Condiments before Claudius: new plant foods at the Late Iron Age oppidum at Silchester,UK

Our understanding of the introduction and adoption of new plant foods in Roman Britain is currently limited by a lack of data from a group of Late Iron Age settlements commonly referred to as oppida (large pre-Roman towns). This paper presents the first evidence of several imported plant foods from Late Iron Age Britain in the form of waterlogged plant remains from the oppidum at Silchester. These were recovered from the basal contexts of two wells, dated to the early first century a.d. One olive stone and several seeds of celery, coriander and dill were identified. The results are compared to archaeobotanical data from elsewhere in Britain and northwestern Europe, demonstrating that Silchester is part of the wider phenomenon of the adoption of new flavourings and fruits in Late Iron Age Europe.     

Cultivation with deliberation: cereals and their growing conditions in prehistory

The subject of this study is the evaluation of the relationship between cereals grown in prehistory (ca. 5500 bc–ad 600) and environmental conditions during their cultivation on the land that is now the Czech Republic. Charred cereal macroremains were taken from 84 archaeological sites. The representation of species at individual sites was assessed with regard to site altitude, average temperature, precipitation, length of the growing season, soil types and soil productivity within a 1 km buffer zone around each archaeological site. The suitability of using present day environmental data to describe past environmental differences among archaeological sites was verified by expressing environmental conditions using Ellenberg indication values of macroremains of wild taxa. The results of the cereals-environmental conditions analysis show that the most important factor for the crop choice was the period of time of its cultivation. After eliminating the effect of time and length of the growing season, soil quality and altitude become conclusive variables, however with different importance in various periods. The main differences between the macroremain assemblages are represented by the varying proportions of cultivated wheats and barley. In the Neolithic (Proto–Eneolithic) there was no observable effect of environmental factors on the cereal composition. In the Middle Eneolithic–Middle Bronze Age soil type was the main factor in the selection of barley or emmer. In the Late Bronze–Early Iron Ages precipitation, altitude and Chernozems were the decisive factors influencing cereal cultivation while in the Late Iron Age–Migration Period heat load index, precipitation, and the proportion of Fluvisols were the primary determinants. It seems that prehistoric cereal varieties had ecological needs similar to present-day species and the selection of crops took place with respect to local conditions and an effort to achieve an optimum yield.     

From forest to open pastures and fields: cultural landscape development in western Norway inferred from two pollen records representing different spatial scales of vegetation

The cultural landscape development of a farming community in western Norway was investigated through pollen analyses from a lake and a peat/soil profile. The pollen record from the lake indicates that there was a decrease in arboreal pollen (AP) by the end of the Mesolithic period (ca. 4200 cal b.c.), and that a substantial forest clearance occurred during the Bronze Age (ca. 1500 cal b.c.). The latter, together with grazing indicators and cereals, suggests a widespread establishment of farming. At the beginning of the Roman Iron Age there is an increase in heath communities. The pollen diagram from the peat/soil profile shows the forest clearance in the Bronze Age more clearly than the lake profile. This local pollen diagram is compared with modern pollen samples from mown and grazed localities in western Norway. Both analogue matching and ordination (PCA) indicate that the site was characterised by pastures and cereal fields from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age. An expansion of cereal cultivation took place during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and an arable field was established at the site after ca. a.d. 800. This investigation illustrates the potential of selecting pollen sites reflecting different spatial scales, and complements the cultural history of the area as inferred from archaeological and historical records.     

From deciduous forest to open landscape: application of new approaches to help understand cultural landscape development in western Norway

Development of the cultural landscape in a village situated by the inner fjords of western Norway is investigated by pollen analysis and quantitative reconstruction methods. Pollen samples from lake sediments and a soil profile were analysed and represent different spatial scales. The Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA) is applied to a large and a small lake to convert pollen percentages from the small lake into estimated local vegetation cover in selected time periods starting from 2800 cal bc (Middle Neolithic A). This reconstruction shows that estimated forest cover has fluctuated through time, and changes in openness related to human impact are distinct from the Early Bronze Age (1800–1200 cal bc). Pollen analyses from the soil profile indicate forest clearances from the Late Neolithic (2300–1800 cal bc). Gradual intensification of farming is recognized in both pollen diagrams throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages with increasing openness and spatial differentiation in land-use practices. Presence of pollen of cereals and flax record the cultivation of these plants from the Iron Age, and intensification of land-use may have caused erosion and re-sedimentation in the lake in medieval times. To identify a possible landscape in the past, HUMPOL software has been used with the Late Neolithic as a case study. The LRA-based estimates of forest cover are supported by the HUMPOL simulations, but several solutions to the Late Neolithic landscape pattern exist. The results clearly demonstrate how implementation of LRA and HUMPOL improve the understanding of cultural landscape development.     

