Evidence for vines and ancient cultivation from an urban area, Lattes (Herault), southern France.

Evidence for vines and ancient cultivation from an urban area, Lattes (Herault), southern France. IntroductionThe port of Lattes, ancient Lattara, lies halfway between Montpellierand the coast, 7 km from the sea, 4 m above sea-level on the banks ofthe Lez and the coastal lagoons, in the marshy marsh��y?adj. marsh��i��er, marsh��i��est1. Of, resembling, or characterized by a marsh or marshes; boggy.2. Growing in marshes. area that lines the lowerLanguedoc coast (Py 1993) [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED]. Inancient times the lagoons covered a wider area, rich in food resources,and extended for practically the whole length of the eastern Languedoccoastline. The climate is sub-humid Mediterranean; summer dryness canlast for between 3 and 5 months according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. the year, the spring andautumn parameters being highly variable.Such local vegetation as there is, is of the marshland variety;facing south towards the coast, Crucianella maritima or Ammophilapredominate in the dunes. Around the 'graus', waterwaysbetween the sea and the lagoons, areas of plantation include Tamarixgallica, Salix, Alnus glutinosa, Fraxinus oxyphilla, Ulmus, Populus alba Populus alba,n See poplar. and Platanus. Close to cultivated areas, about 10 km north of the site,areas of scrubland contain a complete range of low-lying ligneous lig��ne��ous?adj.Consisting of or having the texture or appearance of wood; woody.[From Latin ligneus, from lignum, wood; see leg- in Indo-European roots. vegetation: from Quercus coccifera and Brachypodium ramosum to verylow-lying areas of woodland containing Quercus pubescens, Quercus ilexand Pistacia terebinthus.Work at Lattes over the last 20 years has determined the duration ofthe occupation, and outlined a stratigraphy stratigraphy,branch of geology specifically concerned with the arrangement of layered rocks (see stratification). Stratigraphy is based on the law of superposition, which states that in a normal sequence of rock layers the youngest is on top and the oldest on the from the second half of the6th century BC to the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd centuriesAD (Arnal et al. 1974; Py & Garcia 1994).The present study of seeds and fruit uses samples from variousexcavations of 1986-91, relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accthe period from the 4th century BCto the 1st century AD (Py & Garcia 1994), with two objectives: toinvestigate the settlement's agriculture and plant resources; andto identify the non-cultivated plant environment familiar to theinhabitants of ancient Lattara. Specific hypotheses are needed toaccount for the viti-culture of the period.The initial studies of seed and fruit remainsFrom the very first borings made at Lattes, botanical remains wererecovered from the early levels (borings 2 and 3, levels VII andVIII-IX, 5th century BC), and from the 'port' area (boring 9,level IB, 1st century BC/1st AD). In early levels are remains of grapevine-pips, cereals (hulled barley and wheat), and an olive-stone - theearliest at Lattes (Arnal et al. 1974). Boring 9 shows the presence ofcereals (wheat and barley), nuts and peach-stones (GAP 1967). And partof a grape-pip is said to have been observed in 1965 during a boring onthe 'Nicot' parcel of land (Richard 1973).Other plant remains are: from boring 16 (the ditch at level III,4th-2nd century BC), grape-pips, an olive-stone, vine-shoots; fromboring 26, sector 11 (well 3, 1st century AD), cereal grains; sector 12(well 1, 1st-2nd centuries AD), pine-kernel and nuts; and sector 21(well 84/1, first half of 2nd century BC), grape-pips. These sampleshave always been found either in heavy concentrations of carbonizedremains (borings 2 and 3, and on the land belonging to M. Nicot), orfrom damp areas such as canals, ditches or wells (as in the case ofborings 9, 16 and 26).Samples and their analysisExperiments in 1986 and 1987 established a frame of reference forextracting samples from extensive excavation (Buxo 1989) from variousstratigraphic stra��tig��ra��phy?n.The study of rock strata, especially the distribution, deposition, and age of sedimentary rocks.strat units - in particular those richest in organic material ordomestic waste, in which remains were widely dispersed, or in the wastefrom ditches, wells, post-holes or hearths (Buxo 1993).The volume of sediment treated is different for each chronologicalperiod; in the largest layers one can distinguish road-fillings, soilsediment