for this plant. These specific local features of present‐day habitats on archaeological sites render possible the contemporary permanent occurrence of A. aestivalis in the area investigated. Earlier settlements and graveyards function now here as local refuges of A. aestivalis at the edge of its geographical range.