Marlu Kühn

Methods for the examination of cattle, sheep and goat dung in prehistoric wetland settlements with examples of the sites Alleshausen-Täschenwiesen and Alleshausen-Grundwiesen (around cal 2900 BC) at Lake Federsee, south-west Germany

Abstract There has been evidence of dung in lakeside and moorland settlements since the beginning of wetland archaeology in the 19th century. While evidence has been found for the easily discernible faecal pellets of sheep and goats, recognition of cattle dung has proven to be considerably more difficult. In this study, we give an overview of evidence for dung remains in prehistoric wetland settlements in Germany, Switzerland and eastern France. Various methods for the analysis of uncharred dung remains are reviewed – analyses of plant macro- and microremains, micromorphology and palaeoparasitology – and are applied to two late Neolithic sites in Germany, Alleshausen-Täschenwiesen and Alleshausen-Grundwiesen. It will be shown that at Alleshausen-Täschenwiesen small ruminants were penned during the whole winter and fed on leaf hay unlike Alleshausen-Grundwiesen, where cattle browsed/grazed in the open during the day and were herded into the settlement during the night – both in summer and in winter.

On-site data cast doubts on the hypothesis of shifting cultivation in the late Neolithic (c. 4300–2400 cal. BC): Landscape management as an alternative paradigm:

This article brings together in a comprehensive way, and for the first time, on- and off-site palaeoenvironmental data from the area of the Central European lake dwellings (a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site since 2011). The types of data considered are as follows: high-resolution off-site pollen cores, including micro-charcoal counts, and on-site data, including botanical macro- and micro-remains, hand-collected animal bones, remains of microfauna, and data on woodland management (dendrotypology). The period considered is the late Neolithic (c. 4300–2400 cal. BC). For this period, especially for its earlier phases, discussions of land-use patterns are contradictory. Based on off-site data, slash-and-burn – as known from tropical regions – is thought to be the only possible way to cultivate the land. On-site data however show a completely different picture: all indications point to the permanent cultivation of cereals (Triticum spp., Hordeum vulgare), pea (Pisum sativum), flax (Linum usitatissimum) and opium-poppy (Papaver somniferum). Cycles of landscape use are traceable, including coppicing and moving around the landscape with animal herds. Archaeobiological studies further indicate also that hunting and gathering were an important component and that the landscape was manipulated accordingly. Late Neolithic land-use systems also included the use of fire as a tool for opening up the landscape. Here we argue that bringing together all the types of palaeoenvironmental proxies in an integrative way allows us to draw a more comprehensive and reliable picture of the land-use systems in the late Neolithic than had been reconstructed previously largely on the basis of off-site data.

Bioarchaeological research on animal dung – possibilities and limitations

Department of EnvironmentalSciences, IPAS - Intergrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, Basel University, Spalenring 145, Basel,SwitzerlandAnimal dung is a potential source of information onvarious palaeoeconomical and palaeoecologicaltopics, which can often not be obtained throughother bioarchaeological find categories. Moreover,from the Neolithic onwards, dung preserved in archae-ological deposits is usually the result of the interactionof agricultural and animal husbandry activities and istherefore especially useful for the investigation of pastagro-pastoral economies. Thus, the recognition ofdung in archaeological, but also natural deposits,and its careful analysis deserves special attention.The importance of herbivore dung has long beenrecognised in modern bioarchaeological research.From the archaeobotanical point of view, one of thekey issues that has been addressed is the taphonomyof animal dung and the extent of its contribution toarchaeobotanical assemblages (see Miller and Smart1984; Neef and Bottema 1991). The first issue ofEnvironmental Archaeology was also dedicated to agreat extent to the topic as it dealt with fodder.Several of its papers focussed on the recognition andinterpretation of plant remains derived from dung,in relation to studies of fodder (Anderson andErtug-Yaras 1998; Charles 1998; Hall and Kenward1998; Karg 1998). After those first steps subsequentresearch focused on the animal dung itself, and pro-vided further insights of the potential of this materialfor solving diverse environmental archaeologicalresearch questions (e.g. Akeret et al. 1999; Carrionet al. 2000; Shahack-Gross et al. 2004; Leroy andSimms 2006). The accumulated experience andincreasing understanding of the taphonomy ofanimal dung in archaeological layers as well as therefining of methodologies led to increasing complexityandprecisionoftheoutcomeofenvironmentalarchae-ological studies on animal dung (e.g. Shahack-Gross2011; Baeten et al. 2012; Lancelotti and Madella2012; Portillo et al. 2012)The complex character of this find category has ledalso to a variety of approaches and research strategiesin relation to animal dung from archaeological depos-its. In order to establish more common methodologi-cal approaches among environmental archaeologistsworking on animal dung, the European researchnetwork ‘BIOARCH’, funded by the CNRS, initiateda workshop held at the Royal Belgian Institute ofNatural Sciences, in Brussels, June 2010. Thismeeting brought together various specialists: archaeo-botanists, archaeozoologists, micromorphologists,entomologists, biochemists, specialists in aDNA, etc.It focused on methodological aspects such as (1) theidentification of the animal species that producedarchaeological dung; (2) the varietyof bioarchaeologi-cal information that can be recovered from dung andmethods applied for its analysis, in particular, in aridenvironments and waterlogged deposits; (3) the inter-pretive value of archaeological dung remains with anemphasis on the variety of plant remains that can berecovered from it and questions related to animal hus-bandry; (4) experimental research helping to under-stand the contribution of dung to the generalbioarchaeological record in a better manner. Theresults of the papers and discussions of the workshopare collected in the contributions for this specialissue of Environmental Archaeology. They covervarious geographic regions, including both arid andwaterlogged preservation conditions, as well as

