Diet and subsistence at the late Neolithic tell sites of Sopot, Slavča and Ravnjaš, eastern Croatia

Documenta Praehistorica ◽

10.4312/dp.19 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

pp. 326

Author(s):

Kelly Reed ◽

Maja Krznarić Škrivanko ◽

Marija Mihaljević

Keyword(s):

Local Environment ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Cornelian Cherry ◽

Crop Processing ◽

Wild Fruit ◽

Plant Remains ◽

Study Sites ◽

Successive Generations ◽

Previous Occupation

This paper presents archaeobotanical data from three late Neolithic Sopot Culture (c. 5200–4000 cal BC) tell sites, Sopot, Slavča and Ravnjaš, located in eastern Croatia. Tell settlements are well suited for exploring aspects of diet and subsistence, as they present a concentrated area with successive generations building upon previous occupation levels. The plant remains from the three study sites suggest a crop-based diet of mainly einkorn, emmer, barley, lentil and pea, as well as evidence of crop-processing activities. This diet was also probably supplemented by wild fruit from the local environment, such as cornelian cherry, chinese lantern and blackberry.

Quantitative approximation to large-seeded wild fruit use in a late Neolithic lake dwelling: New results from the case study of layer 13 of Parkhaus Opéra in Zürich (Central Switzerland)

Quaternary International ◽

10.1016/j.quaint.2015.08.003 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 404 ◽

pp. 56-68 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Ferran Antolín ◽

Niels Bleicher ◽

Christoph Brombacher ◽

Marlu Kühn ◽

Bigna L. Steiner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Late Neolithic ◽

Wild Fruit ◽

Central Switzerland

Plant stores at pottery Neolithic Höyücek, southwest Turkey

Anatolian Studies ◽

10.2307/3643085 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 53 ◽

pp. 17-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Danièle Martinoli ◽

Mark Nesbitt

Keyword(s):

Lens Culinaris ◽

Good Correspondence ◽

Crop Processing ◽

The Poor ◽

Bitter Vetch ◽

Plant Remains ◽

Two Samples ◽

Low Levels ◽

Central Turkey ◽

By Products

AbstractEleven samples comprising an estimated 39,000 plant remains were analysed from a burnt destruction level at the pottery Neolithic site of Höyücek, southwest Turkey (radiocarbon dated 7550–7350 uncalibrated bp, 6400–6100 calibrated BC). Large stores of emmer (Triticum dicoccum), free threshing wheat (Triticum aestivum/durum), lentils (Lens culinaris), bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum) were identified and these plants were interpreted as crops. The low levels of weeds and crop processing by-products suggest most of the samples were remains of stores of human food. Two samples in which wild components (for example, Triticum boeticum, Medicago, Aegilops) dominated were interpreted as crop processing by-products, presumably stored for fodder. The presence of these stores in a structure interpreted as having a religious function shows that domestic activities also took place there. Comparison with other Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites of west central Turkey demonstrates a good correspondence in the range of crops. The poor representation of barley at Höyücek doubtless reflects the small number of samples from the site.

Archaeological wells in southern France: Late Neolithic to Roman plant remains from Mas de Vignoles IX (Gard) and their implications for the study of settlement, economy and environment

Environmental Archaeology ◽

10.1179/1749631413y.0000000009 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 23-38 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Isabel Figueiral ◽

Pierre Séjalon

Keyword(s):

Late Neolithic ◽

Southern France ◽

Plant Remains

The impact of early trans-Eurasian exchange on animal utilization in northern China during 5000–2500 BP

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683620941169 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 095968362094116

Author(s):

Guanghui Dong ◽

Linyao Du ◽

Wenyu Wei

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Local Environment ◽

Northern China ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Human Environment ◽

