Soultana Maria Valamoti

Grape-pressings from northern Greece: the earliest wine in the Aegean?

Houses burnt down at the Neolithic site of Dikili Tash in northern Greece preserved the remains of wild grapes and figs. The charred shapes showed that there was a pile of grape pips with skins – clear evidence for the extraction of juice. The authors argue that the juice was probably used to make wine – towards the end of the fifth millennium BC the earliest so far from the Aegean. The occupants of the houses also had two-handled cups, providing another clue to consumption of a special kind.

Millet, the late comer: on the tracks of Panicum miliaceum in prehistoric Greece

Archaebotanical evidence for Panicum miliaceum is reviewed for prehistoric Greece including published and unpublished recent finds, providing a basis for exploring the context of the appearance of millet in Greece, the timing of its introduction and cultivation, and its significance in terms of contacts, movement of people, and cultural identity as expressed through culinary practice and food consumption. To this end, the archaeobotanical record is examined together with human isotopic, archaeozoological, and artefactual evidence. Millet is introduced to the northern part of Greece sometime during the end of the 3rd millennium bc and established as a widely used crop during the Late Bronze Age. Isotopic evidence suggests that millet consumption during the Late Bronze Age was not widespread but confined to certain regions, settlements, or individuals. Millet is suggested to reach Greece from the north after its spread westwards from China through Central Asia and the steppes of Eurasia. The timing of the introduction of millet and the horse in northern Greece coincide; the possibility therefore that they are both introduced through contacts with horse breeding cultures cultivating millet in the north and/or northeast is raised. Intensified contact networks during the Bronze Age, linking prehistoric northern Greece to central Europe and the Pontic Steppes, would have opened the way to the introduction of millet, overland via river valleys leading to the Danube, or via maritime routes, linking the Black Sea to the north Aegean. Alternatively, millet could have been introduced by millet-consuming populations, moving southwards from the Eurasian steppes.

Detecting seasonal movement from animal dung : an investigation in Neolithic northern Greece

Neolithic northern Greece has both tell sites and extended ‘flat’ sites, with an implication that people lived differently and may have managed their animals differently on each type of site. The author investigates these differences using characteristic plant assemblages deriving from animal dung. She finds that samples from tells are rich in processed crops and wild seeds, indicating grazing on and off the fields near home. But those from the flat sites were rich in chaff and contain no wild seeds, indicating the absence of animals out grazing on the hills when the wild plants are in seed. These were seemingly two alternative categories of Neolithic farmer, the one organising grazing differently from the other.

Plant diversity and storage at Mandalo, Macedonia, Greece: archaeobotanical evidence from the Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.

The charred plant remains from Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age levels at Mandalo, Macedonia, Greece provide evidence for a broad range of crops and wild plant resources. There is clear evidence for the storage of some of these, in particular emmer, lentils and bitter vetch, but also barley, einkorn, Celtic bean, grass pea and acorns. There is also evidence for the possible storage and use of animal dung fuel, which has not previously been reported for Greece, and for the cultivation of flax dating back to the 5th millennium BC. The diversity of plant resources will have provided a ‘buffering mechanism’ against occasional crop failure, and the relationship of this to the proposed ‘marginal colonization’ of Greece is discussed. On the basis of the species found in animal dung, it is suggested that the arable and pastoral sectors were integrated, with relatively small numbers of animals grazed locally on stubble or fallow fields.

Harvesting the ‘wild’? Exploring the context of fruit and nut exploitation at Neolithic Dikili Tash, with special reference to wine

The relationship between farming communities in south-eastern Europe and wild plant resources, fruit and nut trees in particular, is explored in this paper, based on charred plant remains from House 1 at late Neolithic Dikili Tash in eastern Macedonia, northern Greece, retrieved between 2010 and 2012. Within the rubble of a burnt destruction level dated to the second half of the 5th millennium cal BC, a wide range of cultivated crops like cereals, pulses and flax were stored together with a variety of fruit and nuts, such as acorns, wild pears, grapes, including grape pips and grape pressings and possibly figs, too. These finds provide a rare opportunity to investigate the use of fruit as well as the origins and context of wine making and consumption in the Neolithic of south-eastern Europe. Human interference with natural vegetation in relation to use of wild trees is discussed in light of the archaeobotanical, palynological and charcoal evidence from the wider area of the site. It is suggested that the remains from Dikili Tash may be pointing towards some early form of arboriculture in the region. The interplay of wild and domesticated plant resources encountered at the site is discussed within the framework of established oppositions between ‘wild’ and ‘domesticated’ in archaeological discourse. It is suggested that fruit and nut use at Dikili Tash might correspond to old traditions dating back to the hunter-gatherers of south-eastern Europe while wine, for which there is evidence at the site, might have acted as a mediator between human communities, cultivated landscapes and wild vegetation, inducing altered states of consciousness and cultivated/wild boundary transitions.

