bronze age environment and economy in the troad - Universität ...

chapter 3: analysis
Three pits are evident, of which two are in Kumtepe B layers
(sequence 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and pit 27 in Figure 3).
The spectrum of domesticated plants of the whole profile
includes mainly Triticum dicoccum and Triticum
monococcum, with a slight dominance of emmer. Barley was
very rare, as were the grain legumes. Ficus carica is very
frequent and numerous in the Kumtepe A layers. Fig seeds
are present in mineralised and carbonised form. During the
final stage of the settlement the pits were probably not used
as storage facilities, since chaff remains i.e. waste products of
cereal processing are dominant, and cereal grains are rare.
The spectrum of wild plants includes mainly grasses,
particularly Lolium spp., which grew as cereal weeds. The
density of remains in the pits was very high, and generally
higher in the Kumtepe B layers than in the Kumtepe A
layers, due to the more abundant chaff remains in Kumtepe B
layers.
The bottom of the profile (Figure 3) is a buried soil, and was
almost without botanical remains.
In sample BP43 (n=55), crops (emmer and einkorn) are rare,
thus giving an impression of a high proportion of
representatives of open vegetation. Moisture-indicating
plants and fig are, typically for Kumtepe A samples, also
recorded.
The Kumtepe A pit was subdivided into three parts. All the
three samples (BP40, n=98; BP41, n=174; BP42, n=46) are
again dominated by fig seeds, of which a small proportion
are mineralised. Cereals are sparsely represented and
amongst them barley constitutes a larger proportion. In the
upper part of the pit (BP40), the moisture-indicating plants
(Juncus sp., Cladium mariscus) are more strongly
represented, and allude to the environmental situation of the
site. Two layers cover this pit and are almost sterile (both
samples contained fewer than 21 remains). This indicates a
cessation of settlement activity, either in this part of the
settlement, or generally in accordance with the hiatus
mentioned above.
The ‛hiatus’ (BP37, n=21) represents a phase of soil
formation, when it is assumed that the settlement was left
open for a period spanning from several decades up to
several centuries. The few species represented here are
mainly Gramineae and Juncus sp., which might either
indicate the natural vegetation at the time of soil formation or
an admixture of remains from the cultural layers above and
below.
Above the hiatus a group of “fine stratified floors or a
sequence of hearth layers” follows (BP36, n=124)
(Uerpmann 1995). This sample is very similar to the above
sample (BP35, n=237). Anthemis cotula and rye-grass are the
dominant weeds of these samples. Small-seeded Gramineae
are also very common. It seems that crop-processing waste
was deposited on these floors, or burned in the hearth. Two
further layers follow, of which the lower is almost devoid of
remains. The upper layer (BP33, n=253) is dominated by
chaff remains, grasses and weeds, which are the main
components of crop-processing by-products (the grasses are
correlated with the chaff remains, but not with the grains,
which demonstrates that the grains and the chaff accumulated
in different episodes). Into these layers two pits were dug
during the settlement.
The eastern Kumtepe B pit was not stratigraphically
subdivided. The soil texture was loose and apparently ashy
with a high proportion of charcoal (BP27, n=561). Glume
forks of einkorn and emmer are represented in a ratio of
approximately 1:2, and dominate the samples, along with
large numbers of Lolium spp. and other Gramineae. Chara
sp. and Juncus sp. were always present in small numbers.
The western pit was subdivided into five different samples
(BP28-BP32). These samples were all very similar in their
composition, and all were dominated by chaff remains from
emmer and einkorn. The only differences were that the
sample from the bottom of the pit (BP32, n=422) had a large
proportion of mineralised fig seeds, and that the middle part
of the pit contained many beetle remains, probably crop
pests. The lowest sample from the middle section (BP31,
n=82) was underlain by dense layers of sea shells. The
following sample (BP30, n=249) contains mudbrick
fragments and is very similar to BP29 (n=451). The
uppermost fill layer of the pit (BP28, n=574) is almost
identical in composition to BP27, the sample from the eastern
pit.
The layers covering the Kumtepe B pits were described as
floors and are contaminated by modern seeds (Chenopodium
sp. and Triticum aestivum from historic or modern burning of
fields). BP26 (n=37), which might be contemporary with
Kumtepe B3, is dominated by barley grains. BP25 (n=54) is
again dominated by emmer and einkorn chaff and similar to
the lower Kumtepe B samples.
To summarise, the bioprofile confirms the differences
between Kumtepe A and Kumtepe B apparent from other
contexts. With proviso of the small sample number from
Kumtepe A (see 3.2.1.1), but bearing in mind the
archaeozoological results, the archaeobotanical data is
interpreted as reflecting economic change.
Fig was one of the main components of human diet in the
Kumtepe A settlement. During this period, the proportion of
plants from moist habitats was also high, and probably in
some way related to the high proportion of seafood in
people’s diet.
During the hiatus in settlement between Kumtepe A and B
the vegetation seems to have been open, and no striking
change in vegetation is indicated.
During Kumtepe B, diet was based on emmer and to a lesser
degree on einkorn and barley. Moisture-indicating species are
still present, indicating that the location of the arable fields
might not have changed much. Insect pests could have been a
problem for Kumtepe B farmers. This is speculation, because
the presence of unidentified beetle remains in one of the
Kumtepe B pits might merely indicate that it was used as a
cesspit at this time, an interpretation supported by the
presence of a very large number of mineralised fig seeds.
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