Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) in Britain : a multi-proxy approach to determine its origins and cultural significance (original) (raw)

Abstract

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa has been regarded as a Roman archaeophyte in Britain since the eighteenth-century AD. This research re-examined that thesis, collecting new evidence from genetic, dendrochronological, archaeological and historical analyses, using archived specimens, published reports, peer review and novel fieldwork. The main research and original fieldwork focused on England and Wales, within a British, Irish and continental European context. Sweet chestnut landscapes were identified as ancient inclosures, ancient coppice woods, historic boundaries, historic gardens, historic deer parks and designed parklands, historic formal avenues, and more recent high forest and production coppice. Genetic analysis determined that the oldest British sweet chestnut trees/stools derived from parts of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Romania. Some of these sources were refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum for sweet chestnut and other nut-bearing trees (oak, hazel, beech). Innova...

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Appendix A: Britannia (2019), 50, pp.49-74

Appendix A: Britannia (2019), 50, pp.49-74

Appendix B: Historic England Research Report Series 78-2017

Appendix B: Historic England Research Report Series 78-2017

Appendix C: Arboricultural Journal (2017), 39(2), pp.100-124 Appendix D: Dendrochronologia (2018), 51, pp.10-21

Appendix C: Arboricultural Journal (2017), 39(2), pp.100-124 Appendix D: Dendrochronologia (2018), 51, pp.10-21

Appendix E: Tree Genetics & Genomes (2017), 13(39), pp.1-14 Appendix F: PLoS One (2019), 14(9): e0222936

Appendix E: Tree Genetics & Genomes (2017), 13(39), pp.1-14 Appendix F: PLoS One (2019), 14(9): e0222936

Appendix G: Landscape History (2019), 40(2), pp.5-40 3.5.1. Published results (Appendix G)

Appendix G: Landscape History (2019), 40(2), pp.5-40 3.5.1. Published results (Appendix G)

Appendix H: Coppice in brief: Eurocoppice project, COST Action FP1301.

Appendix H: Coppice in brief: Eurocoppice project, COST Action FP1301.

HE = Historic England; ABCD = Archaeobotanical Database (Tomlinson and Hall, 1996)

HE = Historic England; ABCD = Archaeobotanical Database (Tomlinson and Hall, 1996)

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