and ditch-fillings from the earlier periods (4th-3rd centuriesBC), and fillings from ditches and wells from the more recent (2nd-1stcenturies BC and 1st century AD).The density of plant remains varies with the sediment: a large partof the plant remains are found in road-fillings, whilst ditch- andwell-fillings predominate in the more recent layers. Certain structuresshow a higher density of remains due to special concentrations, such asgrape pips in wells.The first results were presented in Buxo (1989; also Buxo 1991;1992). The botanical remains are mainly preserved in carbonized form,although some (for example, grape pips) are found in mineralized form.The total number of remains found is 64,164 items from 142 samples; ofthese, 64,124 have been identified, and 61,154 relate to one singlespecies, the grape vine Noun 1. grape vine - any of numerous woody vines of genus Vitis bearing clusters of edible berriesgrape, grapevinegrape - any of various juicy fruit of the genus Vitis with green or purple skins; grow in clusters (Vitis vinifera) (TABLE 1).Throughout the sequence, the common plants are of cultivatedvarieties. We have listed sixteen taxa, divided into four groups:cereals: hulled barley (Hordeurn vulgare) and free-threshing wheat(Triticum aestivum/durum), emmer wheat emmer wheat:see wheat. (T. dicoccum), compact-typefree-threshing wheat (T. aestivum/durum type compactum), einkorn ein��korn?n.A one-seeded wheat (Triticum monococcum) grown in arid regions. Native to southwest Asia, it is one of the first crops to be domesticated by Neolithic peoples. (T.monococcum), millet millet,common name for several species of grasses cultivated mainly for cereals in the Eastern Hemisphere and for forage and hay in North America. The principal varieties are the foxtail, pearl, and barnyard millets and the proso millet, called also broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), italian millet (Setariaitalica); leguminous le��gu��mi��nous?adj.1. Of, belonging to, or characteristic of the family Leguminosae, which includes peas, beans, clover, alfalfa, and other plants.2. Resembling a legume. plants: cultivated and wild grass pea Noun 1. grass pea - European annual grown for forage; seeds used for food in India and for stock elsewhereIndian pea, khesari, Lathyrus sativusgenus Lathyrus, Lathyrus - genus of climbing herbs of Old World and temperate North and South America: vetchling; (Lathyrussativus Noun 1. Lathyrus sativus - European annual grown for forage; seeds used for food in India and for stock elsewheregrass pea, Indian pea, khesarigenus Lathyrus, Lathyrus - genus of climbing herbs of Old World and temperate North and South America: vetchling; and L. cicera), lentils (Lens culinaris), peas (Pisum sativum),bitter vetch (Bot.) a name given to two European leguminous herbs, Vicia Orobusand Ervum Ervilia.See also: Bitter (Vicia ervilia), beans (V. faba);flavouring: coriander coriander(kōr'ēăn`dər), strong-smelling Old World annual herb (Coriandrum sativum) of the family Umbelliferae (parsley family), cultivated for its fruits. (Coriandrum sativum Coriandrum sativum,n See coriander. ); and finallyfruits: olive (Olea europaea), grape vine (Vitis vinifera).CerealsHulled barley and free-threshing wheat are the common cereals in allperiods, especially so in the earliest layers (4th-3rd centuries BC).Most of the remains are evenly dispersed throughout the layers with nospecific concentrations.Hulled barley during the 4th and 3rd centuries is repeatedly found inroad-filling and soil sediment layers, with a smaller but noticeablepresence in the levels round hearths or in ditch-fillings. Less commonin the 2nd century in road-fillings and in ditch-fillings, it is totallyabsent from hearths. The 1st century shows a less diverse occurrence ofcereals, but hulled barley is still found in layers connected with humanoccupation. In the 1st century AD, hulled barley maintains its presence.Hulled barley grains vary in size (TABLE 2), larger in the laterlayers. The grains from Lattes are less elongated and shorter that,those from Ambrussum (Villetelle, Herault) from the 1st century AD (Ruas1989a), and the Pech-Maho (Sigean, Aude) biometric indices associate theless elongated samples of hulled barley there with those from our site(Hopf, unpublished).Grains, fragments of glume and rachis rachis/ra��chis/ (ra��kis) vertebral column. ra��chisn. pl. ra��chis��es or rach��i��desSee spinal column.rachis1. the vertebral column.2. internodes have all beenpreserved. These remains come from husked grain, flung on the fire orthrown away, mixed with