Author
Llorenç Picornell-Gelabert
Other affiliations: Centre national de la recherche scientifique, University of Paris
Bio: Llorenç Picornell-Gelabert is an academic researcher from University of the Balearic Islands. The author has contributed to research in topics: Balearic islands & Anthracology. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 23 publications receiving 373 citations. Previous affiliations of Llorenç Picornell-Gelabert include Centre national de la recherche scientifique & University of Paris.
Topics: Balearic islands, Anthracology, Bronze Age, Holocene, Vegetation
Papers
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University of Queensland1, University College London2, Canterbury Archaeological Trust3, University of Bristol4, University of Cambridge5, University of Michigan6, Simon Fraser University7, Virginia Commonwealth University8, University of Antananarivo9, University of Oxford10, University of the Balearic Islands11, Max Planck Society12
TL;DR: New archaeobotanical data are presented that show that Southeast Asian settlers brought Asian crops with them when they settled in Africa, providing the first, to the authors' knowledge, reliable archaeological window into the Southeast Asian colonization of Madagascar.
Abstract: The Austronesian settlement of the remote island of Madagascar remains one of the great puzzles of Indo-Pacific prehistory. Although linguistic, ethnographic, and genetic evidence points clearly to a colonization of Madagascar by Austronesian language-speaking people from Island Southeast Asia, decades of archaeological research have failed to locate evidence for a Southeast Asian signature in the island's early material record. Here, we present new archaeobotanical data that show that Southeast Asian settlers brought Asian crops with them when they settled in Africa. These crops provide the first, to our knowledge, reliable archaeological window into the Southeast Asian colonization of Madagascar. They additionally suggest that initial Southeast Asian settlement in Africa was not limited to Madagascar, but also extended to the Comoros. Archaeobotanical data may support a model of indirect Austronesian colonization of Madagascar from the Comoros and/or elsewhere in eastern Africa.
117 citations
University of Queensland1, University of Sydney2, Saint Louis University3, Rice University4, University of Bristol5, University of the Witwatersrand6, University of Wollongong7, University of East Anglia8, Uppsala University9, University of Pretoria10, University of Oxford11, University of the Balearic Islands12, Max Planck Society13
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the results of recent archaeological fieldwork in the Mafia Archipelago, which aims to understand these early adaptations and situate them within a longer-term trajectory of island settlement and pre-Swahili cultural developments.
Abstract: Recent archaeological research has firmly established eastern Africa's offshore islands as important localities for understanding the region's pre-Swahili maritime adaptations and early Indian Ocean trade connections. While the importance of the sea and small offshore islands to the development of urbanized and mercantile Swahili societies has long been recognized, the formative stages of island colonization—and in particular the processes by which migrating Iron Age groups essentially became “maritime”—are still relatively poorly understood. Here we present the results of recent archaeological fieldwork in the Mafia Archipelago, which aims to understand these early adaptations and situate them within a longer-term trajectory of island settlement and pre-Swahili cultural developments. We focus on the results of zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical, and material culture studies relating to early subsistence and trade on this island to explore the changing significance of marine resources to the local economy. We also discuss the implications of these maritime adaptations for the development of local and long-distance Indian Ocean trade networks.
61 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used archeobotany to discover details on local land uses in prehistoric settlements developed during the middle and beginning of late Holocene, and six archaeological sites from four countries (Spa...
Abstract: Archaeobotany is used to discover details on local land uses in prehistoric settlements developed during the middle and beginning of late Holocene. Six archaeological sites from four countries (Spa...
60 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used radiometric dates and the current state of research to understand the role of human societies and climate in the transformation of vegetation cover during the Late Holocene in this Western Mediterranean archipelago.
49 citations
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research1, University of Queensland2, University of Edinburgh3, Saint Louis University4, University of Bristol5, University of Oxford6, University of Sydney7, Rice University8, Australian National University9, University of Pretoria10, University of the Balearic Islands11, Max Planck Society12
TL;DR: In this paper, the late Pleistocene and Holocene history of eastern Africa is complex and major gaps remain in our understanding of human occupation during this period, and questions concerning the identities, geographical distributions and chronologies of foraging, herding and agricultural populations are still unresolved.
Abstract: The late Pleistocene and Holocene history of eastern Africa is complex and major gaps remain in our understanding of human occupation during this period. Questions concerning the identities, geographical distributions and chronologies of foraging, herding and agricultural populations — often problematically equated with the chronological labels ‘Later Stone Age (LSA)’, ‘Neolithic’ and ‘Iron Age’ — are still unresolved. Previous studies at the site of Kuumbi Cave in the Zanzibar Archipelago of Tanzania reported late Pleistocene Middle Stone Age (MSA) and LSA, mid-Holocene Neolithic and late Holocene Iron Age occupations (Sinclair et al. 2006; Chami 2009). Kuumbi Cave considerably extends the chronology of human occupation on the eastern African coast and findings from the site have been the basis for the somewhat contentious identification of both a coastal Neolithic culture and early chicken, a domesticate that was introduced to Africa from Asia. The site therefore warrants further investigation. ...