State of the (t)art. Analytical approaches in the investigation of components and production traits of archaeological bread-like objects, applied to two finds from the Neolithic lakeshore settlement Parkhaus Opéra (Zürich, Switzerland)

The site of Parkhaus Opéra is located on the north-eastern shore of Lake Zürich (Switzerland) and was documented during a rescue excavation in 2010 and 2011 by the Office for Urbanism, City of Zürich. Two charred bread-like objects were found in late Neolithic Layer 13 of the pile-dwelling, and are investigated using a novel set of analyses for cereal-based foodstuffs. Tissue remains of barley and wheat were identified, as well as a schizocarp of celery (cf. Apium graveolens), providing the first evidence for the use of bread condiments in the Neolithic. Cereal particle sizes were recorded and used to draw conclusions regarding milling and sieving of the raw material. Gas bubbles in the charred objects were measured in order to evaluate possible leavening of the dough. The outcomes of this research significantly advance the understanding of the production traits of cereal-based food during the Neolithic. The analytical techniques proposed by this study open up new possibilities for systematic and consistent investigations of cereal-based archaeological foodstuffs.

Zurich-Alpenquai : a multidisciplinary approach to the chronological development of a Late Bronze Age lakeside settlement in the northern Circum-Alpine Region

Abstract The Alpenquai lake-dwelling is located on Lake Zurich, and can be considered as one of the rare Late Bronze Age lake-dwellings with a pronounced organic-rich cultural layer in the northern Circum-Alpine region. Within a larger research project, investigating the final abandonment of the lakeshores in the Circum-Alpine area at the end of the Late Bronze Age, this settlement has been investigated using a multidisciplinary research design. Combining micromorphology, archaeobotany, palynology, archaeozoology and material culture studies, the formation of the site is reconstructed, and the reasons for its final abandonment are sought. A highly dynamic lake system that caused a lake water level rise before 900 BC, a regression in the second half of the 9th century BC, and a later transgression, could be detected. The settlement appears to have been established during the lake regression, and abandoned during the transgression, proving a high degree of environmental adaptation by its inhabitants.

Desiccated plant macrofossils from the medieval castle of Marmorera, Switzerland, with a note on the identification of leaves of Cyperaceae

Abstract During restoration work at the medieval castle of Marmorera, Graubünden canton, Switzerland, numerous desiccated plant remains were found — in a rock crevice that was protected from precipitation by a massive rock shelter. The identification of the remains showed that the majority could not have grown at the castle, but must have been transported to the site. Many of the plants came from warmer climates and were imported from lower lying regions, indicating the position of the castle at an important transalpine route. Among the finds was a lump of grass-like leaves for which for a method of preparation and identification was developed. The leaves turned out to be of Carex species that grow in wet habitats which were probably used as litter or as bedding material.