Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report 19 / 87 CHARRED CEREALS AND OTHER PLANT REMAINS FROM THE SAXON SETTLEMENT AT BARROW HILLS.

Transcription

1 Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report 9 / 87 i CHARRED CEREALS AND OTHER PLANT REMAINS FROM THE SAXON SETTLEMENT AT BARROW HILLS. L C Moffett AML reports are interim reports which make available the results of specialist investigations in advance of full publication They are not subject to external refereeing and their conclusions may sometimes have to be modified in the light of archaeological information that was not available at the time of the investigation. Readers are therefore asked to consult the author before citing the report in any publication and to consult the final excavation report when available. Opinions expressed in AML reports are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England.

2 Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report 9/87 CHARRED CEREALS AND OTHER PLANT REMAINS FROM THE SAXON SETTLEMENT AT BARROW HILLS. L C Moffett Summary Charred plant remains from a rural middle Saxon site produced crop remains of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum s.l.), six-row hulled barley (Hordeum sativum), and oat (Avena sp.). Plants of grassland and wetland, not likely to have been crop weeds are also present, possibly representing the remains of thatch, flooring, bedding or hay. Author's address :- Department of Plant Biology University of Birmingham P.O. Box 363 Birmingham B5 2TT x2666 ~ Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England

3 CHARRED CEREALS AND OTHER PLANT REMAINS FROM THE SAXON SETILEMENT AT BARROW HILLS by Lisa Moffett The present state of archaeobotanical research shows a considerable gap in our knowledge of cu ltivated plants and associated weed floras for the early and midd le Saxon periods (Greig, 983, Tab les -3), partly reflecting an archaeo log ical gap in the number of sites known and investigated. What li ttle information is avail ab le is thought to suggest that there may have been a substantial change in arable crops and husbandry between the Romano-British and Saxon periods, but when these changes took place, over what period of time and how different reg ions were affected are all questions that have as yet been little investigated. The most typical cereal crops of the Romano-British period were spe lt and six-row hu ll ed barley, with emmer, t he main Iron Age wheat, persisting in a few areas (Jones, 98 ), and occasional finds of rye (e.g. Helbaek, 952). A change in cereal species is seen in the post-roman drying kil ns at Po undb ury, which produced oats and club wheat, in addition to six-row barley, but not spelt and emmer (Monk, 98 ). In the Brecklands of East Ang li a, one of the Saxon agricu ltural changes seems to have been a shift towards the cu ltivation of rye (Murphy, 983). In the Upper Thames Vall ey, barley and bread wheat came from Bishop's Court, Dorchester (Robinson, 98). Generally, spelt seems to be rep laced by the free-threshing bread/club wheat, and especiall y towards the later Saxon period there is evidence for the increasing cu ltivation of rye and oats, though thi s was probably subject to considerable reg ional variation. However, there is some evidence that spelt cu ltivation may have continued in some areas. Spelt was fo und in a 5th century structure at West Stow in East Ang lia (Murphy, 985) and even in 9th century contexts at Gloucester (Green, 979). Thus, the charred plant re mains from the early Saxon settlement at Barrow Hills were considered to be of interest especially for two reasons: the site is one of on ly a few early Saxon rural sites where plant remains have been recovered, and the absence of Roman occupation meant that it was less li ke ly that the charred plant remains wou ld include any residual Romano-British material. Usuall y, the simplest change in arable husbandry to detect is a change in crop species, but this cannot be done re liab ly if there is contamination from earli er periods. The Saxon settlement at Barrow Hill s is near a Romano-British cemetary and cannot be entire ly above suspicion of contam ination by redeposited material. However, the settlement is somewhat removed from the cemetary, and res idual plant remains from 2

4 th is source seems much less li ke ly than from an area containing occupation material. There is also a pre historic activi ty at Barrow Hill s, and there were sli ght ind ications of redeposited material from this phase, mentioned below. The difficu lties encountered and the assumptions one must make in disentang li ng the threads of origin of redeposited material, highlight the need for extreme wariness in looking at res idual contexts from mu ltiperiod sites. It is all too easy to be led into circu lar arguments, especiall y since usuall y the on ly way to identify a crop species as contamination from a different phase is to make assumptions about when the crop was cu ltivated and when it went out of use - the very questions one may be try ing to investigate. The samples for charred plant remains were taken from the upper filling of a Bronze Age barrow ditch, wh ich had been used as a Saxo n midden, and from the sun ken feature bu ildings. There was also one sample from an undated, but possibly pre historic, pit. Th is, however, proved to be very poor in charred remains, producing on ly two un informative seeds of a bedstraw (Galium sp.). No ne of the features had in situ burn ing. Most of the so il samples were about 0 litres in vo lume (sample vo lumes are given in the accompanying tables) but a few ranged from just under a litre to over 26 litres. For ease of comparison the approximate number of items per litre of so il (excluding wood charcoal fragments) was computed for each sample, and these figures are also given in the tables. The samples were processed by. bucket flotation using a 500 micron mesh sieve. The flats were sorted by a biotechnician using a low power binocu lar microscope. Final identifications were done using a Wild M5 microscope and with reference to modern comparative material. Preservation tended to be rather poor and identification was sometimes difficu lt. The samples from bu ildings 498 and 3805 in particu lar had large numbers of items wh ich appeared to be fragments of internal seed/fru it parts, but which co uld not be further identified. In addition to the samples given in the tables, fifteen one litre samples from the other sunken feature bu ildings were processed and their flats qu ickly examined by the biotechnician. None of these control samples contained more than a single cereal grain or a sign ificant amount of weeds or chaff (M. Robinso n, pers. comm.). The co ntro l samples confirm the general low density of charred remains on the site. Location of all the samples and the re lative concentrations of remains can be seen in Figure * The crops present were bread wheat (Triticum aestivum s.l.), six-row hu lled barley (Hordeum sativum) and, possibly, oat (Avena sp.). It was not possible to tell if the oats were wi ld or cu ltivated, as the diagnostic 3