Plant Resources from the Bronze Age and the first Iron Age in the northwestern arc of the Mediterranean Basin

This paper updates the question of plant resources during the Bronze Age and First Iron Age in the northwestern Mediterranean Basin. Among the cereals, six-row hulled barley is dominant throughout the territory, whereas naked and hulled wheats take on greater or lesser roles from region to region. Millet cultivation developed during the Bronze Age and became widespread in the First Iron Age. Apart from cereals, pulses, oil species and fruit appear to be secondary. Results from the study of archaeobotanical remains on wetland sites, however, lead us to question this finding, as oil plants and fruits are much better represented in waterlogged conditions. The cultivation of vine began in the First Iron Age. In spite of a number of characteristics common to plants throughout the study area, regional differences, evident in the Bronze Age, seem to dissipate in the First Iron Age.     

Evidence of ‘new glume wheat’ from the Late Neolithic (Copper Age) of south-eastern Hungary (4th millennium cal. b.c.)

In 2000, remains of an unknown Triticum species—later named ‘new glume wheat’ (NGW)—were identified in the archaeobotanical material of Neolithic and Bronze Age Greek sites. The presence of NGW was later reported from several other locations across Europe, from the seventh to the first millennium cal. b.c. During the systematic archaeobotanical survey of the multiperiod site of Hódmez?vásárhely–Kopáncs I., Olasz-tanya (5310–2936 cal. b.c.) more than 2,000 cereal remains were recovered. During the morphological analyses, ten spikelet forks showed the distinctive traits of NGW, therefore morphometric analyses were conducted on the remains to reinforce the morphological identification. The results suggest that both approaches—morphological and morphometric—should be applied in parallel to securely separate the NGW remains from Triticum turgidum L. ssp. dicoccum (Schrank) Thell. (emmer) and T. monococcum L. ssp. monococcum (einkorn). All NGW glume bases were recovered from Late Copper Age features (3338–3264 cal. b.c.) of the settlement, which represent the Baden culture of the Great Hungarian Plain. Similarly to other Baden culture sites of the Carpathian Basin einkorn and emmer dominated the crop production of the settlement. The ratio of the NGW remains within the cereal assemblage was measured to be 0.48 %, which suggests that NGW did not have the status of a regular crop; still it may have been part of the accompanying weed flora of the cereal fields during the fourth millennium in the south-eastern Great Hungarian Plain landscape.     

Informal intercropping of legumes with cereals? A re-assessment of clover abundance in ancient Egyptian cereal processing by-product assemblages: archaeobotanical investigations at Khentkawes town,Giza (2300–2100 <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">bc</Emphasis>)

The possibility that legumes were specifically cultivated as a separate fodder crop in ancient Egypt has been inferred, usually on the basis of abundance of both legume seeds and or dung in charred macro-botanical samples, combined with a lack of wood charcoal; the implication being that a scarcity of wood led to the use of dung as fuel, and that the legumes in the assemblage derive from livestock which had been fed with cultivated fodder. The archaeobotanical remains from excavations at the Old Kingdom ‘Khentkawes town’ (2300–2100 bc) on the Giza plateau in Egypt contained an abundance of legumes, but also much wood charcoal, and preservation of many fragile and ‘green’ seeds and plant parts. This assemblage has led to questioning of the theory of specific fodder cultivation in Pharaonic Egypt. In this article, alternative interpretations of legume-rich assemblages of cereal processing by-products are investigated. Intercropping of legumes with cereals is one of the most widespread and effective methods of improving crop value and security, and fodder/forage quality. Analysis of this assemblage has led to a hypothesis that Trifolium sp. and other ‘weeds’ may well have been viewed as integral plants within ancient Egyptian cereal fields, due to an awareness of the benefits of intercropping legumes with cereals—as opposed to having been specifically cultivated as a monocrop.     

Effects of environmental factors on weed species composition of cereal and stubble fields in western Hungary

Multivariate analysis of data obtained from 184 cereal and stubble fields in low-input agricultural systems located in western Hungary was undertaken in order to asses environmental factors affecting weed species composition. For each variable, the gross and net effect on weed species composition was calculated. All variables considered in this study had a significant effect on weed species composition and explained 26.99% of the total variation. Most variation in species composition was explained by the aspect (cereal vs. stubble), followed by soil pH, mean annual precipitation, soil texture, mean annual temperature, and altitude. Separating the cereals and stubbles soil pH became the most important factor. Our results suggest that during the long vegetation period, cereal weed communities dominated by winter annuals are replaced by stubble-field weed communities dominated by summer annuals. This seasonal change may also have the same important effect on weed species composition as crop types.     

