Description: The paper presents the result of analysis of charred food on the interior part of the vessels from the graves of the East Manych and West Manych Catacomb archaeological cultures (2500–2350 cal bc ). The phytolith and pollen analyses identified pollen of wild steppe plants and phytoliths of domesticated gramineous plants determined as barley phytoliths. Direct 14 С dating of one of the samples demonstrates that barley spikelets and stems were used in funeral rites by local steppe communities. However, there are no data suggesting that steppe inhabitants of the Lower Don Region were engaged in agriculture in the mid-3000 bc . Supposedly, barley could have reached the steppes through seasonal migrations of mobile pastoralists to the south, use of North Caucasus grasslands in the economic system of seasonal moves and exchange with local people. Nevertheless, presence of carbonized barley seeds in the occupation layers at North Caucasus settlements of 4000–3000  bc requires confirmation by direct 14 С dating of such samples.

Description: Tracking changes in biodiversity through time requires an understanding of the relationship between modern diversity and how this diversity is preserved in the fossil record. Fossil pollen is one way in which past vegetation diversity can be reconstructed. However, there is limited understanding of modern pollen-vegetation diversity relationships from biodiverse tropical ecosystems. Here, pollen (palynological) richness and diversity (Hill N 1 ) are compared with vegetation richness and diversity from forest and savannah ecosystems in the New World and Old World tropics (Neotropics and Palaeotropics). Modern pollen data were obtained from artificial pollen traps deployed in 1-ha vegetation study plots from which vegetation inventories had been completed in Bolivia and Ghana. Pollen counts were obtained from 15 to 22 traps per plot, and aggregated pollen sums for each plot were 〉 2,500. The palynological richness/diversity values from the Neotropics were moist evergreen forest = 86/6.8, semi-deciduous dry forest = 111/21.9, wooded savannah = 138/31.5, and from the Palaeotropics wet evergreen forest = 144/28.3, semi-deciduous moist forest = 104/4.4, forest-savannah transition = 121/14.1; the corresponding vegetation richness/diversity was 100/36.7, 80/38.7 and 71/39.4 (Neotropics), and 101/54.8, 87/45.5 and 71/34.5 (Palaeotropics). No consistent relationship was found between palynological richness/diversity, and plot vegetation richness/diversity, due to the differential influence of other factors such as landscape diversity, pollination strategy, and pollen source area. Palynological richness exceeded vegetation richness, while pollen diversity was lower than vegetation diversity. The relatively high global diversity of tropical vegetation was found to be reflected in the pollen rain.

Description: This paper reviews vegetation and climate reconstructions for different time scales based on palynological studies in China. It discusses examples of significant developments in palynological research topics within China: (1) Modern pollen—a modern pollen database (East Asia Surface Pollen Database) has been established through the collaboration of Chinese palynologists. Based on these data, modern pollen distributions and their quantitative relationship with vegetation and climate have been thoroughly studied. (2) Pre-Quaternary vegetation and climate dynamics—scientists have mapped pollen and palaeobotanical data from the Palaeogene. The vegetation distributions confirm a north–south zonal pattern during the Palaeogene that changed to an east–west monsoonal pattern during the Miocene and Pliocene. These results provide key evidence for understanding monsoon evolution. (3) Late-Quaternary vegetation—biome reconstructions based on fossil pollen data show spatial and temporal changes in vegetation since the Last Glacial Maximum, permitting a better understanding of climate change across China. (4) Quantitative climate reconstructions—some reconstructions have successfully detected Holocene climate variability thereby providing insights into monsoon history. At present, there are no comprehensive spatial reconstructions. Major possible future developments should focus on: (1) long-term vegetation reconstructions from lakes to study Asian monsoon dynamics at orbital scales; (2) quantitative reconstructions of vegetation and climate change to help stronger integration with palaeoclimate models and dynamic vegetation models; (3) land-cover and land-use change across China over the last 6,000 years to understand human impacts and provide empirical data for climate modellers; and (4) integration of pollen data with vegetation and climate modelling to understand the CO 2 -vegetation relationship and climate dynamics.

Description: From the anthracological study of considerable quantities of charcoal recovered from the excavation of the settlement at Los Castillejos de Montefrío, a synthesis was made of the vegetation dynamics during Recent Prehistory of the area, from the middle of the sixth millennium bc to the beginning of the second millennium bc . The vegetation dynamics mark four anthracological phases over this sequence. From the Late Neolithic (end of the fifth millennium bc ) the influence of different activities such as livestock raising, burning and agriculture become evident in the development of the natural vegetation, altering species composition and appearance frequency. The last anthracological phase, MF4, spanning the second half of the third millennium bc , saw the regeneration of the tree vegetation as certain former activities ceased, indicating the environmental singularity of this enclave within the context of the southern Iberian Peninsula.