Wild Mammals ◽

The Impact ◽

Animal Utilization ◽

Human Subsistence ◽

The Bronze Age

Transcontinental exchange emerged and intensified in northern China since the late fifth millennium BP (Before present), especially in the arc, which was the core area of the eastern part of the trans-Eurasian exchange during the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. In the arc, the exchange profoundly affected the human subsistence strategy and human-environment relationship. Relative to the crop patterns and human diets during the Bronze Age in northern China, systematic investigations of zooarcheological data based on broad spatial and temporal framework to understand the influence of introduced livestock and indigenous livestock on human subsistence are lacking. To show the spatial-temporal variation in animal utilization patterns and its relation to prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, the zooarcheological data from 40 sites in northern China dated between 5000 and 2500 BP were analyzed. The strategy of animal utilization in northern China changed substantially from 5000 to 2500 BP, with notable spatial features in different chronological phases. From 5000 to 4300 BP, wild mammals and indigenous livestock (pig, dog) use dominated in the arc and the North China Plain (NCP). During 4300–3500 BP, the importance of introduced livestock (cattle, sheep/goat, horse) exceeded that of indigenous livestock in the arc, whereas indigenous livestock continued to dominate in the NCP. Indigenous livestock acted as the most important animal subsistence in northern China, although the exploitation of introduced livestock increased during 3500–2000 BP. These spatio-temporal differences in animal utilization appear to be closely associated with the prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, but were also affected by local environment, agriculture development, and climate change.

Toward an Investigation of Diversity and Cultivation of Rye (Secale cereale ssp. cereale L.) in Germany: Methodological Insights and First Results from Early Modern Plant Material

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy11122451 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 2451

Author(s):

Sofia Filatova ◽

Benjamin Claassen ◽

Guillermo Torres ◽

Ben Krause-Kyora ◽

Eva Holtgrewe Stukenbrock ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Secale Cereale ◽

Environmental Conditions ◽

Nuclear Genome ◽

Morphological Characteristics ◽

Local Environment ◽

Weed Ecology ◽

Plant Remains ◽

Arable Weed ◽

Cultivation Practices ◽

The Impact

Rye (Secale cereale ssp. cereale L.) is a secondary domesticate, considered to have originated as a weed in wheat fields and to have developed traits of domestication by evolving similar physiological and morphological characteristics to those of wheat. Although it migrated into Europe as a weed possessing domestication traits, it became one of the most significant crops grown in large parts of Europe from the medieval period onward. Within the modern borders of Germany, rye was grown using at least two divergent cultivation practices: eternal rye monoculture and three-field rotation. The straw of rye was used to produce Wellerhölzer, which are construction components in traditional half-timbered houses that have enabled a desiccated preservation of the plant remains. In order to assess the impact of cultivation practices, local environmental conditions and genetic variation on the genetic diversification of rye, we seek to integrate well-established archaeobotanical methods with aDNA sequencing of desiccated plant remains obtained from Wellerhölzer from Germany. In the current contribution, we present a proof of concept, based on the analysis of plant remains from a Wellerholz from the Old Town Hall of Göttingen. We use arable weed ecology to reconstruct cultivation practices and local environmental conditions and present a phylogenetic analysis based on targeted loci of the chloroplast and nuclear genome. Our results emphasise that the study of desiccated remains of plants from Wellerhölzer offer a unique opportunity for an integration of archaeobotanical reconstructions of cultivation practices and local environment and the sequencing of aDNA.

Making Memories, Making Monuments: Changing Understandings of Henges in Prehistory and the Present

The Neolithic of Mainland Scotland ◽

10.3366/edinburgh/9780748685721.003.0007 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Rebecca K. Younger

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Critical Analysis ◽

Social Memory ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Study Sites ◽

Fresh Insight ◽

Insight Into

This paper offers a fresh insight into three of Scotland’s most complex henge monuments, based on a critical analysis of the term henge. The late Neolithic circular earthwork enclosures have undergone re-evaluation in Scotland as Early Bronze Age dates for some sites have emerged since the 1990s, and the author draws on the long-term nature of these monuments to explore what came before the earthworks. Case-study sites are Cairnpapple Hill, North Mains and Forteviot henge 1. Each is explored in terms of the centuries of re-use of the space for activities such as ceremony, deposition, fire-setting and monument construction, and viewed through a framework of social memory and commemoration,