The history of early cereal cultivation in northernmost Fennoscandia as indicated by palynological research

The age of the introduction of cereal cultivation in northern Europe has long been debated by researchers from many disciplines, in particular archaeology and palaeoecology. Over the past 40 years extensive palynological data have been collected concerning pre-industrial land use in northern Fennoscandia. This paper reviews palynological studies that include records of fossil cereal pollen from northernmost Sweden, Finland and Norway at latitudes north of 63°N. The geographical extent of known early cultivation sites is constantly expanding, with more than 100 records of cereal pollen pre-dating ad 1700. The oldest records of scattered cereal pollen derive from Neolithic times. Periods of continuous cultivation, indicated by cereal pollen recorded recurrently in the sediment profiles, derive from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Collectively, the reviewed pollen records indicate that cereal cultivation was first introduced into areas close to the coast and later to the interior, and that it may have been practiced locally long before sedentary settlements based on intensive cultivation were established during medieval times. The data do not indicate a latitudinal spread of cultivation from south to north. However, methodological problems relating to pollen morphology of cereals, site characteristics and lack of connections to archaeologically excavated sites imply that the value of many early cereal pollen finds remains unclear. To increase our understanding of the context in which cereal cultivation was introduced in northernmost Fennoscandia, multidisciplinary studies integrating palaeoecology, archaeology and history are needed.     

Early Iron Age agriculture: archaeobotanical evidence from an underground granary at Overbyg»rd in northern Jutland, Denmark

In the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age an underground granary in the village of Overbyg»rd was destroyed by fire and the contents were carbonised. Almost 2000 years later, analyses of the macroremains of the granary, which included a range of processed and unprocessed crops and weed seeds, showed that naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum) and bread wheat (Triticum aestivum s.l.) were the main crops cultivated, hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare) and flax (Linum usitatissimum) also played a role, whereas emmer (Triticum dicoccum) and gold of pleasure (Camelina sativa) were present as weeds or contaminants. The arable weed flora suggests that crops were sown in spring and that ecological conditions in the arable fields were very variable. The crops were harvested on the straw and may have spent some time drying and maturing in the fields before being transported home to be stored as severed ears in pest-proof granaries. Winnowing or, more probably, casting appears to have been used to clean the crop after threshing. It could not be ascertained if the crops had been sieved. Large collections of weed seeds in the granary were apparently the result of intentional gathering for food, rather than by-products of crop processing. In the light of the investigation it is suggested that future research into Iron Age agrarian practices should include both the analysis of archaeobotanical finds and a programme of practical experiments. This dual approach will give us a much better understanding of arable agriculture, not only in the Iron Age, but in prehistory as a whole.     

Agricultural practices in Arctic Norway during the first millennium b.c.

Palaeoecological investigations of mires suggest that agriculture was established north of the Arctic Circle in Norway during the late Bronze Age (1100?C500 b.c.) and Pre-Roman Iron Age (500?C1 b.c.). The lack of archaeobotanical and archaeological investigations has made it difficult to assess the nature of this early agricultural expansion into the Arctic in any detail. Here we present the first well documented archaeobotanical investigation from north Norway that covers this agricultural pioneer phase. Remains of charred seeds show that barley (Hordeum) was already being cultivated in the late Bronze Age, and that wheat (Triticum) was introduced in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Large amounts of crowberry (Empetrum) seeds are also typical of the Pre-Roman Iron Age and were obviously an important food plant at the time, at least locally. Charcoal rich layers dated to the late Bronze Age suggest that the local birch forest was initially cleared away with the help of fire, possibly related to a slash-and-burn cultivation practice. Lithostratigraphic and pollen-analytical results indicate that the cultivation practice of the Pre-Roman Iron Age was a form of bush-fallow system with intensive soil re-working alternated with long periods of fallow.     