Description: With regard to Near Eastern archaeobotanical investigations, Lebanon is still underrepresented. Archaeobotanical data have been obtained from only a few excavation sites, mostly from the Phoenician settlement of Tell el-Burak. The site is situated on the southern coastal plain of Sidon, between Sidon and Tyre. Continuous sampling throughout six seasons of excavations have enabled the detailed investigation of the archaeobotanical material from the site. Due to the fine stratigraphic resolution there, it is possible to examine the development of agricultural resources through the 400 years of Phoenician occupation. Additionally, systematic sampling has allowed investigation of the spatial distribution of botanical remains within certain building structures. The combination of the archaeological results with the data from the charcoal and seeds reinforces the assumption that Tell el-Burak was established by the city of Sidon or the nearby city of Sarepta as a production and trade centre for wine and possibly olive oil. The agricultural resources of grapes and olives were most probably cultivated in the immediate vicinity of the settlement and probably along the western slopes of the hill country further inland.

Description: Until recently the plant economy of the Northern European Bronze Age was only investigated locally or within modern boundaries. New results from the project “Settlements of the Bronze Age” by the Academy of Science and Literature Mainz allow us to now fill part of the remaining gaps in research. Summarizing all available data concerning the plant economy of the Northern European Bronze Age has shown that it constitutes a time of innovation and continuous change. In addition to the omnipresent Triticum dicoccum (emmer) and Hordeum vulgare (barley), this period is marked by the emergence of various new cultivars like T. spelta (spelt) or Camelina sativa (gold-of-pleasure). A comparison between the cereal spectra from several regions in Northern Germany and Scandinavia revealed differences and similarities which allowed for the reconstruction of multiple possible contact zones and various influences from adjacent cultures. Northern Germany and especially Schleswig–Holstein served as an important link for trading over land and by water between the southern areas and Scandinavia. The rising diversity of crop plants in the Late Bronze Age, which is for the first time comparable to the southern regions, reflects the increased trade and therefore stronger influence from beyond the Northern European Bronze Age, which resulted in an accelerated assimilation of innovations and new technologies.

Description: We review the history of Quaternary pollen analysis from 1916 to the present-day, with particular emphasis on methodological and conceptual developments and on the early pioneers of the subject. The history is divided into three phases—the pioneer phase 1916–1950, the building phase 1951–1973, and the mature phase 1974–present-day. We also explore relevant studies prior to Lennart von Post’s seminal lecture in 1916 in Kristiania (Oslo) in an attempt to trace how the idea of Quaternary pollen analysis with quantitative pollen counting and stratigraphical pollen diagrams developed.

Description: In 2016 the 100th birthday of palynology was celebrated: Lennart von Post introduced the scientific discipline in 1916 at lectures in Oslo and Stockholm. However, von Post was not the first to study pollen, and research dates back to the works of Nehemiah Grew and Marcello Malpighi in the late 17th century. Afterwards studies focussed mainly on the role of pollen for plant reproduction, and on pollen morphology. The first scientist who observed fossil pollen was Heinrich Göppert in 1836. However, it was not until the 1890s and 1900s that the study of pollen became a regular component in the reconstruction of past vegetation. Lennart von Post subsequently developed theoretical and practical concepts and methods of pollen analysis, and raised palynology from its infancy into the mature scientific discipline that flourished greatly during the century that followed.

Description: Recent global warming is pronounced in high-latitude regions (e.g. northern Asia), and will cause the vegetation to change. Future vegetation trends (e.g. the “arctic greening”) will feed back into atmospheric circulation and the global climate system. Understanding the nature and causes of past vegetation changes is important for predicting the composition and distribution of future vegetation communities. Fossil pollen records from 468 sites in northern and eastern Asia were biomised at selected times between 40 cal ka bp and today. Biomes were also simulated using a climate-driven biome model and results from the two approaches compared in order to help understand the mechanisms behind the observed vegetation changes. The consistent biome results inferred by both approaches reveal that long-term and broad-scale vegetation patterns reflect global- to hemispheric-scale climate changes. Forest biomes increase around the beginning of the late deglaciation, become more widespread during the early and middle Holocene, and decrease in the late Holocene in fringe areas of the Asian Summer Monsoon. At the southern and southwestern margins of the taiga, forest increases in the early Holocene and shows notable species succession, which may have been caused by winter warming at ca. 7 cal ka bp . At the northeastern taiga margin (central Yakutia and northeastern Siberia), shrub expansion during the last deglaciation appears to prevent the permafrost from thawing and hinders the northward expansion of evergreen needle-leaved species until ca. 7 cal ka bp . The vegetation-climate disequilibrium during the early Holocene in the taiga-tundra transition zone suggests that projected climate warming will not cause a northward expansion of evergreen needle-leaved species.