Garamantian agriculture: the plant remains from Jarma, Fazzan

Libyan Studies ◽

10.1017/s0263718900009997 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 39 ◽

pp. 41-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Ruth Pelling

Keyword(s):

Summer Season ◽

Crop Plants ◽

Crop Processing ◽

Plant Use ◽

Plant Remains ◽

First Millennium ◽

First Millennium Bc ◽

Insight Into

AbstractExcavations at Jarma, associated with the ancient capital of the Garamantes, Garama, in the Fazzan, southern Libya, have recovered a long sequence of charred and desiccated plant remains. The archaeobotanical analysis of the samples have provided an insight into the crop plants cultivated by the Garamantian period occupants of Jarma, and the nature of crop processing activities, plant use and disposal. A broad range of cereal, fruit and fibre crops have been identified which demonstrate both winter and summer season cultivation in the region from the end of the first millennium BC. A sophisticated arable regime relying on foggara irrigation was practised.

Geographic Variability of Sugars and Organic Acids in Selected Wild Fruit Species

Foods ◽

10.3390/foods9040462 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 462 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Asima Akagić ◽

Amila Vranac Oras ◽

Sanja Oručević Žuljević ◽

Nermina Spaho ◽

Pakeza Drkenda ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Organic Acids ◽

High Performance ◽

Principal Component ◽

Cornelian Cherry ◽

Fruit Species ◽

Wild Fruit ◽

Cornus Mas ◽

Wild Strawberry ◽

Promising Source ◽

Wild Fruit Species

The chemical variability of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.), wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca L.), cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.) and rosehip (Rosa canina L.) based on the content of individual and total sugars and organic acids in fruit was investigated. The fruits were picked in fully ripened condition within the period from 2014 to 2015 from different locations. The fresh fruits were analyzed with the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique for the purpose of identifying and quantifying the content of glucose, fructose and sucrose, as well as malic, citric, fumaric and shikimic acids. However, the content of individual sugars and organic acids differed by locations as well as by growing year within the same wild fruit species. The differences between wild fruit species as well as among different locations are presented by principal component analysis (PCA). Based on results obtained, rosehip fruits with higher sugars and organic acids ratio (S/A) are suitable for production of “pekmez” and drying, while genotypes of cornelian cherry, wild strawberry and bilberry with lower S/A are recommended for production of juices and gelatin products. The research results show that specific environmental conditions may influence significantly the content of analyzed parameters, as is the case with cornelian cherry and rosehip. Considering that the food industry is searching for new products, the wild fruit species analyzed represent a promising source of ingredients for the development of beverages and foods with functional properties as well as for supplements and nutraceuticals.

A palaeoethnobotanical study of the West House, Akrotiri, Thera

The Annual of the British School at Athens ◽

10.1017/s0068245400015136 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 87 ◽

pp. 219-230 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Anaya Sarpaki

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Complete Information ◽

The West ◽

Crop Processing ◽

Plant Remains ◽

Processing And Storage ◽

A Site ◽

High Degree ◽

And Storage ◽

Architectural Unit

This paper summarizes some results of palaeoethnobotanical study at Akrotiri, Thera, and evaluates the importance of studying plant remains at such a site. (As this is the first stage of a long programme, it does not pretend to be exhaustive.) The data from the West House provides the most detailed and complete information from Bronze Age Greece concerning bioarchaeological remains, because it comes from a single architectural unit (a completely excavated house). The results offer evidence for the crops grown, weeds of cultivation (segetal), and ruderal plants, as well as crop processing and storage. The data is important for its high taphonomic potential, thanks to the high degree of preservation of charred, mineralized, and silicified plant remains.