other plant waste, and thus not consumed byhumans or animals.Free-threshing wheat is the other plant type common throughout oursequence. Like all the cereals, there is less towards the end. Found inthe same types of layer as hulled barley, it becomes more frequent infeatures from the 2nd and 1st centuries.Measurements could lead us to postulate postulate:see axiom. two principal types of wheat(TABLE 2): one type (aestivum/durum) having elongated caryopses, wideron the side with the germ, with a widened apex and a convex contour;another type (compactum), with shortened, rounded shape and projectionimmediately above the germ.Millet, relatively frequent at the beginning of the 4th century, isabsent from later layers (TABLE 1). In the region, millet becomes commonin the late Bronze Age Bronze Age,period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. Pure copper and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used indiscriminately at first; this early period is sometimes called the onwards, especially from the First Iron Age(Marinval 1988).Some samples contain emmer wheat, which becomes progressively rarerwith time. Emmer, common in the Iron Age, became of secondary importanceespecially in relation to naked wheat, due to its capacity to adapt toless fertile land. Einkorn, identified in 4th-3rd-century layers, is acereal of secondary importance, as common as other hulled wheat.Oats (Avena sp.) are found in three periods, with only 5 remains inany of them. As we have not recovered the glumes, it is difficult toidentify the remains as the cultivated variety. We know that its periodof importance occurs in the high Middle Ages (Ruas 1989b), andreferences to cultivated oats in Roman Gaul For Gaul before the Roman conquest, see Gaul. Roman Gaul consisted of an area of provincial rule in the Roman Empire, in modern day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and western Germany. Roman control of the area lasted for 600 years. are rare.Legumes LegumesA family of plants that bear edible seeds in pods, including beans and peas.Mentioned in: Cholesterol, Highlegumes (l Cultivated leguminous plants occur in all periods except the 1stcentury BC, with a similar distribution of taxa in all periods - perhapsmore frequent in the 4th century (TABLE 1).The lentil lentil,leguminous Old World annual plant (Lens culinaris) with whitish or pale blue flowers. Its pods contain two greenish-brown or dark-colored seeds, also called lentils, which when fully ripe are ground into meal or used in soups and stews. (Lens culinaris), found throughout the sequence except forthe 1st century BC, is of a sub-species of small to medium size(diameter 3-6 mm), or another of larger size (diameter 6-9 mm) (TABLE3).In the 4th century, two species of chick-pea are found inroad-fillings and soil sediments, but only one taxon taxon(pl. taxa), in biology, a term used to denote any group or rank in the classification of organisms, e.g., class, order, family. has been identifiedin the 3rd-century layers. The main criteria used to separate the wild(Lathyrus cicera) from the cultivated type (L. sativus), apart fromshape, are dimensions (TABLE 3). And we have also used the individualcharacteristics of the epidermes - the two species showing differencesin their papillae (Kislev & Hopf 1985).Other leguminous plants identified are the pea (Pisum sativum) andthe bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia), identified in the early layers(4th-3rd centuries) (TABLE 1), and the bean (Vicia faba), alsoinfrequent. Size associates the bean with the sub-species Vicia fabavar. minor, small-seeded broad bean, which normally reaches a length of6-13 mm (TABLE 3).Fruits, nuts and grapesA limited presence of nuts and peach-stones is shown in the layersexcavated by H. Prades (Erroux 1974); and of olive by 1 fragment fromthe 4th century and 2 fragments from the 3rd. [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 1OMITTED] From the beginning of the 3rd century onwards, grape-pips areabundant.Grape-vine remains are both dispersed throughout the differentlayers, and grouped together in large piles. Pips came from contextscontaining the waste from human domestic activity.The shape of 61,154 pips has been studied, using two criteria: thewidth:length ratio of the pip (Stummer 1911), and the ratio of thelength of the pip-beak to the total length of the pip (Smith & Jones1990) [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 2 OMITTED]. The pips have an elongatedshape and a fairly long tip of a highly individualized type, with aprogressive increase in size between the 