The prehistoric hillfort at Grad (Peljesac, Dalmatia)--preliminary results of intensive surface survey

An intensive surface survey, covering an area of approximately 10.000 m2, was carried out at Grad, a hillfort in southern Dalmatia. Its aims were to obtain information relevant for determining the spatial extent of the site, its function(s), periods of occupation, degree of preservation, and potential for further investigation. Research strategy included mapping of the visible structural remains and systematic recovery of all surface finds. Majority of the collected finds are coarse Hellenistic ceramics followed by Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery. The central area of the hillfort was intensively used during the last few centuries B.C., while its origins can be traced back to the Bronze Age. The recorded structures and the recovered finds hint at a residential and defensive function of the site, while its central, elevated area may have been a focus of special activities.     

After the fire: the end of a house life-cycle at the Iron Age site of Nabás (North-western Iberia)

Vegetation History and Archaeobotany - The existence of a fire event at the Iron Age hillfort of Nabás, which is located on the southern bank of the Ría de Vigo (Galicia, NW of the...     

Bronze Age olive domestication in the north Jordan valley: new morphological evidence for regional complexity in early arboricultural practice from Pella in Jordan

Recent research from the site of Pella in Jordan examines the process and timing of olive cultivation. The frequent presence of olive remains from the Pottery Neolithic, beginning in the Yarmoukian, suggests that exploitation of the olive dates from as early as c. 6200 cal bce, with evidence of oil pressing from at least c. 5200 cal bce. Morphometric data, spanning the Late Neolithic to the Middle Iron Age II, using the measurement of olive endocarp length and width, demonstrates a reduction in the size variation of olive endocarps through time, in addition to an increase in their length, likely the result of selection pressure on trees. At Pella, this change occurs sometime after the Chalcolithic and before the Late Bronze Age, probably post-dating the earliest phases of the Early Bronze Age. Domestication is thus later than Teleilat Ghassul (Jordan), which has the earliest morphological evidence for olive domestication, and suggests that olive domestication was a regionally and temporally diverse process.     

Earliest evidence of a primitive cultivar of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Vitis vinifera</Emphasis> L. during the Bronze Age in Sardinia (Italy)

The discovery of the Nuragic culture settlement of Sa Osa, Cabras-Oristano, Sardinia, has made it possible to investigate the domestication status of waterlogged uncharred grape pips that were recovered from three wells dating from the Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 1350–1150 bc). Applying the stepwise linear discriminant analysis method, a morphological comparison of archaeological seeds and modern wild and cultivated Sardinian grapes pips was performed to determine the similarities between them. The results showed that the archaeological seeds from the Middle Bronze Age have intermediate morphological traits between modern wild and cultivated grape pips from Sardinia. In contrast, the analyses performed on the archaeological seeds from the Late Bronze Age showed a high degree of similarity with the modern cultivars in Sardinia. These results provide the first evidence of primitive cultivated Vitis vinifera in Sardinia during the Late Bronze Age (1286–1115 cal bc, 2σ). This evidence may support the hypothesis that Sardinia could have been a secondary domestication centre of the grapevine, due to the presence of ancient cultivars that still exhibit the phenotypic characteristics of wild grapes.     

Some aspects of Late Iron Age agriculture based on the first results of an archaeobotanical investigation at Corvin tér, Budapest, Hungary

Until now, very little was known about the agriculture of the Late Iron Age in Hungary. This paper describes the first results of an archaeobotanical examination of a late Iron Age, Celtic settlement in Budapest. It is the first systematically sampled and representatively investigated site of this time period in Hungary. Most of the samples come from different types of pits, which were subjectively sampled. The macrofossils were carbonised and, apart from many seeds and fruit stones, consisted mostly of charcoal. Among the seed remains both cultivated and wild species were present. The spectrum of cultivated plants was marked by a large number of cereals. The dominant cereals were Triticum spelta L. (spelt wheat) and Panicum millaceum L. (broomcorn millet), but also common were Avena sativa L., Avena sp. (oats), Triticum monococcum L. (einkorn), Hordeum vulgare L. (barley); Triticum aestivum/durum/turgidum L./Desf./L., incl. T. compactum Host. (bread wheat, including club wheat). Secale cereale L. (rye) and Triticum dicoccum (Schrank) Schübl. (emmer) were rare and seemed to be less important. The weeds and synanthropic vegetation, including ruderals, were represented by many taxa, and some of them also occurred in large amounts. The main cereals were sown as winter crops, judging from the rarely occurring of plants accompanying the cereals. Wild fruits contributed to the daily diet, too – as seen from the stones of Cornus mas (cornelian cherry), Crataegus sp. (hawthorn) and Prunus spinos (sloe, blackthorn). There were no finds of cultivated fruits. Received October 19, 2001 / Accepted January 30, 2002     

