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

chapter 3: analysis
To summarise, the sample compositions from the Lower City
do not significantly contrast from the profile of the Upper City.
On the contrary, with a strong frequency and abundance of
members of the Cyperaceae and Gramineae in the samples
from both areas, a general environmental pattern might be
indicated, which points to open vegetation with grazing ground
and arable fields close to the Scamander river, but also on the
Low Plateau. A peculiarity amongst the freshwater plants was
the high ubiquity and abundance of Chara sp. in the samples
from the citadel. Plants from marine habitats are only sparsely
recorded, which might indicate that agricultural activities were
conducted somewhat further from the coast, perhaps irrigated
by fresh water from the river. The main crop in both Troy I and
II was emmer, but einkorn was more abundant than in any of
the later periods.
Crop legumes seem not to have played an important role as
sources of protein, except for bitter vetch. The presence of the
remains of dung support the argument that enough livestock
was available to meet the settlement’s protein needs.
As will be demonstrated later (chapter 4), the grasses are not
correlated with the cereals or other crops and must have been
brought into the settlement differently. These results are
confirmed by other samples from the Upper City that are all
rich in Gramineae, Leguminosae and Cyperaceae. In the later
phases of Troy I fig was frequently utilised as a source of
carbohydrates. Overall, the interpretation suggested is of a
subsistence economy particularly dependent on livestock and
cereal cultivation, with a slight increase in the use of fruit trees
over time.
As discussed in chapter 2, contamination of the samples by
modern Characeae was excluded, not least because the
variability in colour of the chalky oogonia from white to
reddish and grey suggested their exposure to heat. As the algae
are submerged, they are not part of the modern flora in the
vicinity of the excavation. Apart from their presence in the
trenches E3 and E4, they were also found in other trenches on
the top of the hill and in the large Late Bronze Age ditch
around the Lower City. An explanation of how these plants
came to be on top of the hill is required.
The Characeae are generally assumed to belong to an
ecological group indicating oligotrophic water conditions.
They only tolerate about two-thirds of the salinity of seawater.
This implies the existence, close to the hilltop, of a body of
stagnant or slow-moving fresh water (e.g. from the nearby
springs) in which the Characeae could have grown.
In trench E4 a canal dating to early Troy II was excavated that
might have been a water supply for the people staying in or
working at the megara (compare Map 2 for position). There are
several wells on the hill, which indicate that people always
made efforts to have water supplies nearby. Possibly this canal
was connected to one of the wells. The sediment within this
canal was sandy and stratified, typical of the sedimentation
regime in slow flowing waters. One sample was taken from a
darker layer, rich in charcoal and located between two sandy
layers (BP01, n=52). With about four seeds per litre of
sediment, the density was low. Beside the typical composition
of Early Bronze Age samples (emmer and einkorn chaff with
slight dominance of emmer, and a broad spectrum of grass
species), one third of the sample consisted of oogonia from
Chara sp.. For the other Troy IIa samples, the high abundance
of Chara sp. was also very typical. The most probable
suggestion for the presence of Chara sp. in these contexts is
that during Troy IIa the canal was provided with water from a
more or less oligotrophic water source where Characeae grew.
Probably lumps of whole plants were swept into the canal from
time to time, where they disturbed the water flow, requiring
people near the megara to ‛dredge’ them out.
3.1.2.3 Burnt layers from Middle Bronze Age
Troy
The architectural remains of Troy IV are described as tworoom
structures with joined separation walls (‛Anatolian
settlement scheme’ according to Korfmann (1994 and 1995)).
Most of the samples came from primary contexts. Six burnt
layers were evident in trench D8, some of them up to 2 m
thick. The whole inventory (pottery) of a room was excavated.
Several contents of pottery were sampled, but only a few
contained large numbers of seeds (e.g. D8BP35, D8BP41).
The effect of the fire partially melted the mudbricks, but there
were also layers with remains which must have received less
heat or oxygen because the preservation of botanical remains
was generally good. In early Troy IV, dome-shaped ovens
appear for the first time. They are very often placed in the
entrance area of buildings, and according to Korfmann (1993)
are related to new customs in cooking. Also of economic
interest are the archaeozoological results, which indicate
abundant wild fauna and domesticated pig. Korfmann (1995)
suggests that the finds indicate either troubled times and a
certain poverty caused by robbery alongside the conflagration
or totally differing customs from a different population.
The entrance of a Troy IV building is pictured in figure 6. In
contrast to the Troy II buildings, the remains from Troy IV are
from the Upper City. All the samples are very different in their
composition.
The dome-shaped oven was sampled (BP26, n=1046), and the
species spectrum was relatively broad. Besides a high
proportion of emmer chaff and weeds (amongst them mainly
Lolium spp.) oogonia of Chara sp. formed the largest
component. Other water plants, such as Eleocharis
uniglumis/palustris or Salsola kali were also present, but only
in small numbers. Small-seeded legumes and grasses are also
numerous, as were Cyperaceae. The chaff and the seeds
probably come from fuel, possibly in the form of dung cakes.
Around the oven a larger part of the floor was sampled (BP50,
n=401). This sample was composed of different types of crop
remains, of which emmer chaff was the most common. The
largest component of the sample as a whole consisted of
typical weeds (mainly Chenopodium album and Polygonum
spp.). Almost all the other eco-groups were represented in this
sample (e.g. marine habitats, freshwater habitats). The remains
probably accumulated over time from various sources. Another
possibility is the storage of dung cakes beside the oven, ready
to be burnt.
A pot with barley stored in it was found in front of the oven
(BP35, n=1725). This material was probably a partially cleaned
product. Only a few rachis remains were present. The most
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