4th and 1st centuries (TABLE4).By the criteria of Levadoux (1956) and others (Renfrew 1973), theLattes pips originate from the cultivated type, but we cannotdistinguish more than one variety - a difference from the study of graperemains from the original excavations at Lattes (levels IX and VIII, endof the 7th or the 6th centuries BC). It was stated that the identifiedpips were cultivated species and seemed 'to belong to two differentvarieties' (Erroux 1974).There is other fruit, of the wild variety. An acorn (Quercus sp.) isfrom the 4th century [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 2 OMITTED] [TABULAR DATAFOR TABLE 3 OMITTED] [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 4 OMITTED] [TABULAR DATAFOR TABLE 5 OMITTED] (TABLE 1); but most originate from 3rd-centurylayers, comprising 1 sample of hazelnut (Corylus avellana), 1 of sloe(Prunus Prunusa genus of trees in the family Rosaceae. The seeds of these trees contain cyanogenetic glycosides which are potentially poisonous. The fruit pulp appears to quite safe. The glycosides are amygdalin, prunasin, prulaurasin. spinosa), 2 of acorns, possibly 1 of blackberry (Rubusfruticosus). From the 1st century AD, we have 1 fragment of the shell ofa hazelnut, and 1 sample of pine kernel (Pinus pinea).WeedsWeeds are represented by genera that infest cereal crops (Avena,Bromus, Festuca, Lolium, etc. from the group Secalinetea), and byspecies that grow in nitrogen-rich soils subjected to repeated weeding(from the group Chenopodiaceae, usually found amongst leguminous plantsand vines, species such as Galium aparine or Chenopodium album) (TABLE1). They are mainly in the earlier layers (from the 4th and 3rdcenturies), i.e. in the same types of layers as the cereals, lessfrequent in the more recent layers (TABLE 5).Most of these are weeds of cultivated areas; others grow also in openspaces trampled by humans or by livestock, or in places rich in organicmatter or nitrates such as rubbish-dumps. Yet other plants can be linkedto pasture and meadows; some vegetation types are associated with dampareas characteristic of water-courses.Agricultural activity and the use of the landThe recovery of plants remains from an urban setting at Lattes ratherthan a rural environment requires us to adopt a different approach totheir study. The carbonized seeds can be placed in four categoriesaccording to their contexts:* from the preparation of food involving use of fire, the seedsthrown away after being burned: seeds from cultivated plants or fromweeds extracted as impurities, they are dispersed through levelsoccupied as dwelling-areas and layers around hearths.* from artificial drying of seeds prior to storing (Hillman Hillman was a famous British automobile marque, manufactured by the Rootes Group. It was based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England, from 1907 to 1976. Before 1907 the company had built bicycles. 1984):these remains are found in hearths. Kilns may have been the sources ofartificial heat for parching in this way.* from accidental fires or from the passage along paths and roads ofhumans or of livestock, throwing away or scattering seeds: they arefound in thoroughfares or dispersed in road-filling layers.* from the use of livestock excrement excrement/ex��cre��ment/ (eks��kri-mint)1. feces.2. excretion (2).ex��cre��mentn.Waste matter or any excretion cast out of the body, especially feces. as fuel.These four categories would particularly explain the presence ofplant remains in areas surrounding hearths, in hearth sweepings, or inlayers with dispersed organic matter.The remains of cultivated plants found in the dwelling-area levelsoriginate from the areas of cultivation outside, or on the edge of, thetown; they were transported, handled and sold already to some extentprepared for consumption. We have identified no granaries or otherenclosed special structure for the storage of grain. Rather, the storageprovision seems to have been in rooms within standard buildings, andsuggests temporary stock-places during the redistribution process(Garcia 1992).Outside the town itself, we can envisage, the removal of impurities,cleaning and husking was undertaken at threshing-floors out in thefields, etc., the grain reaching the town ready for consumption. (In astratigraphic unit from the 4th century are remains of glumes and rachisinternodes because they accidentally escaped the threshing andwinnowing.)We find in analysing the weeds two different groupings which can giveindications about land-use (Braun-Blanquet et al. 1952): Secalinetea areassociated with winter cereals, whilst