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Prof. Dr. Ferran Antolin

Department of Environmental Sciences
Profiles & Affiliations

I am an archaeobotanist interested in farmers across history: the plants they grew or gathered, how they were grown, tended, harvested and stored, how they were processed and used, how labour was organized, how risk was predicted and avoided, how farmers reacted to catastrophes and climate change, and what all of this tells us about past societies as well as about current society. Interdisciplinarity has always been paramount to my research.


I am working on sites dated between the Neolithic and the Medieval period in several places in Europe, as well as in Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Mongolia, Buthan and Saudi Arabia.

Selected Publications

Antolín, Ferran, Jacomet, Stefanie, Soteras, Raül, Gerling, Claudia, Bernasconi, Stefano M, Follmann, Franziska, Hajdas, Irka, Jaggi, Madalina, Jesus, Ana, Martínez-Grau, Héctor, Oms, Francesc Xavier, Röder, Brigitte, Steiner, Bigna L, & van Willigen, Samuel. (2023). An archaeobotanical and stable isotope approach to changing agricultural practices in the NW Mediterranean region around 4000 BC [Journal-article]. The Holocene, 34(2), 239–254. https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836231211848

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Sabanov, Amalia, Soteras, Raül, Hajdas, Irka, Naumov, Goce, & Antolín, Ferran. (2023). New research on crop diversity of the early farmers in southeastern Europe (ca. 6400 − 5700 BCE) [Journal-article]. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-023-00940-2

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Jesus, Ana, Bonhomme, Vincent, Evin, Allowen, Soteras, Raül, Jacomet, Stefanie, Bouby, Laurent, & Antolin, Ferran. (2023). Morphometrics of waterlogged archaeological seeds give new insights into the domestication and spread of Papaver somniferum L. in Western Europe. PLoS ONE, 18(5), e0286190. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286190

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Antolín, Ferran, Martínez-Grau, Hector., Steiner, Bigna, Follmann, Francis, Soteras, Raül, Häberle, Simone, Prats, Georgina, Schäfer, Marguerita, Mainberger, Martin, Hajdas, Irka, & Banchieri, Daria G. (2022). Neolithic occupations (c. 5200-3400 cal BC) at Isolino Virginia (Lake Varese, Italy) and the onset of the pile-dwelling phenomenon around the Alps. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 42, 103375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103375

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Steiner, Bigna L., Martínez-Grau, Héctor, Bernasconi, Stefano M., Gross, Eda, Hajdas, Irka, Jacomet, Stefanie, Jaggi, Madalina, Schaeren, Gishan F., & Antolín, Ferran. (2022). Archaeobotanical and isotopic analyses of waterlogged remains from the Neolithic pile- dwelling site of Zug-Riedmatt (Switzerland): Resilience strategies of a plant economy in a changing local environment. PLoS ONE, 17(9), e0274361. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274361

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Selected Projects & Collaborations

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Small seeds for large purposes: an integrated approach to agricultural change and climate during the Neolithic in Western Europe

Research Project  | 6 Project Members

This project proposes an interdisciplinary approach to agricultural change and its causes during the Neolithic, particularly in connection to climate fluctuations. The study region includes the territories between the Po Valley, the High Rhine and the Ebro Valley. New research will be done in selected sites (unique in each of their regions) with optimal preservation conditions, with an emphasis on wetland sites. Integrated approaches to palaeoecology and palaeoeconomy will be performed combining archaeobotany, archaeozoology and entomology. Large databases will be produced with the available archaeobotanical data, radiocarbon dates and underground storage features in the study region. A radiocarbon dating program will be combined with carbon isotope measurements to eventually approach agricultural change from a multi-proxy perspective and reach a better understanding of agricultural decision-making among early farmers.

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Formation and taphonomy of archaeological wetland deposits: two transdisciplinary case studies and their impact on lakeshore archaeology

Research Project  | 6 Project Members

Formation and taphonomy of archaeological wetland deposits: two transdisciplinary case studies and their impact on lakeshore archaeology Our research, designed as an integrated and transdiciplinary investigation right from the start, aims to develop new standards for modelling the layer formation processes of archaeological wetland deposits. To base such a model on hard facts requires new, systematically-collected and high-quality quantitative data. The timing for such a project is ideal, as scientific analyses of two lakeshore settlements - Zug-Riedmatt (since 2010; a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site (Hafner 2012) and Zürich-Opéra (since 2012) - are currently being funded by the cantons of Zug and Zürich. The sites selected offer many methodological advantages: they were excavated in 2008 and 2010 using state-of-the-art procedures and were thoroughly sampled according to our scientific specifications. Extensive initial evaluations of the deposits have highlighted the remarkable state of preservation of their organic material, which has allowed us to design a project of the highest quality. The analysis of the archaeological deposits and finds is presently being carried out and will be available on schedule. The two sites are culturally and chronologically similar (Horgen culture, last quarter of the 4th millennium BC - a well-researched temporal framework) and are located close together (35km)We can therefore confidently eliminate many uncertainties arising from chronological, cultural or geographical differences. The primary focus of the project is micro-archaeological. It consists of a closely integrated collaboration, implemented from the earliest stages of sampling, between geological, biological and archaeological disciplines (micromorphology, archaeobotanical analysis of plant macroremains, pollen analysis, archaeozoology, analysis, of structures and assemblages, dendrochronology) and examines the interplay between layer formation, preservation and degradation processes in the amphibious context of prehistoric lakeshore settlements. It is only through these integrated, transdisciplinary procedures that a meaningful basis for understanding the complex interactions between the influence of lacustrine and fluvial waters, the human and animal input, the degradation of organic materials and the taphonomic aspects of deposits can be attained. Only once such foundations are laid down, can viable conclusions about the establishment, building, organisation and daily life of Neolithic lakeshore settlements be reached. The current state of research will be assessed critically within the project's framework, rationalised and integrated into the new model. Such a systematic assessment has not as yet been developed in lakeshore settlement research. The intensive discourse promoted by the close collaboration between scientists will lead to crucial improvements in the methodological awareness of the different disciplines. The project thus offers a unique opportunity to develop fundamental research methods and formulate theoretical approaches in the scientific investigation of settlements in humid environments.