Indagini archeobotaniche sui riempimenti delle buche da rifiuti e del pozzo nero di via Cavestro a Parma (X - XI sec. d.C.)

Archaeobotanical analyses were carried out on pits and latrine, dated to the 10th – 11th centuries AD, from the site of Piazza Garibaldi. According to archaeological data, the site was a market square in Mediaeval times. Data from pollen and seeds/fruits were useful for both palaeoenvironmental and palaeoethnobotanical reconstruction, and together with NPPs including parasite remains contributed to add details on the function of the site. In the Middle Ages, cereal fields, together with legumes, grapevines and fruit trees to be grown in the area, together olive trees and Prunoideae. The analyses of plant and parasite remains in four pits and one latrine suggested that their infillings consisted of waste, human and animal excrements, deteriorated vegetable food and marcs. Human parasite eggs of Ascaris and Trichuris were found in the latrine, while parasites of animals were found also in the pits.