Although evidence is sporadic it is becoming clear that haymaking and hay meadow management were likely indispensable elements of practices related to animal husbandry during the Roman period. As ...large towns begin to emerge, success in breeding large livestock such as cattle and horses would have required good quality fodder. Yet, how we distinguish fodder or other animal associated plant remains in the archaeological record can be problematic for many reasons. This paper explores this issue through the context of Roman Mursa, located in modern day Osijek, Croatia. Two pits dating to c. AD133, contained relatively large quantities of grassland and wet ground species, such as Trifolium/Melilotus sp. Prunella vulgaris and the grasses Poa sp. and Phleum sp., as well as chaff and other remains, such as dung, eggshells, and fish scales. By examining the proportion of species grouped into habitat types, we see that the composition of sample SU391 is indictive of hay meadows and could indicate nearby animal stabling in the centre of the early Roman colony.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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New archaeobotanical finds from Baradla Cave Mervel, Máté
Dissertationes archaeologicae ex Instituto Archaeologico Universitatis de Rolando Eötvös Nominatae.,
03/2024, Volume:
3, Issue:
11
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The Baradla Cave is located in the Aggtelek Karst Region in Northern Hungary; it is one of the oldest known prehistoric sites in the country. The first excavations there in 1876–1877 are considered a ...milestone in Hungarian archaeology, and the research involved the first archaeobotanical analyses in Hungary. Although the cave was used in many periods with varied intensity, the vast majority of the artefacts are dated to the Middle Neolithic, while the Late Bronze Age represents a smaller but still significant portion of the archaeological record. The latest rescue excavation was carried out in 2019 in the Róka-ág Róka branch of the cave by a team from the Institute of Archaeological Sciences of the Eötvös Loránd University. This paper presents the preliminary results obtained from the archaeobotanical analyses of the macro-remains recovered from the soil samples collected during this excavation. The charred remains were badly preserved, but it was possible to identify, among other seeds, emmer, barley, pea, and lentil. The uncertain dating of the samples further complicated the interpretation of the archaeobotanical finds.
Há duas décadas, estudos arqueobotânicos demonstram a importância das plantas em sambaquis, recentemente apontando para um regime de economia mista, com pesca e coleta associadas à horticultura. No ...entanto, pesca e consumo de proteína animal são considerados centrais nas esferas econômicas e sociais dessas pessoas, enquanto o papel das plantas permanece subestimado. A relevância das plantas é demonstrada por vestígios botânicos que são menos conspícuos do que os faunísticos, mas não menos significativos. Assim, discutimos aqui a sociedade sambaquiana enquanto “sociedade de meio termo”, conceito que engloba uma enorme variedade de modos de vida que não se enquadram na concepção ultrapassada da dicotomia forrageadores versus agricultores e que foram muito mais comuns e duradouros do que se costuma pensar.
Central Asia played a significant role in the early exchange of civilizations across Eurasia. The arid climate, which makes the local ecology sensitive to climate change and the well-preserved ...archaeological remains, make Central Asia an ideal location for studying the mechanisms of interactions between civilization evolution and environmental change. This research presents archaeobotanical, palynological and stable isotope records from the Djarkutan site in southeastern Uzbekistan, which was occupied between 4100 and 3700 cal yr BP. Our research shows that in the Late Bronze Age, after 4000 yr BP, the local agricultural structure was highly complex. Pollen and stable isotope result indicate a sudden drought event occurred in the local area around 3900 yr BP, which had an impact on the local oasis agricultural system. Subsequently, this event promoted the migration of northern steppe populations into Central Asia, leading to the development of an agro-pastoral economy in the research area.
•The highly complex agricultural system in the Late Bronze Age Central Asia, 4000 yr BP.•Sudden drought event impact the local agricultural civilization in Bronze age southeastern Uzbekistan during 3900–3800 yr BP.•Environmental pressure might promotes the emergence and development of early human worship behavior in Central Asia.•Drought event in promoted the migration of northern steppe populations into Central Asia around 3900 yr BP.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
This paper aims to present new archaeobotanical data from the Late Bronze Age settlement of Tállya-Óvár in the North Hungarian Mountains. Upon investigating the area around a bronze hoard found ...earlier, the floor of a building was unearthed, and 16 archaeobotanical samples were taken. The interpretation of the botanical finds was difficult due to a low to medium density of remains and the judgement sampling method. This paper focuses mainly on cereal remains, attempting to interpret them by comparing them with the record of contemporary sites in Hungary and placing them in a broader European context. The samples from Tállya-Óvár were dominated by spelt, barley, and millet. In general, the archaeobotanical assemblage fits the hypotheses concerning Late Bronze Age agriculture. These results are important because no archaeobotanical data have yet been published from high-altitude fortified settlements in the North Hungarian Mountains.
Ancient literary sources from the Hellenistic and Roman world describe the wide-spread practices of funerary feasting and supplying offerings for the deceased. However, the funerary customs of the ...Nabataeans are still not clearly understood within this broader cultural sphere. Evidence for feasting in Nabataean mortuary contexts largely relies on ceramic and faunal remains but rarely are plant remains included in these analyses. This paper presents archaeobotanical evidence from Nabatean-period tomb deposits from Petra, Jordan, to highlight the role plants played in this type of ritual context. Analysis of samples taken from eight rock-cut shaft tombs, excavated over three seasons (2012, 2014 and 2016), on the North Ridge of Petra, indicates the presence of a variety foodstuffs such as Triticum sp. (wheats), Hordeum vulgare (barley), Lens culinaris (lentil), Vitis vinifera (grape), Ficus carica (fig), Olea europaea (olive) and Phoenix dactylifera (date). These finds provide intriguing evidence of plants consumed or used as offerings during funerary ritual events. This study, in association with the analysis of bioarchaeological remains and ceramics expands our knowledge of Nabataean funerary practices and contributes to a broader understanding of the role of plants in ritual funerary events in the ancient world.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
The origins of bread have long been associated with the emergence of agriculture and cereal domestication during the Neolithic in southwest Asia. In this study we analyze a total of 24 charred food ...remains from Shubayqa 1, a Natufian hunter-gatherer site located in northeastern Jordan and dated to 14.6–11.6 ka cal BP. Our finds provide empirical data to demonstrate that the preparation and consumption of bread-like products predated the emergence of agriculture by at least 4,000 years. The interdisciplinary analyses indicate the use of some of the “founder crops” of southwest Asian agriculture (e.g., Triticum boeoticum, wild einkorn) and root foods (e.g., Bolboschoenus glaucus, club-rush tubers) to produce flat bread-like products. The available archaeobotanical evidence for the Natufian period indicates that cereal exploitation was not common during this time, and it is most likely that cereal-based meals like bread become staples only when agriculture was firmly established.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
A Arqueobotânica investiga a interação entre humanos e plantas a partir do registro arqueológico. Com a multiplicidade de informações disponíveis para os contextos históricos, suas possibilidades ...interpretativas podem ser ampliadas, mas esse potencial permanece pouco explorado na Arqueologia Latino-americana. Foram realizados um levantamento, análise e comparação das pesquisas arqueobotânicas em sítios históricos no Brasil e na Argentina, complementadas por uma síntese descritiva dos principais vestígios arqueobotânicos e a menção a suas potencialidades informativas. Apesar das iniciativas identificadas, esse diálogo continua não habitual nos dois países. Sugere-se que isso pode estar relacionado à corrente associação entre grupos pré-históricos e natureza, enquanto que em contextos recentes isso seria desconsiderado, diminuindo o interesse pelo estudo dessas relações em momentos históricos.
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