36 citations
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01 Sep 1989
274 citations
Harvard University1, Emory University2, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study3, Max Planck Society4, University College Dublin5, University of Cape Town6, Broad Institute7, University of Tübingen8, Howard Hughes Medical Institute9, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona10, University of Queensland11, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse12, University College London13, Canterbury Archaeological Trust14, University of Bristol15, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research16, University of Pretoria17, Leiden University18, University of Sydney19, Garvan Institute of Medical Research20, Pennsylvania State University21, University of Vienna22
TL;DR: The deepest diversifications of African lineages were complex, involving either repeated gene flow among geographically disparate groups or a lineage more deeply diverging than that of the San contributing more to some western African populations than to others.
272 citations
University of York1, Uppsala University2, University of the Witwatersrand3, Saint Louis University4, Ghent University5, Royal Museum for Central Africa6, Max Planck Society7, University of Lausanne8, University of Nairobi9, Mahidol University10, Stockholm University11, University of South Africa12, Kenya Wildlife Service13, University of Queensland14, University of Kent15, University of Aberdeen16, University of KwaZulu-Natal17, University College London18, Linnaeus University19, University of Cape Town20, Kyambogo University21, Mbarara University of Science and Technology22, University of Pennsylvania23, Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute24, Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology25, University of Cambridge26, Institut de recherche pour le développement27, Seoul National University28
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compile archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data from East Africa to document land-cover change, and environmental, subsistence and land-use transitions over the past 6000 years.
131 citations
24 Oct 2019
TL;DR: Beaujard as mentioned in this paper presents an ambitious and comprehensive global history of the Indian Ocean world, from the earliest state formations to 1500 CE, and shows how Asia and Africa dominated the economic and cultural landscape and the flow of ideas in the pre-modern world, leading to a trans-regional division of labor and an Afro-Eurasian world economy.
Abstract: Europe's place in history is re-assessed in this first comprehensive history of the ancient world, centering on the Indian Ocean and its role in pre-modern globalization. Philippe Beaujard presents an ambitious and comprehensive global history of the Indian Ocean world, from the earliest state formations to 1500 CE. Supported by a wealth of empirical data, full color maps, plates, and figures, he shows how Asia and Africa dominated the economic and cultural landscape and the flow of ideas in the pre-modern world. This led to a trans-regional division of labor and an Afro-Eurasian world economy. Beaujard questions the origins of capitalism and hints at how this world-system may evolve in the future. The result is a reorienting of world history, taking the Indian Ocean, rather than Europe, as the point of departure. Volume II provides in-depth coverage of the period from the seventh century CE to the fifteenth century CE.
130 citations
TL;DR: The preliminary ecological analyses point out that a high percentage of these plants are linked with the so-called ‘cultural’ landscapes, patchy semi-natural environments rich in ecotones, leading to the conclusion that the maintenance of century-old agro-pastoral practices may represent an effective way to preserve the local heritage of edible plants.
Abstract: The traditional use of native wild food plants (NWFP) may represent a valuable supplementary food source for the present and future generations. In Sicily, the use of wild plants in the human diet dates back to very ancient times and still plays an important role in some rural communities. Moreover, in this regard, the natural and cultural inheritance of this island is wealthy and diversified for several reasons. First, Sicily hosts a rich vascular flora, with 3,000 native and 350 endemic plants. Second, due to its central position in the Mediterranean, the island has acted as a veritable melting pot for the ethnobotanical knowledge of the rural communities of the entire basin. We reviewed all the available literature and, starting from such omnicomprehensive checklist, partially improved thanks to the data issuing from recent field investigations, we critically revised the whole species list, basing our review on field data issuing from interviews and on our expert knowledge. As a result, we provide a substantially updated list of 292 NWFP growing on the island. Further 34 species, reported as NWFP on previous papers were discarded because they are not native to Sicily, while 45 species were listed separately because their identity, occurrence and local use as food is doubtful and needs to be further investigated. Moreover, we tried to shed light on the ecology (growth form and preferential habitat) of the Sicilian NWFP, with special focus on crop wild relatives (CWR). Our preliminary ecological analyses point out that a high percentage of these plants are linked with the so-called 'cultural' landscapes, patchy semi-natural environments rich in ecotones, leading to the conclusion that the maintenance of century-old agro-pastoral practices may represent an effective way to preserve the local heritage of edible plants. Our study allowed to identify as much as 102 taxa of agronomic interest which could be tested as novel crops in order to face ongoing global changes and to comply with sustainable agriculture policies. Among them, 39 taxa show promising traits in terms of tolerance to one or more environmental stress factors, while 55 more are considered CWR and/or can be easily cultivated and/or show high productivity/yield potential.
108 citations