Inferring the agrobiodiversity of Vitis vinifera L. (grapevine) in ancient Greece by comparative shape analysis of archaeological and modern seeds

The origins and biogeographical history of Vitis vinifera L. (domesticated grapevine) remain largely unknown. Shape and size have long been used as criteria to distinguish between wild and domesticated grape pips. Here we have analyzed variations of seed morphology in order to provide accurate criteria for the discrimination of different groups of varieties. Diversity in present-day cultivars and wild grapevines of Greek and east Mediterranean origin in relation to other Asiatic and European varieties and wild grapevines provides the basis for our analysis, which aims to allow the characterization of the ancient diversity of cultivated grapes in relation to present-day cultivars. Geometric morphometric analyses (Elliptic Fourier Transform method) have been used to characterize the seed shape and size of modern and archaeological material using 40 variables per seed. 197 archaeological grape pips from the 7th century bc sanctuary of Hera in Samos, Greece were compared with an extended reference collection of 269 modern cultivars and 83 wild populations, 10,518 seeds in total. Our study confirms the relationships between seed shape and domestication. Modern diversity is partly structured by the geographical origin of cultivars, but influence of other factors may play a significant role in clustering. The wide diversity of varieties offered at the Heraion of Samos during the Archaic Period, including cultivars growing on the island, imported grapes and wild morphotypes, is related to the history and geographical location of the island as well as to the diversity in the geographical range of pilgrims making offerings to the sanctuary.

Towards a distinction between digested and undigested glume bases in the archaeobotanical record from Neolithic northern Greece: A preliminary experimental investigation

Abstract This study investigates the possibility of distinguishing digested from undigested glume wheat chaff in the archaeobotanical record. To this end the contents of dung pellets collected from a goat fed on einkorn spikelet forks and glume bases are analysed and the derived einkorn chaff examined macroscopically with the aid of scanning electron microscopy. The modern dung pellets contained recognisable glume bases which, compared with undigested ones, demonstrated a ‘rugged’ surface. When these dung pellets were charred, glume bases were still preserved in them. The experimental pellets show that dung can contribute glume bases in archaeobotanical assemblages and that these glume bases may be distinguishable from those derived from glume wheat dehusking by-products used as fuel. These results need to be further explored on archaeobotanical materials. Moreover, further experimentation with different charring regimes, as well as the examination of more experimental specimens is needed.

Bronze and Oil: A Possible Link between the Introduction of Tin and Lallemantia to Northern Greece

Lallemantia, an exotic oil plant, recently identified at Bronze Age sites in the Macedonia region of northern Greece, has a natural distribution lying outside Europe, in regions ranging from Iran to Anatolia, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. The possible routes through which Lallemantia arrived in northern Greece are considered in relation to evidence for Bronze Age trade in metals, in particular tin. The overlap of Bronze Age tin sources proposed in the archaeological literature with the natural distribution of Lallemantia, in regions such as Iran and Afghanistan, suggest that the importation of this plant to northern Greece may have been facilitated by the tin trade, and that both, at least initially, may have represented luxuries rather than mere commodities. Η Lallemantia, ένα εξωτικής προέλευσης ελαιοδοτικό φυτό, το οποίο πρόσφατα προσδιορίστηκε σε θέσεις της Εποχής του Χαλκού στην περιοχή της Μακεδονίας στη βόρεια Ελλάδα, έχει μια φυσική κατανομή εκτός της Ευρώπης, σε περιοχές που εκτείνονται μεταξύ του Ιράν, της Ανατολίας, της Ιορδανίας, της Παλαιστίνης και του Ισραήλ. Σε αυτό το άρθρο εξετάςονται οι πιθανοί δρόμοι μέσα από τους οποίους έφτασε το φυτό αυτό στη βόρεια Ελλάδα σε συνδυασμό με ενδείξεις για τη διακίνηση των μετάλλων και ιδιαίτερα του κασσίτερου. Η παρουσία πηγών κασσίτερου της Εποχής του Χαλκού, όπως αναφέρονται στην βιβλιογραφία, σε περιοχές όπου η Lallemantia είναι αυτοφυής, όπως το Ιράν και το Αφγανιστάν, υποδηλώνουν ότι η εισαγωγή αυτού του φυτού στη βόρεια Ελλάδα μπορεί να διευκολύνθηκε από τη διακίνηση του κασσίτερου. Τόσο ο κασσίτερος όσο και η Lallemantia, τουλάχιστο στην αρχή, ενδέχεται να αποτελούσαν είδη πολυτελείας.

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.

Brewing beer in wine country? First archaeobotanical indications for beer making in Early and Middle Bronze Age Greece

This paper revisits and old question “Beer or wine?” as regards the potential alcoholic drinks consumed by prehistoric societies in southeastern Europe. Archaeobotanical remains of sprouted cereal grains as well as cereal fragments from the Bronze Age sites of Archondiko and Argissa on mainland Greece, presented here for the first time, provide strong indications for the making of something similar to beer in late 3rd millennium bc Greece, opening up a series of new questions about the recipes followed in this process and their origins. Beyond the recipes themselves, the paper highlights a range of available options as regards alcoholic drinks in Bronze Age Greece, beer and wine, offering thus a more detailed approach to preferences and possible identities reflected in the choice of alcoholic drink among prehistoric societies inhabiting the southernmost tip of the Balkan Peninsula, the Aegean and mainland Greece.