Burnt grain and crop cleaning residues: An archaeobotanical contribution to the understanding of 3rd–6th century ad longhouses in jutland and funen (Denmark)

• This paper uses the composition and spatial distribution of carbonised archaeobotanical material from postholes to identify and delineate agrarian and household activities within settlements. The paper presents the analyses of seven houses/farmsteads dating to the 3rd–6th century AD, which were excavated on four separate sites: Flensted, Skovby Nygård and Gedved Vest in east-central Jutland, and Odensevej on the island of Funen. To infer settlement activities from the distributions of carbonised plant macro remains, the paper defines the various stages of plant processing and carbonisation circumstances. It also discusses assumptions about plant processing sequences and the formation of charred plant assemblages that were made during the analysis. The results show that the distribution of charred plant macro-remains can assist in the identification and delineation of spaces with different functions. The presented cases identify the locations of dwelling spaces, spaces where processed crops were stored and/or used, and spaces where fine sieving of grain was performed. The results also show a similarity between the analysed houses, which suggests the existence of a regional tradition of ordering household space. These patterns also confirm assumptions about mid-1st millennium houses previously made on the basis of other archaeological evidence.

Ämnesord

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

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

Nyckelord

Archaeobotany

Carbonised plant macro remains

Longhouses

Middle 1st millennium AD settlements

Use of settlement space

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)