Garden Archaeology & History

The ancient tell (mound) of Ramat Rahel sits on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It features an impressive residency and palatial garden that flourished during the seventh to fourth centuries BCE, when biblical Judah was under the hegemony of the Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian empires. Until recently, the garden’s flora has been a mystery, as standard archaeological procedures were unable to retrieve secure archaeobotanical remains. A unique method of extracting fossil pollen from ancient plaster has now enabled researchers to reconstruct the exact vegetation
components of this royal Persian garden and for the first time to shed light on the cultural world of the inhabitants of the residence. The plaster layers and garden are dated archaeologically and by Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) methods to the Persian period (fifth to fourth centuries BCE), and produced evidence of
importation by the ruling Persian authorities of special and highly valued trees to the garden from remote parts of the empire. The most surprising find, and marking its earliest appearance in the southern Levant, was the citron (Citrus medica), which later acquired a symbolic-religious role in Judaism. Other imported trees found to have been grown in the garden are the cedar, birch and Persian walnut. The pollen evidence of these exotic trees in the
Ramat Rahel palatial garden suggests that they were probably brought to flaunt the power of the imperial Persian administration. Native fruit trees and ornamentals that were also grown there include the fig, grape, olive, willow, poplar, myrtle and water lily. The identification of the ancient garden’s plant life opens a course for future research into the symbolic role of flora in palatial gardens. It also offers new opportunities for studying the
mechanism by which native flora was adopted in a particular geographical area and proliferated by humans across
the world.

During a GPR-survey of in the area surrounding the late 18th century manor of Rosenlund in Jönköping. Sweden, an unexpected find was made. An almost complete formal garden was hidden some 50 cm beneath the turf. It was laid out around 1790, following the ideals of gardening of its time. The garden was abandoned in the mid-19th century and covered under a layer of soil. The GPR-survey makes a reconstruction possible and a first small scale excavation is on its way.

Az Európai Régészeti Tanács (EAC) 2019 februárjában Írországban tartotta 20. konferenciáját. A dublini várban megrendezett találkozó a műemléki helyszínek és régészeti területek megfelelő kezelésének, vala-mint a nagyközönség számára történő bemutatásának lehetőségeit tárgyalta. A szervezet szimpóziumain a régészeti örökség kezelésére vonatkozó viták középpontjában évek óta a régészet és a beruházások kapcsolatának problémaköre áll. A két fél érdekei és igényei különösen a kulturális turizmusnál érnek (vagy ütköznek?) össze, ami Magyarországon legújabban az ún. örökségi beruházásoknál, a Nemzeti Örökségvédelmi Fejlesztési Nkft. (NÖF Nkft.) által koordinált Nemzeti Kastély-és Várprogramnál kísérhető figyelemmel. Előadásunkban a fejlesztések előkészítéséhez kapcsolódó régészeti munkákat mutattuk be két helyszín: Sárospatak és Szabadkígyós példáján keresztül.

The manor of Rosenlund was built between 1786 and 1788 just outside the town of Jönköping. With it's architecture influenced by classical ideals the manorhouse is today a good reflection of ideas and visions of the constructor, baron Gustaf Mauritz Posse. He was a highly educated jurist and served as the vice-president of the Göta Hovrätt law court. But he also belonged to a group of agricultural reformers in late 18th century Sweden - making his manor into something of a model farm, admired by vistors and other noblemen in the vicinity.

That a manor with the qualities of Rosenlund should have been surrounded but a suitable park and orchard is something one could almost take for granted. But since the archives of the manor has disapeared no plans, maps or descriptions survive.

In the late fall of 2010 a GPR survey was made in the overgrown area west of the manorhouse. It revealed the remains of an almost complete formal garden with it's layout dating back to about 1790. It's paths, stone-lined flowerbeds, an oval pond and a large number of pits for trees and shrubs are easy to distinguish. There are foundations for what may have been an orangery. Together with the manorhouse the formal garden makes an architectural unity, showing it all was part of the same plan - a garden worthy of the baron's ambitions!

The whole layout of the garden was radically altered in the mid-ninteenth century and again about a hundred years later. Today nothing is visible above ground. The fact that so much of the original structures survive in an unaltered state makes Rosenlund to a very promising site for garden archeology. It can be excavated and reconstructed with a high level of exactness. But today it's also possible to recover a floral material from the soil for archeobotanical analysis. The furure looks bright for the forgotten pleasance of baron Posse!

Among Shâh ‘Abbâs I’s palaces in Mâzanderân, the ‘Abbâsâbâd estate is outstanding by its original features: it linked an informal garden, the elements of which are loosely assembled around an artificial lake to a formal space, on higher grounds, with a geometrical outlay, more common in the art of Persian gardens. The coexistence of these juxtaposed parts and the close relation of the residence with the surrounding forest, the lack of outside walls customary in Persian gardens, hint at an original relation of some Safavid gardens with the natural landscape i.e. a will to “reproduce” or “preserve” nature in its wilder aspects, with the intent, not of building a great Royal garden, but rather, a simple hunting residence: a gusheh-ye ‘eysh-e shâh, a "pleasure corner for the king".