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Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) in Britain: Re-assessment of its Status as a Roman Archaeophyte

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2019

R. Jarman ,
Z. Hazell ,
G. Campbell ,
J. Webb  and
F.M. Chambers
R. Jarman
Affiliation:
Centre for Environmental Change and Quaternary Research, University of [email protected];[email protected]@[email protected]
Z. Hazell
Affiliation:
Historic [email protected]@HistoricEngland.org.uk
G. Campbell
Affiliation:
Historic [email protected]@HistoricEngland.org.uk
J. Webb
Affiliation:
Centre for Environmental Change and Quaternary Research, University of [email protected];[email protected]@[email protected]
F.M. Chambers
Affiliation:
Centre for Environmental Change and Quaternary Research, University of [email protected];[email protected]@[email protected]
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Abstract

The Roman period sees the introduction of many new plants and animals into Britain, with a profound impact on people's experience of their environment. Sweet chestnut is considered to be one such introduction, for which records of sweet chestnut wood and charcoal from archaeological excavations of Romano-British period contexts have been used as evidence. This paper reviews the records for sweet chestnut in Britain pre-a.d. 650, by critically evaluating original excavation reports and examining archived specimens. This review re-assesses the original identifications of sweet chestnut and/or their dating and concludes that most of the evidence that justified sweet chestnut's status as a Roman archaeophyte is untenable. The review emphasises the importance of securely identifying and directly dating plant material and of long-term curation by museums and archives. The Supplementary Material online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X19000011) contains details of all published records of finds of sweet chesnut.

Keywords

sweet chestnut Castanea sativaoak Quercus spp.archaeophyteRoman plant remainsmuseum archivesplant translocation
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 50 , November 2019 , pp. 49 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies 

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References

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