Heard it through the grapevine : a phytolith study of roman and modern vineyards to identify the hidden diversity of plant assemblages

Abstract

Vineyards represent an ancient and widespread anthropogenic landscape in the Mediterranean. Depending on how these landscapes are managed, there is allowance for diverse spontaneous plant assemblages to propagate among the vines. However, these sites are often problematic to study using conventional archaeobotanical methods like palynology, as they do not provide ideal conditions for pollen preservation. Nonetheless, other proxies such as phytoliths, can be utilised. [excerpt]