Chenopodiaceae is linked more tospring sowing and to cultivated plants that are regularly weeded. As ourdata show species associated with both groups, we postulate the cerealsadapted to autumn To Autumn is a poem written by English Romantic poet John Keats in 1819 (published 1820).Keats was inspired to write To Autumn after walking through the water meadows of Winchester, England, in an early autumn evening of 1819. sowing in the general conditions of the Mediterranean.One puzzle is the presence of grape-pips among quantities of cerealgrain. Apart from the large piles of pips originating mainly fromin-filled wells, these mixtures could have originated in dumps or inhearth-sweepings, as part of domestic waste.The proximity of the river Lez determined the land used forcultivation: drainage conditions and water supply were very favourablehere. It can be inferred from the analysis of charcoal recovered fromthe site that other areas may have been given over to pasturinglivestock (Chabal 1991); in ancient times Lattes was already reported ashaving a deforested plain. This process would have been stimulated bycultivation of the vine towards the beginning of the 3rd century BC, inaddition to cereals.The problem of viticultureThe first question concerning vines at Lattes can be posed in thecontext of the whole of southern Gaul: were grapes directly consumed asfruit, or made into wine?The bringing together of all the data from the various excavationsenables us to follow the development of vine cultivation at Lattes(TABLE 6). Our study postulates three different stages [ILLUSTRATION FORFIGURE 3 OMITTED]: a first period of relative expansion about 250-225BC; a second stage of sustained growth, from about 175-150 up to the endof the 1st century BC and a third stage marked by fewer grape-pips,about the middle of the 1st century AD.Other archaeobotanical results justify the hypothesis of anincreasing process An increasing process is a stochastic processwhere the random variables of woodland clearance to make way for cultivation.The analysis of charcoal coincides with that of seeds in marking anopening up of the woodlands (especially between the periods 300-275 and225-200 BC), a direct result of increased cultivation and consumption offirewood (Chabal 1991). Between 300-275 and 225-200 BC the arbutus arbutusAny of about 14 species (genus Arbutus) of broad-leaved evergreen shrubs or trees, in the heath family. Native to southern Europe and western North America, they are characterized by loosely clustered white or pink flowers and red or orange berries. A. isreplaced by tree heather, and the berry-bearing bushes of the oak woodsare replaced by a thinner undergrowth; at some time between 225-200 BCand 50 BC-25 AD the oak woods themselves are eliminated. In this way thepeak of tree heather observed in pollen diagrams (Planchais 1982) couldhave a direct connection with the beginning of vine cultivation.The cultivation of cereals plus the significant expansion of the vineappear directly responsible for the disappearance of the green oakwoods,creating a deforested plain (Chabal 1991: 319), probably linked to theagricultural practices of the 3rd century BC, and quite independent ofRoman agriculture (Chabal 1989: 68).Distribution over time of the main cultivated plants (cereal andleguminous) and of the grapeThe ratio of cultivated plants to grape remains displays significantvariations between different contexts which call for explanation. Thisratio oscillates considerably in the case of samples recovered from soilhorizons and road-fills (contexts less frequently identified in thelater phases of the site's use), and from wells where fills datefrom the 1st century BC onwards. In contrast, the ratio is less variablein samples from other contexts, such as layers interpreted asaccumulations of rubbish and ditch-fills. Further, the quantity ofcharcoal recovered from soil horizons and road-fills also declines inproportional terms during later phases (Chabal 1991).These observations lead us to propose two hypotheses:* the absolute quantity of wood consumed per household could havedecreased as nearby woodlands disappeared. As noted above, evidencepoints to the decline of oak woodland from c. 300 BC and its subsequentelimination;[TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 6 OMITTED]* domestic waste could have been increasingly swept out of the housesand emptied into rubbish-dumps (not necessarily all found in theexcavations), or spread as manure on the fields. (Large numbers ofbroken vessels are found away from the normal dwelling-areas: Py,reported by