NDLI: Agriculture, food and environment during Merovingian times: plant remains from three early medieval sites in northwestern Switzerland

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Brombacher, Christoph Hecker, Dominique
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	There have been only a few archaeobotanical investigations of early medieval sites in Switzerland (5th–7th century ad) until now. Recent archaeobotanical studies of plant macroremains from three Merovingian settlements in the Canton du Jura, northwest Switzerland, have added to our knowledge of past landscapes, agriculture and food. One was located within an intra-Jurassic basin while the others were situated in the Ajoie plain to the northwest of the Jura mountains. The principal cultivated cereals were Avena sativa, Triticum aestivum, T. spelta and T. monococcum, followed by smaller frequencies of Hordeum distichon/vulgare, Secale cereale and T. dicoccon. Two types of millet, Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica, were found only sporadically. Legumes such as Lens culinaris, Pisum sativum and Vicia faba were also regularly present in these settlements. Finds of cultivated vegetables and spices like Coriandrum sativum, Apium graveolens and Anethum graveolens were rare. These records, together with those of Malus sp. (probably cultivated) and Prunus domestica, demonstrate the past existence of gardens and orchards. Isolated remains of Juglans regia were also recovered. At Develier-Courtételle, with its partially waterlogged sediments, finds of Linum usitatissimum and Cannabis sativa, together with dyeing and carding plants such as Reseda luteola, Xanthium strumarium and Dipsacus sativum/fullonum underline the importance of textile production. Among the wild plants found, many taxa are from cultivated fields, meadows and pasture land. Most of these are typical of rather damp, calcareous soils. Plants characteristic of dry grassland are rare, despite this habitat being widely present in the Jura until the first half of the 20th century. Compared to other contemporary sites in Switzerland, northeastern France and southern Germany, only small differences in the spectra of crop plants from the 4th to the 6th century ad are detected. However the relative proportions of these crop plants vary quite significantly, which could indicate that the significance of the individual taxa at the studied sites differed.
Starting Page	331
Ending Page	342
Page Count	12
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09396314
Journal	Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
Volume Number	24
Issue Number	2
e-ISSN	16176278
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2014-05-05
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Canton of Jura Migration period Waterlogged macroremains Cultivated plants Arable weed flora Paleontology Biogeosciences Climate Change Anthropology Archaeology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Plant Science Archeology (arts and humanities) Paleontology

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

New aspects of agriculture and diet of the early medieval period in central Europe: waterlogged plant material from sites in south-western Germany

Spicing up life in northwestern Europe: exotic food plant imports in the Roman and medieval world

Anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams in eastern France: a critical review

The value of the archaeobotanical analysis of desiccated plant remains from old buildings: methodological aspects and interpretation of crop weed assemblages

Plant economy and village life in Neolithic lake dwellings at the time of the Alpine Iceman

Plant remains from an early Neolithic settlement at Moravany (eastern Slovakia)

Experiments on the effects of carbonization on some cultivated plant seeds

Plant economy at a late Neolithic lake dwelling site in Slovenia at the time of the Alpine Iceman

Recovery techniques for waterlogged archaeological sediments: a comparison of different treatment methods for samples from Neolithic lake shore settlements

Agriculture, food and environment during Merovingian times: plant remains from three early medieval sites in northwestern Switzerland

Similar Documents

New aspects of agriculture and diet of the early medieval period in central Europe: waterlogged plant material from sites in south-western Germany

Spicing up life in northwestern Europe: exotic food plant imports in the Roman and medieval world

Anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams in eastern France: a critical review

The value of the archaeobotanical analysis of desiccated plant remains from old buildings: methodological aspects and interpretation of crop weed assemblages

Plant economy and village life in Neolithic lake dwellings at the time of the Alpine Iceman

Plant remains from an early Neolithic settlement at Moravany (eastern Slovakia)

Experiments on the effects of carbonization on some cultivated plant seeds

Plant economy at a late Neolithic lake dwelling site in Slovenia at the time of the Alpine Iceman

Recovery techniques for waterlogged archaeological sediments: a comparison of different treatment methods for samples from Neolithic lake shore settlements

Agriculture, food and environment during Merovingian times: plant remains from three early medieval sites in northwestern Switzerland