5 lemma bases had not survived. The wild oat species, Avena fatua and A. ludoviciana are aggressive invaders of crop fields. Cu ltivated oats are one of the crops whose early history of cu ltivation in Britain is not very well investigated, partly because of the difficu lty of separating the cu ltivated species from the wild ones. There was also a glume base of emmer (Triticum dicoccum), and unidentified glume wheat ( T. dicoccum/spelta) but these are thought to be residual from the prehistoric, as there is at present no evidence to indicate that emmer cultivation continued beyond the end of the Roman period in southern Britain. A poorly preserved field bean (cf. Vicia faba var. minor) was also found in one of the samples. Other species found include some weeds of arable and disturbed ground, such as knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare agg.), fat hen (Chenopodium sp. ), black bin dweed (Polygonum convolvulus), dock (Rumex sp. ), field pennycress ( Thlaspi arvense), small nettle (Urtica urens), cleavers (Galium aparine), field madder (Sherardia arvensis) and stinking mayweed (Anthemis cotula). Spikerush (Eieocharis palustris/uniglumis) is also present. This plant grows on ground that is at least seasonally waterlogged, but cou ld conceivab ly still be associated with the cereals. Spikerush is often found with charred cereal assemblages and may have grown as a weed in poorly drained arable land (Jones, 978). It is too small a plant to have been gathered de liberately for thatch, bedding or other materials, but cou ld have been included inadvertently with other plants co llected for these purposes. There are a few grassland plants present. Some annual grassland species such as clover (Trifolium sp.) can grow as crop weeds, especially if the agricultural regime includes fallowing (J. Greig, pers. comm.). However, some of the samples had perennial grassland species such as great burnet ( Sanguisorba officina/is) and milkwort (Polygala sp.). The presence of these perennial plants is more likely indicative of permanent grassland and suggests that part of the charred assemblage was not derived from arable activities. There is also an element of a wet ground flora, including carnation grass ( Carex cf. panicea), marsh bedstraw ( Galium palustre agg. ), the spikerush, and cou ld also include mint (Mentha sp.), as most Mentha species prefer damp ground. Dodder ( Cuscuta sp.) is an interesting find. Cuscuta epilinum parasitises flax, but in the absence of any evidence for flax cu ltivation from Barrow Hills this may well be the common dodder ( Cuscuta epithymum) which is parasitic on gorse, heather and various other species. The mainly rather low numbers of plant remains makes it difficult to attempt much interpretation of the assemblages. Chaff remains are few, so the use of chaff for fuel does not seem to be indicated. The absence of chaff also probably indicates that the cereal grains had already been 4

6 threshed and winnowed before charring. The grains may have become charred durin g parch ing prior to grinding the grain to flour. Alternatively, minor sp illages may sim ply have been swept into a fire along with other domestic rubbish. The arable weeds may have come to the site with the cereals, but some of them cou ld also have been growing on the site itself in disturbed habitats. Bu ildings 3805 and 498 produced the most amount of charred remains. Cereal grains, however, were a re latively small percentage of the assemblage in both cases. The ratio of weeds and other seeds ( in cluding the un identifi ed ones) to cereal grain s was rough ly 5: for bu ilding 3805, and 6: for bu ilding 498. The greatest variety of plants came from 498, including the great burnet, dodder and some of the wet ground plants, while 3805 produced the mint. Th is high ratio of seeds, and particu larly those of grassland and wet ground, may represent the remains of bedding, thatch, flooring, hay, or a combination of these. The aim of looking at Saxon crop remain s uncontaminated by residual Roman remains was probably realised, although there appears to be some contamin ation from the prehistoric. The small range of crops represented in these samples may not be the full range of crops utilised, due to preservational biases. Some of the plants found are unusual in a charred assemblage as they are rarely exposed to fire and thus their seeds are not often found. A paucity of data from early rural Saxon sites po ints to a need for much further investigation. We do not yet have much idea of what to expect from such sites, and until basic questions are answered it will not be possibl e to address more sop histicated research issues. 5

