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

chapter 3: analysis
emmer. Heliotropium europaeum, Trifolium sp. and Eleocharis
uniglumis/palustris are amongst the most abundant wild plants.
Hulled wheat chaff and grain form the majority of sample
BP13. Barley and lentil are also represented, and Heliotropium
and Eleocharis are again amongst the most abundant wild
plants.
The sample from a floor horizon (BP14, n=280) was
dominated by the crop legume bitter vetch. Lathyrus
sativus/cicera occurred as a constant weed find in bitter vetch
samples. A few other weeds and emmer and einkorn grain
were found.
The lowest sample (BP18) was the poorest in remains and was
composed mainly of emmer chaff, Trifolium sp. and Phalaris
spp. It was probably part of a deposit of crop-processing byproducts.
During the Middle Bronze Age, all the traditional
Mediterranean crops were cultivated at Troy, except for chick
pea, olive and millet. This period therefore has the broadest
range of crops of all the periods under study. Possible
explanations for this are given in chapter 5.
3.1.2.4 Late Bronze Age buildings and ditches
around the Lower City of Troy
Beside the well-known ditch with its gateway leading directly
into the Lower City of Troy VI (Figure 8), a similar Troy VI
ditch, c. 80-100 m south of the former ditch, was recently
discovered. It encircles an even larger area, and is also thought
to have been part of the system of defences. These ditches were
dug into the bedrock and would have been considerable
barriers, e.g. in times of war. During peacetime, the area
between the two ditches might have been used for grazing
livestock, stabling for the horses, for threshing-floors or a
market place (Korfmann 1996).
The Troy VI ditch was excavated at a point 400 m south of the
Troy VI fortification wall. Accumulation horizons within the
3 m wide ditch were sampled. The analysis of a representative
sample was published in 1994 (Jablonka, König and Riehl
1994). In the following years, further samples from this ditch
have broadened the range of possible functions and the
conditions of deposition.
The sample BP03 from trench A29 was taken from an
accumulation of carbonised material, while BP05 from trench
y29 came from a sandy deposit in the gate area, which
contained large numbers of animal bones and ceramic sherds
(Figure 8).
In general, the samples from deposits, described as ‛burnt
layers’ had the best preserved and most abundant remains,
whereas in samples from sandy layers the remains were sparse
and badly preserved, which points to the higher ‛input’ of
remains in ‛burnt sediment’, and the mechanical destruction of
remains in sandy sediment.
BP03 (n=655) had a species composition similar to the samples
mentioned above, with a dominant broad spectrum of
waterplants and species characteristic of open vegetation. The
only crop remains were from grape, fig and grain legumes.
Although the excavators doubt that the ditch was filled with
water, conditions in the ditch must have been moist for at least
part of the year. Amongst the moisture-indicating plants are
Alisma cf. gramineum, Typha latifolia, Eleocharis
uniglumis/palustris, Cyperus longus, and Scirpus maritimus.
Most of these plants do not need to be continuously
submerged, and are able to survive on seasonally flooded
ground. It seems unlikely that these plants where thrown into
the ditch by the inhabitants together with the fruit remains. It is
suggested therefore, that water collected in parts of the ditch,
where the bedrock was less permeable. These were optimal
areas for the development of the moisture-loving plants. From
time to time they might have been uprooted and burned by the
inhabitants. The weeds (mainly Chenopodietea members)
might have been deposited in the same way as the seeds of
grape and fig. Other wild plants, which were formerly often
found in animal dung contexts, were also very abundant. It is
not difficult to imagine that various kinds of waste material
ended up in this ditch and were accumulated and re-deposited
with the seasonal flow of water.
Other deposits were poorer in remains. Sample BP05 (n= 84),
from a sandy layer from the end of the ditch (close to the gate;
trench y29), contained no water plants, but did include remains
from cereal processing and other crops. The spectrum
corresponds to those of other Late Bronze Age samples.
This sample, and also others from the second, outer ditch
(g28BP01), where remains from cereal-processing were also
found, support the suggestion that the space between the two
ditches was used for threshing. Unlike samples from the inner
ditch, the outer ditch samples contain Chara oogonia in
abundance. In contrast to the water plants from the inner ditch,
these algae need to be continuously submerged in order to
survive. Either there was more water in the outer ditch, or these
remains have come from elsewhere in the settlement.
In 1991 an area directly adjoining the Troy VI fortification
wall was excavated (Easton and Weninger 1993, Korfmann
1992a, 1992b). An apsidal house with a storage structure was
situated above the remains of an oven. The apsidal house is
already part of the Lower City. The seriation of the pottery
embraces a period of 300 years from c. 1700 to 1400 BC
(Easton and Weninger 1993). Nine archaeobotanical samples
were taken from this area; five are discussed below.
The main components of the samples from this trench were
barley, emmer, bitter vetch and water plants. The two samples
with the most water plants (BP01, n=261; BP02, n=91) are
stratigraphically the most recent from this building.
The main portion in BP01 is the mineralised form of
Eleocharis uniglumis/palustris. Other remains like emmer
grain and chaff are only sparsely recorded. The interpretation
of the mineralised seeds is difficult, but with a maximum
growing height of 70 cm, the sedge might have been used for
building purposes. In this case, the way they became
mineralised is unknown. Another explanation may be that
sedges were eaten by animals and the seeds are derived from
dung, but, as the relationship between animal digestion and the
mineralisation of plant remains is unknown, this idea is not
favoured here.
BP02 is similar in composition with fewer mineralised
Eleocharis seeds and more weeds. The remains from these two
samples are generally very similar to those from the ditch, and
probably reflect, with the ubiquitous grape and fig seeds, a
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