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

chapter 3: analysis
different origin and were mixed with the crops during the
collapse of the buildings.
A Troy VIIb2 house with two building phases was sampled in
trench E8. The older building was destroyed by fire.
Protogeometric pottery was amongst the finds in the younger
building.
The few samples presented in figure 10 have a generally high
incidence of moisture-indicating plants, and amongst the crops,
an abundance of bitter vetch, followed by hulled wheats and
barley. An accumulation of floor deposits over 120 cm in depth
is represented by the samples BP05 (n=126), BP10 (n=188),
BP15 (n=463), and BP16 (n=317). The uppermost, grey, ashy
layer (BP05) contained a relatively broad species spectrum,
dominated by emmer chaff, grasses and Scirpus maritimus.
The sample from the floor layer immediately below it (BP10)
had a smaller range of species. The dominant crop was bitter
vetch, followed by emmer chaff. The most abundant wild
plants were Eragrostis sp., Scirpus maritimus and Chara sp..
Below this level, a floor which differed in colour and contained
mudbrick (BP15) had an even higher proportion of bitter vetch.
The most abundant wild species was Juncus sp., and smallseeded
grasses and legumes were also found. Almost half of
the lowest sample of this sequence (BP16) consisted of
moisture-indicating plants; the main crop was again bitter
vetch. From the bottom to top of these layers, bitter vetch was
the main component, except for the uppermost layer, which
was dominated by hulled wheat chaff.
Abundant weeds in these contexts suggest that the crops were
probably not cleaned when brought into the house. The
moisture-indicating plants were either weeds or used for
roofing material.
Adjacent to the sampled sequence of floors, two other samples
were taken, one corresponding to the uppermost layer (BP05),
the other to one of the middle layers (BP15). Between these
areas there is a certain heterogeneity, insofar as the uppermost
sample (BP12, n=105) has a smaller proportion of hulled
wheats and a greater abundance of barley than BP05, although
the incidence of bitter vetch is similar. The spectrum of the
wild plants is also the same. The sample in the lower layer
(BP11, n=171) differs even more from the neighbouring
sample (BP15) in its high content of barley. It is interesting
that among the moisture-indicating plants the ratio of Juncus
sp. to Scirpus maritimus is 4:1 and corresponds to the one in
the neighbouring sample (BP15). This could indicate that the
waterplants represent a uniform background, independent of
the crops that vary within this area, and supports the suggestion
that the moisture-indicating plants were part of the roof and
were deposited with the collapse of the building.
Two samples from an oven (BP04, n=101; BP13, n=210) had a
similar mixed composition of hulled wheat chaff, barley, bitter
vetch and moisture-indicating plants, i.e. they did not differ
from the general sample composition of this room. This demonstrates
the effects of the conflagration. Typha latifolia as
an additional waterplant, which surely can be excluded not
least by its growing height from having been part of the
harvest, underlines the suggestion that this plant was used as
building or furniture material. As a further comparison of the
differences in species composition between rooms, sample
BP02 (n= 67) is presented. Einkorn chaff is the main
component of this sample. Scirpus maritimus is also present,
but nothing can be said about its function.
Another house, south of the one in trench E8, and separated by
a path was located in trench E9. Amongst the finds from this
building was ‛knobbed ware’, associated with protogeometric
ceramics.
The most abundant species were again the moisture-indicating
plants, and amongst the crops bitter vetch, the hulled wheats,
and barley. Outside the house was a well, which may have
been a source of Characeae in these samples.
In the western part of the house successive layers were
sampled (BP07, n=235; BP09, n=55; BP12, n=162; BP16,
n=189) that all differed in their composition. Of the crops, in
the upper layer (BP07), Triticum aestivum/durum grain was
most abundant; in the next layer down (BP09), lentil was the
most common; in the next (BP12), bitter vetch was the main
crop, whereas the bottom layer (BP16) was not clearly
dominated by any of the crops. The proportion of moistureindicating
plants was between 7 and 16%, and the incidence of
species varied. In BP07 Juncus sp. was the most abundant
moisture-indicating plant; other abundant wild plants and
weeds were Eragrostis sp., Chenopodiaceae and
Polygonaceae. In BP09, Triticum aestivum/durum grain is still
abundant, but outnumbered by lentil, and the main moistureindicating
plant is Scirpus maritimus. In BP12, the most
abundant crop, bitter vetch, is accompanied by relatively high
numbers of barley grain. Grasses and numerous weeds are
characteristic of this sample. Juncus sp. is the only moistureindicating
plant. The species spectrum of the lowest sample
(BP16) was very broad. Almost all of the crops were equally
represented. Small-seeded legumes were numerous and
amongst the moisture-indicating plants Chara sp. was most
abundant. In all, the very broad range of crops and weeds
indicates that the room was not used to store specific crops. As
in the northern room, interpretation of the moisture-indicating
plants is problematic.
The central area of the room, with three neighbouring samples
(BP11, n=143; BP14, n=96; BP15, n=699) differing in their
composition, provides another example of the heterogeneity of
samples from the same location. BP11 and BP15 contain large
numbers of Chara sp., whereas in BP14 bitter vetch is the most
abundant species. In this sample the species spectrum is
relatively broad, but the species are recorded only in small
numbers, and it is similar to the samples from the western part
of the building. Apart from Chara sp., BP11 has more
Eragrostis sp., einkorn chaff and bitter vetch. BP15 has a
relatively broad range of species, particularly of moistureindicating
plants. Among these, Juncus sp., Scirpus maritimus,
and Aeluropus litoralis are very abundant. The last, a coastal
grass, indicates that it might have been transported into the city
either with the harvest or via animal dung because Aeluropus is
not suitable for roofing. Finally, what could identify this
sample as containing remains from excrement are raspberry,
grape and fig seeds. Small-seeded legumes, a main component
of animal feed, are also very abundant.
Three samples from the entrance area also differed in their
composition (BP13, n=94; BP17, n=402; BP20, n=100). BP13
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