7 REFERENCES Green, F., 979, Plant Remains, in Heighway, C., Garrod, A., and Vince, A., Excavations at Westgate Street, Gloucester, Medieval Archaeology, 23, Greig, J., 983, Plant Foods in the Past: A Review of the Evidence from Northern Europe, Journal of Plant Foods, 5, Helbaek, H., 952, Early Crops in Southern Eng land, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 8, Jones, M., 978, The Plant Remains, in Parrington, M., The Excavations of an Iron Age Settlement, Bronze Age Ring-ditches and Roman Features at Ashville Trading Estate, Abingdon (Oxfordshire) , CBA Research Report 28, Oxford Archaeology Un it and the Council for British Archaeology Jones, M., 98, The Development of Crop Husbandry, in The Environment of Man: the Iron Age to the Anglo-Saxon Period, Jones, M., and Dimbleby, G., (eds.), BAR British Series 87, Monk, M., 98, Post-Roman Drying Kilns and the Problem of Function: a Preliminary Statement, Irish Antiquity, 0 Corrain, D., (ed.), Cork:Tower Books Murphy, P., 983, Iron Age to Late Saxon Land Use in the Breckland, in Integrating the Subsistence Economy, Jones, M. (ed.), BAR International Series 8, Murphy, P., 985, The Cereals and Crop Weeds, in West, S., West Stow, The Anglo-Saxon Village, Volume :Text, East Anglian Archaeology Report 24 Rob inson, M., 98, The Iron Age to Early Saxon Environment of the Upper Thames Terraces, The Environment of Man: the Iron Age to the Anglo-Saxon Period, Jones, M., and Dimbleby, G., (eds. ), BAR British Series, 87,

8 TABLE QF QHARRED PLANT REMAINS THE SUNKEN FEATURE BUILDINGS Context: Sample size (litres): No. of items per litre: 005/D/2 5 < 053/B/2 0 < 053/D/2 06/N2 0 < < 05/B/4 243/B 0 0 < < CEREALS Triticum aestivum grains Triticum sp. free-threshing grains Triticum sp. rachises Triticum sp. grains Hordeum sativum hulled grains H. sativum indet. grains Cereal indet. grains cf. OTHER PLANTS Eleocharis palustris/uniglumis Unidentified 2 Context: Sample size (litres): No. of items per litre: 225/B/ 2 < 225/D/ < 297/B/4 297/D/ < 3606/D/3 3606/B/ CEREALS Triticum aestivum s.l. grains Triticum sp. grains Hordeum sativum hulled grains H. sativum indet. grains Avena sp. grains Cereal indet. grains OTHER PLANTS Chenopodium sp. Polygonaceae indet. Eleocharis palustris/ uniglumis Unidentified 4 ' No charred remains: 3246/B/2 2082/D/

9 SUNKEN FEATURE BU ILDINGS (con't) Context: 3607/D/ 3608/U2 3805/B/3 3805/D/3 38/D/ 498/D/2 Sample size (litres): No. of items per litre: < CROPS Triticum dicoccum glume bases - I. dicoccum/spelta grains I. aestivum s.l. rachises I. aestivum s.l. grains Triticum sp. grains 3 Triticum/Secale grains Hordeum sativum hulled grains H. sativu m indet. grains Avena sp. grains 7 Cereal indet. grains Vicia faba var. minor cf. OTHER PLANTS Th laspi arvense Stellaria media type Chenopodium sp Small seeded Leguminosae 2 6 Vicia/Lathyrus Sanguisorba officinalis Polygonum aviculare agg. 9 Polygonum convolvulus 2 Rumex sp Urtica urens Lysimachia/ Anagallis Cuscuta sp. 4 Euphrasia/Odontites Mentha sp. cf 3 Labiatae indet. Plantago lanceolata type Valerianella dentata? Sherardia arvensis Galium palustre agg. 3 Galium aparine 3 Anthemis cotu la 6 Compositae indet. Eleocharis palustris/ uniglumis 3 4 Carex ct. panicea Carex sp. 2 Poa annua Phleum pratense Large Gramin eae indet. 5 Small Gramineae indet Unidentified (mostly internal parts of seeds)

10 BARROW DITCH AND UNDATED PIT Context: 60/5/2 60/5/3 5353/A (ditch) (ditch) (pit) Sample size (litres): No. of items per litre: < 37 < CROPS Triticum dicoccum/spelta glume bases T. aestivum s.l. grains Triticum sp. grains 5 Hordeum sativum 6-row rach ises 2(ax) H. sativum hulled grains H. sativum indet. grains Avena sp. awn frags. 3 Cereal indet. grains 8 2 OTHER PLANTS Polygala sp. Trifo lium sp. 2cf Polygonum avicu lare agg. Galium sp. 2 Eleocharis palustris/uniglumis cf Small Graniineae indet. 5 Gramineae indet. culm nodes Unidentified 7