New research on the vegetation cover of Roman-era Pannonia – what do charcoal, seed finds, and Lake Balaton sediments reveal?
We are pleased to announce that the article entitled “The vegetation of the Roman province of Pannonia based on wood charcoal, pollen, anthracological and carpological studies (1st–5th century AD)”, authored by doctoral candidate Máté Róbert Merkl as first author under the supervision of Enikő Magyari, has been published in the journal Dissertationes Archaeologicae. This study is the first to reconstruct the vegetation and agricultural practices of Roman Pannonia (1st–5th centuries AD) in the Balaton region through an integrated analysis of charred wood remains, seed and fruit remains, and pollen data preserved in the sediments of Lake Balaton.
Analysis of charred wood remains demonstrated that in the Roman period, oak (Quercus sp.) accounted for 55–98% of firewood and construction timber in the Balaton area. At the urban center of Tác/Gorsium, the use of tree species was much more diverse: in addition to oak, beech (Fagus sylvatica), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), ash (Fraxinus sp.), as well as imported Norway spruce (Picea abies) and silver fir (Abies alba) were also utilized. In rural (vicus) settlements, however, almost exclusively local species, beech, alder, elm, and oak, were used, with oak comprising approximately 98% of the timber. Charred remains of rowan (Sorbus sp.) and members of the rose subfamilies Pomoideae and Prunoideae indicate open shruby environments in the immediate vicinity of the investigated settlements.
Seed and fruit analyses revealed a predominance of cultivated crops. In urban settlements, wheat (Triticum aestivum) and rye (Secale cereale) were dominant, while rural sites yielded remains of emmer (Triticum dicoccum), einkorn (T. monococcum), spelt (T. spelta) and millet (Panicum miliaceum), likely reflecting local cultivation traditions. The composition of weed species indicated both autumn and spring cereal sowing in the surrounding landscapes.
Strong evidence was found for the Roman-period cultivation of hemp (Cannabis sativa), as indicated by both seed finds and Balaton pollen data.
Pollen analyses further reveal that from the end of the Celtic period a dramatic deforestation process began (oak decreasing from 30% to below 20%), which was likely intensified during the Roman period by military infrastructure, road networks, trade, and food supply demands. The Land Use Probability index (LUP) values of 60–100 indicated intensive land use, signifying a period of strongly increased agricultural activity in the Balaton region during Roman times. According to the REVEALS model, 35–40% of the landscape was converted into open agricultural mosaics.
The novelty of this research lies in its comprehensive presentation of the Celtic environmental impact, the ecological transformation following Roman conquest, the complete regional vegetation of the Balaton area, and the differential use of timber and cereals at local settlements, based on a large dataset.
The results demonstrate that during the Roman period, the Balaton region could have functioned as a significant cereal-producing area, a strategically important military and trade zone, and a landscape in which natural oak forests were partly cleared and replaced by mosaic arable fields, pastures, and vineyards.
This publication provides an exceptional illustration of how the Roman Empire transformed the Pannonian landscape and left a long-term legacy that continues to shape the modern environment of the Balaton region.
The study can be downloaded from: https://doi.org/10.17204/dissarch.2025.563
The landscape reconstruction illustrates the Balatonlelle–Rádpuszta vicus (rural) settlement and its surrounding environment on the shores of Lake Balaton. The reconstruction presented in this study was produced using ChatGPT 5.2, integrating geomorphological data, soil information, and potential vegetation maps to model the historical landscape.