Cereal cultivation in east-central Jutland during the Iron Age, 500 BC–AD 1100

• This article aims at presenting a cereal cultivation history for the Iron Age (500 BC–AD 1100) in east-central Jutland (Vejle and Århus County). The developments in cereal cultivation are presented based on recent investigations of material from the Iron Age sites of Gedved Vest and Kristinebjerg Øst, as well as a compilation of 10 previously analysed sites.The combined data show that barley (Hordeum vulgare) was the dominant cereal throughout the period, with a seemingly rapid shift from naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var nudum) to hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare var vulgare) around the year 1 BC/AD. Rye (Secale cereale) is present in archaeobotanical assemblages throughout the period, but secure evidence of its cultivation exist only from the end of the second century AD onward. From the fourth century AD onward, the record indicates that rye may have been utilised as a dominant crop alongside barley.The cultivation of subdominant cereals, hulled wheats (Triticum dicoccum/spelta/monococcum), naked bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) and oat (Avena sativa), is also discussed. A reappearance of naked barley during the fourth to sixth century AD is also elaborated upon.Agricultural strategies are assessed based on the material and an interpretation is put forward that cultivation from the fifth century BC to at least the third century AD took place on manured, spring sown fields, which were slowly rotated between cultivation and fallow. The shift toward crop-rotation of barley and rye is also investigated

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- Archaeology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Cereal Cultivation

Iron Age

Jutland

Denmark

South Scandinavia

Archaeobotany

Plant Macrofossil Analysis

Phosphate Analysis

Magnetic Susceptibility

Settlement Archaeology

Archaeology

arkeologi

environmental archaeology

miljöarkeologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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art (ämneskategori)