Chabal 1991: 101.) Road-fillings would increasingly havebeen made of non-organic waste, domestic waste deposits becoming lesscommon in Lattes itself.The presence of grain tends to decrease in later periods, anobservation compatible with the theory that road-fillings and soilsediment were increasingly made of non-organic materials. In fact thereduced sampling undertaken in later horizons was a direct consequenceof the scarcity of organic material. But two small samples show a veryhigh abundance of remains: one from a 3rd-century BC layer shows a highlevel of cultivated plants, and another from a 1st-century BC layer ahigh level of grape vines.Grape remains and wine-makingAt Lattes, as at other Iron Age sites in the south of France South of Francesouth n the South of France → le Sud de la France, le Midi,contexts attributable to the 4th and a large part of the 3rd century BCshow the presence of grape remains, at a low frequency in relation toother cultivated plants (Buxo 1993).The use of the grape as a direct food source (in the form of fruit,dried fruit, grape-pip flour, etc.) rather than for wine-making, may beadvanced as a hypothesis linked to the greater presence of grape-pips inarchaeological features. The later increase in grape remains and alsothe presence of fragments of berries and of pedicles, supports thehypothesis of a later change to wine-making. These fragments of grapescould represent the waste from the pressing of wine-must (containingpips and skin), and their carbonization car��bon��i��za��tion?n.1. The process of carbonizing.2. The destructive distillation of bituminous coal, done in the absence of air in order to obtain coke and other fractions having a greater percentage of carbon than the a secondary use as fuel (Py1992). In traditional western Mediterranean wine-making, the skin andpips can be used after pressing to make oil, as manure, or very often asfuel.The archaeological data from Lattes enable us to postulate certainstages in the development of viticulture. Tools have been found that areconnected with cutting vines - short pruning-knives (Py 1993).Analysis of fragments of amphorae and dolia, combined with thestatistics on grape-pips (Py 1992), enable us to postulate a three-stagedevelopment of viticulture [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED].In the first stage, after starting out as a secondary crop, a regularcultivation of the vine develops, which in turn becomes very widespread.The increased presence of the grape coincides with a reduction in thenumber of amphorae imported (either from Marseilles or from Italy). Atthe same period - between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the2nd centuries - there is a growth in the numbers of dolia; D, Garcia (inPy 1992: 316) has developed the thesis that these containers were linkedto the local production of wine. All these changes could show a localresponse to problems in obtaining external supplies at the time of thePunic wars Punic Wars,three distinct conflicts between Carthage and Rome. When they began, Rome had nearly completed the conquest of Italy, while Carthage controlled NW Africa and the islands and the commerce of the W Mediterranean. , already noticed at Lattes (cf. Py 1987).During the second stage of viticulture, our study reveals anincreased number of pips; this could be connected with a reorganizationof production and of land use, including the establishment of farms inthe vineyards. Wine-making activity can also be confirmed byarchaeological data (Py 1992).The third stage, of a decrease, has been linked to restrictions onviticulture imposed by the Romans throughout Gaul, which reduced inparticular the planting of vines. In Cicero's De republica(sections 3,9 and 16), measures are described to prohibit the nativeinhabitants from planting olive-trees and vines so as to protect theircultivation by the Roman colonists. Other indications lead us to supportthe theory that during the Roman period wine-making was no longercarried on in the urban centres, but at farms established in thevineyards (Laubenheimer 1984). This could explain the reduced presenceof dolia at Lattes at this stage.Viticulture: introduced into the region, or locally developed?Documentary sources are careful to state that it was the Greeks whointroduced the cultivation of the vine into southern Gaul towards 600BC. Vines could certainly grow in a wild or semi-wild state in theselowlands. However, textual, archaeological and botanical data have beenassembled to support a claim that viticulture could have started here asearly as the First Iron Age (Marinval 