Chenopodium Seeds in Open-Air Archaeological Sites – How to Not Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater
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Date
2018Author
Mueller-Bieniek, Aldona
Pyzel, Joanna
Kapcia, Magda
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Differentiating between charred and uncharred plant remains may appear straightforward but
for some taxa (here fat-hen, Chenopodium album type) can be very problematic. Recognition of
the preservation state is obviously crucial for archaeobotanical data derived from dry, open-air
sites. Fat-hen as a common weed, is also one of the most important components of a persistent
soil seed bank. It is also a well-known food plant, gathered or cultivated. Numerous findings of
fat-hen seeds in unclear states of preservation were noted in the Early Neolithic sites of the
Linear Pottery culture in Kuyavia (N Europe). In previous studies such specimens were
omitted as probably uncharred. Re-examination of Neolithic finds of fat-hen from that region
showed the link of their abundancy with the earliest phases of the Neolithic occupation. The
plant probably played an important role in the diet of the early Neolithic settlers there. It
may indicate intensive use of local, open, fertile, probably alluvial areas. Distinguishing
between ancient and modern specimens of that common weedy plant, producing large
amounts of small, black, resistant seeds is thus very important, holding a great potential to
shed new light on the origins of agricultural societies in this part of northern Europe.
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