The history of rye cultivation in Europe

During recent years finds from several prehistoric and medieval periods have thrown new light on the history of the spread of rye. It is now proven that wild rye is indigenous to Anatolia and was already domesticated there by the early Neolithic at the beginning of agriculture. Secale migrated to Central Europe as a weed among other cereals, and single grains of weed rye have been recorded there since the early Neolithic. The number of finds increased during the Bronze Age and Iron Age, and the status of rye changed from weed to crop plant, probably in the course of the early Iron Age. This acculturation of Secale cereale in central and eastern Europe was obviously independent of the earlier one in Anatolia. The first stages towards deliberate cultivation happened unintentionally through harvesting close to the ground, so that the rye was permanently represented in the seed corn. From this point rye was able to take advantage of its competitive strength on poor soils and in areas with unfavourable climate. The start of rye as a crop in its own right during the pre-Roman Iron Age and Roman period presumably took place independently in different areas. The expansion of intensive rye cultivation occurred in the Middle Ages. However, new finds from north-west Germany, which are presented here, show that in this area rye has been cultivated as a main crop on poor soils since the Roman period. In two maps all rye finds up to 1000 A.D. are shown, which after critical consideration can be regarded as cultivated rye.     

Archaeobotanical evidence of the function of four-post structures in Denmark

Through archaeobotanical analysis and discussion of the abundant charred macrofossils in samples from a burnt down four-post structure at an Early Roman Iron Age farmstead (ad 1-150) at Kulerup, Sjælland (Zealand) in Denmark, this article aims to shed new light upon the functions of this type of structure in Denmark. Based on the analysis of the distribution of charred plant remains there, it is argued that at the time the structure was destroyed by fire it was being used for storing cereals, which were possibly unthreshed. Supplemented by archaeological evidence as well as archaeobotanical records from a number of other Bronze and Iron Age four-post structures from northwest Europe, the plant macrofossil assemblage from Kulerup reinforces the interpretation of these structures for storage of plant products. Four- and multiple post structures are known as parts of farm units well into historical times, and so comparative historical records are also considered as a source of information about their primary functions.

     

Cultivation and processing of Linum usitatissimum and Camelina sativa in southern Scandinavia during the Roman Iron Age

Charred seed conglomerates of Linum usitatissimum (flax) and Camelina sativa (gold of pleasure) were found at Uppåkra 2:25, a Roman Iron Age site in Skåne, southern Sweden. The conglomerates showed no mixing with each other, as they were almost pure flax and gold of pleasure respectively. Together with other archaeobotanical data from the site, they provide new evidence on the use, processing and cultivation of these two plants in early Iron Age in Scandinavia. Metric analyses were applied to flax seeds from both conglomerates and other contexts at this site, and compared to seed assemblages from other Roman Iron Age sites in Europe. The comparison showed that the flax cultivation at Uppåkra 2:25 was intended for the production of oil-rich seeds. The contextual relationship indicates that both flax and gold of pleasure seeds were processed in a similar way and used for oil. Furthermore, the pure seed conglomerate of gold of pleasure suggests that this plant was not a weed, but rather an intentionally grown crop which was cultivated separately from flax.     

The impact of changing the season in which cereals are sown on the diversity of the weed flora in rotational fields in Denmark

1. Surveys have shown that there has been a dramatic decrease in the weed flora of fields under rotational cultivation during the last 30 years. This trend has been particularly noticeable in winter cereals, a crop of increasing importance in the landscape.
2. The weed flora of spring and winter cereals was compared in 19 unsprayed fields during a 5-year study to test the hypothesis that cereal type exerts no effect on the flora or on the absolute and relative abundance of single species.
3. Plant and species densities, and accumulated species richness, were lower in winter than in spring cereals.
4. Floristic similarity was greater among spring cereal fields and between spring and winter cereals within the same fields than among winter cereal fields.
5. Species that occurred with unequal density in spring and winter cereals occurred at higher densities in the spring cereals; these species germinated mainly in the spring. However, for a few species the relative plant abundance was highest in winter cereals; these species were able to germinate both in the spring and autumn.
6. Some species – on the relative scale – occurred indifferently of season of sowing; all but one of these species were able to germinate both in the spring and autumn.
7. Plant species and taxa that are important food resources for arthropod herbivores occurred at greater densities in spring than in winter cereals and, in addition, occurred with the highest relative abundance in spring cereals.
8. Change in land use from spring to winter cereals involves not only an immediate reduction of more than 25% in the density of plants and species, but also a change and increased uncertainty in the composition of the weed flora. These findings may have serious implications for the ecology of wildlife in the agricultural landscape.