20 June 2024, 18h CEST (UTC +2)
“The botanical approach to Archaeobotany: plants behaviour and human adaptation”
Prof. Anna Maria Mercuri
Lab.of Palynology and Palaeobotany, Dept. Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy
Access the webinar here: https://bit.ly/GIAPseminars2024
Open event. No registration required. Hosted in Microsoft Teams (no Microsoft/Teams account needed).
Abstract:
The seminar will present the botanical principles governing the production and dispersal of pollen, fruits and wood, and what makes plants excellent bioindicators in ecology and archaeology. Studies in on-site and off-site contexts present very different problems and must be interpreted in substantially different ways; nevertheless, only their integrated study can lead to correct reconstructions of environmental and cultural dynamics. The study of the archaeological context, moreover, offers the possibility of understanding the plant-human relationship in detail, based on the biological characteristics of the two actors and the environmental conditions. Examples will be given from the archaeology of Italian and Saharan sites.
Keywords:
Palynology, environment, on-site, interdisciplinariety, database
About Prof. Mercuri:
Full professor of Systematic Botany, she is is a member of the board of the Italian Botanical Society and president of the master degree in Biosciences. She has been coordinator of the Group of Palynology and Palaeobotany since 2012, and has directed numerous international projects.
She has developed integrated and innovative archaeopalynological and palaeoecological research to study the close relationship between climatic changes, environmental responses and cultural adaptations in the Mediterranean basin and central/southern Sahara. In 2014, he created the BRAIN database that she is developing within the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan. In 2023, she has promoted the establishment of the Thematic Working Group on Plant Biodiversity of the Past, in the framework of the National Biodiversity Future Centre.