1988).The question of local production must remain, for the moment, open.Pollen analysis Analysis of the distribution of pollen grains of various species contained in surface layer deposits, especially peat bogs and lake sediments, from which a record of past climate may be inferred. from Marsillargues shows (Planchais 1982) vines existingin the region in the wild state.Archaeobotanical data prove that the indigenous communities ofsouthern Gaul cultivated the grape from 600 BC until the beginning ofthe 5th century, especially at Gailhan (Erroux 1980a & 1987) and atMarduel (Py 1987; Marinval 1988). Later we find its cultivationregularly identified - at the beginning of the 4th century at Mauressip,in the 4th-3rd centuries at Montjean, in the 2nd century at the oppidumsite of Les Castels at Nages, and in the 1st century at Cavaillon (Py1987), at La Lagaste (Erroux 1980b), at the Canet-des-Maures (I) (Py1987), and at Ambrussum (Ruas 1989a). New discoveries at the site of Ilede Martigues show the presence of elements of grape as well ascarbonized pips, peduncles of grapes and calcinated grapes which,according to Marinval (1988), recall 'strongly calcination calcination(kăl'sənā`shən), in metallurgy, process of heating solid material to drive off volatile chemically combined components, e.g., carbon dioxide. It is sometimes a step in the extraction of metals from ores. residuesof wine-must'. This gives clear evidence of cultivation of thefruit for direct consumption, and of a crop destined for wineproduction.Charcoal analysis shows the presence of vines in the First Iron Age(Le Marduel, La Jouffe) and in the Second Iron Age (Le Marduel, Lattes),and then also in the Roman period (Ambrussum, Caissargues-Nimes, Lattes,Lunel-Viel) (Chabal 1991). A piece of vine-stalk has been recovered fromthe 4th century BC at Le Marduel (Chabal 1982), and vine-shoots havebeen found in a well from the 1st century BC at Espeyran (Py 1979).What artefactual adj. 1. of or pertaining to an artefact.2. made by human actions.Adj. 1. artefactual - of or relating to artifactsartifactual evidence would identify the wine-making process? Wehave dolia; whilst they may have served as wine-vats, we do not possessdirect evidence of their use to store cereals or wine.Botanical evidence from the Iron Age indicates a characteristicmixture of grapes and cereal; products of the vine could have beenconsumed in forms such as fresh or dried fruit, grape-pip flour orgrape-seed oil - forms of consumption quite common during the Iron Age(Andre 1981).Influence from the Greek colonists at Marseilles could have furtherencouraged - with or without the introduction of cultivated vines - thelocal production of grapes from autochthonous autochthonous/au��toch��tho��nous/ (aw-tok��thah-nus)1. originating in the same area in which it is found.2. denoting a tissue graft to a new site on the same individual. wild varieties. Grape-pipsamples from southern France at this time, as Marinval has observed(1988), show width:length ratios higher than those for cultivated grapesestablished by Renfrew (1973) in Greece. With regard to artefactualmaterial that might correlate with the expansion of viticulture in theSecond Iron Age, we have only a pruning-knife for vines found at Nages(Py 1987), certain stamp-marks on native dolia from the last quarter ofthe 3rd century at Enserune, and symbols related to vine cultivation atMontlaures (Marinval 1988).The use of plants at Lattes in the regional contextThe pre-Roman Iron Age in southern Gaul is marked by a deep change inthe economic pattern, with the establishment of a Greek colony atMarseilles in the 7th century BC.The continuous occupation of Lattes over a period of about 500 yearsenables us to study the developing use of plant resources in a nativeurban environment. The nature of the site - as an urban agglomeration ag��glom��er��a��tion?n.1. The act or process of gathering into a mass.2. A confused or jumbled mass: ,as a port, as a commercial centre - shows in its use of plants. Theseeds and fruit show a diversified consumption of products probablygrown locally, allowing us to locate cereal cultivation either on theoutskirts of the town, or around small agglomerations near it.Samples of hulled barley differ very little from others in theregion, and free-threshing wheat is found almost everywhere during theIron Age (Marinval 1988); these species, together with the othercereals, constituted the basic plant foodstuffs foodstuffsnpl → comestibles mplfoodstuffsnpl → denr��es fpl alimentairesfoodstuffsfood npl → at Lattes.The leguminous plants are mainly the broad