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  3. The cultivation of Castanea sativa (Mill.) in Europe, from its origin to its diffusion on a continental scale
 

The cultivation of Castanea sativa (Mill.) in Europe, from its origin to its diffusion on a continental scale

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BORIS DOI
10.7892/boris.83987
Date of Publication
August 2004
Publication Type
Article
Division/Institute

Oeschger Centre for C...

Institut für Pflanzen...

Institute of Plant Sc...

Author
Conedera, M.
Krebs, P.
Tinner, Willy
Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften (IPS)
Pradella, M.
Torriani, D.
Subject(s)

500 - Science::580 - ...

Series
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
ISSN or ISBN (if monograph)
0939-6314
Publisher
Springer
Language
English
Publisher DOI
10.1007/s00334-004-0038-7
Uncontrolled Keywords

Chestnut cultivation

Roman period

Castanea sativa

Palynology

Archaeology

Classical literature

Description
The history of Castanea sativa (sweet chestnut) cultivation since medieval times has been well described on the basis of the very rich documentation available. Far fewer attempts have been made to give a historical synthesis of the events that led to the cultivation of sweet chestnut in much earlier times. In this article we attempt to reconstruct this part of the European history of chestnut cultivation and its early diffusion by use of different sources of information, such as pollen studies, archaeology, history and literature. Using this multidisciplinary approach, we have tried to identify the roles of the Greek and Roman civilizations in the dissemination of chestnut cultivation on a European scale. In particular, we show that use of the chestnut for food was not the primary driving force behind the introduction of the tree into Europe by the Romans. Apart from the Insubrian Region in the north of the Italian peninsula, no other centre of chestnut cultivation existed in Europe during the Roman period. The Romans may have introduced the idea of systematically cultivating and using chestnut. In certain cases they introduced the species itself; however no evidence of systematic planting of chestnut exists. The greatest interest in the management of chestnut for fruit production most probably developed after the Roman period and can be associated with the socio-economic structures of medieval times. It was then that self-sufficient cultures based on the cultivation of chestnut as a source of subsistence were formed.
Handle
https://boris-portal.unibe.ch/handle/20.500.12422/142810
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VegetHistArchaeobot_13_161.pdftextAdobe PDF1.17 MBpublisherpublishedOpen
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