The castrum of Zagonara. An archaeobotanical approach to the study of a medieval castle’s human-environment dynamics

The paper aims to show the results of the archaeobotanical analysis of some of the samples collected during the 2017/2018 excavation campaigns of the castrum of Zagonara (13th-15th centuries, Ravenna, Italy), and to highlight the importance of synthesizing information from different methodological approaches in order to better understand the human-environment dynamics characterising a rural territory. To date, the excavation campaigns (2017-ongoing) have already uncovered the presence of several buried archaeological structures (i.e. a church, dated to the 11th century, with its own cemetery, several functional areas, such as hearths and trash dumps, and part of the ancient ditch surrounding the castle). From these layers, several archaeobotanical samples have been collected, floated and sieved. The study of these samples has shed light on the human-environment relationship regarding this specific site, the vegetative potentialities of the territory and the dynamics of exploitation of plants by the community. Cereals are in general well represented in the samples, followed by Apiaceae and several genera of nuisance weeds typical of wet environments.