bean (according to certainsources very common in the Roman period), the pea, and the lentil, whichwould normally have been eaten boiled. The grass pea, difficult to cookand to digest, was also common. In addition, the bitter vetch was alsoan important plant in the Roman period, its development linked to itspossible use as a flour (although it hardly rises at all when used forbread). It would seem that this mixture was also used in ancient Rome Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. (Andre 1981).The Lattes grapes support the hypothesis of large-scale wineproduction in southern Gaul. The increased presence of the vinecoincides with a reduction in the usual mixture of grapes and cereals,with the appearance of individual clusters of grape-pips, and withproportionately more grape specimens in relation to cereals.The data concerning plants that are picked by hand reflect thedifficulty of conserving these products, which would normally beconsumed without subsequent preparation. The hypothesis that these kindsof plants could be found at previous times is still merely speculative(Buxo 1989). This aspect could be significant at Lattes, as excavationshave shown the abundance of fruit in damper areas at precisely the sameperiod. Towards the 1st century AD, the general tendency of consumptionis towards a diversification in the types of foodstuff, and this is seenat Lattes. Even without a complete study of the plant remains found indamper areas at Lattes, we can confirm the wide variety of plantfoodstuffs (especially fruits) found in the Roman period (Buxo,unpublished).The analysis of synanthropic vegetation, without providing precisedetails about agricultural activities or methods, shows a large increasein the range of these plants from the Iron Age onwards (Marinval 1988).Bringing together all the data from the indigenous sites in southernFrance, we can interpret the different stages of land-use during theIron Age in the following way.The basic food sources are cereals and leguminous plants. Thedevelopment of the vine as a highly profitable plant during the SecondIron Age suggests an increase in the area of land dedicated to it, butprobably without modifying the cultivation of cereals for localconsumption.The main cereals are hulled barley, emmer wheat and free-threshingwheat during the early period, and hulled barley and free-threshingwheat during the later. Between the 8th and 4th centuries BC, emmerwheat and free-threshing wheat are seen as two types of cereal in directcompetition. From the 4th century onwards the decrease in emmer ismarked by a concentration on the more productive cereals, and those thatare least demanding in technique and costs. Hulled barley, the dominantcereal, definitively supplants naked barley, from this time onwards nolonger found in southern France.Millet, found mainly between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, and atLattes also in the 4th and 3rd centuries, has no proven food role.Leguminous plants make up a regular aspect of the diet, as acomplement to cereals. No one leguminous plant stands out from theothers; they are to be found in the majority of sites in southernFrance.The development of the grape vine relative to cereals, and thechanges in farming practices in the Languedoc, occur in the last quarterof the 3rd century BC, according to the Lattes data. The evidence forolive cultivation is later.Neither the upsurge in production nor the introduction of new speciesis necessarily correlated with diversification as regards the plantsthat are cultivated. The diversity of cropping strategies, in any caselimited for cereals (since millet and oats make little impact) andleguminous plants, may appear thrown into high relief by the extensivegrowing of vines and subsequently of olives. Polyculture Polyculture is agriculture using multiple crops in the same space, in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems, and avoiding large stands of single crops, or monoculture. - or rather theconsumption of a wider range of food resources, since that is what isdocumented archaeologically - begins in the Second Iron Age, butdevelops markedly during the Roman period, in which the plant taxa andthe cultivated fruit trees show a real diversification.The wild plants collected are small in number throughout thetime-scale studied. From the Bronze Age to the Second Iron Age inFrance, the quantity of plants collected decreases, especially duringthe First Iron Age (Marinval 1988: 202).ReferencesANDRE, J. 1981. L'alimentation et la cuisine a Rome. 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