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Abstract
BOTANICAL DATA FROM EXCAVATIONS are one of several sources of evidence that can be brought to bear on studies of medieval agriculture, food, diet, trade and environment. Reliable reconstructions of these aspects of medieval life are dependent on the quality of the datasets currently available for study. Here these are assessed and lacunae highlighted. The focus lies on sites where macro-remains of food and agricultural products have been found (eg seeds, grains, chaff and fruit stones). The research has raised several areas of concern, some of which relate to changes in the funding of archaeological projects since 1990 (the rise of development-led archaeology). Research priorities are formulated and suggestions for good practice recommended.
The first author would like to thank both the Leverhulme Trust for a Major Research Fellowship and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study for a NIAS Fellowship during which this project was researched and completed. The Leverhulme Trust Fellowship also funded Alistair Hill, while an early stage of data collection was conducted with the help of a grant from the Natural Environment Research Council, which funded Alexandra Livarda. Neil Christie, Helena Hamerow and Deirdre O’Sullivan kindly offered assistance with the site classifications, phasing, and information about particular sites, Allan Hall made available up-to-date lists of references from the Environmental Archaeology Bibliography and generously provided detailed species lists for many of the projects of the Environmental Archaeology Unit at York, while Niven Moledina tirelessly assisted with the structure and subsequent querying of the dataset. Many colleagues have helped by sending references, reports and information on phasing of the samples, including Rachel Ballantyne, Gill Campbell, Wendy Carruthers, Astrid Caseldine, Anne Davis, Val Fryer, John Giorgi, Frank Green, James Greig, Jacqui Huntley, Julie Jones, Lisa Moffett, Angela Monckton, Peter Murphy, Ruth Pelling, Liz Popescu and Gabor Thomas. Figures 3–6 were drawn up by Alistair Hill, with assistance from Matt Beamish, Jennifer Dickie and Debbie Miles-Williams. Richard Buckley, Wendy Carruthers, Neil Christie, Allan Hall, Ruth Pelling and Deirdre O’Sullivan offered helpful insights during discussions and/or when commenting on earlier drafts.
Notes
1 School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK. [email protected]
2 School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK. [email protected]
3 Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, UK. [email protected]
4 Eg Higham and Ryan 2010; Woolgar et al 2006.
5 Gilchrist and Reynolds 2009.
6 Giorgi 1997; Greig 1988; Moffett 2006; 2011.
7 Syntheses of the botanical evidence for medieval agriculture and food consumption are in preparation.
8 Hall 2004; Tomlinson and Hall 1996.
9 Greig 1988; Moffett 2006; 2011.
10 It can be found in daub walls of standing buildings; see also Letts 1999.
11 Though heavy clay soils can do considerable mechanical damage to carbonised (charred) plant remains during the repeated wetting and drying of such deposits.
12 Eg Ballantyne 2010; Campbell and Robinson 2010; Carrott et al 1997; Carruthers and Hunter 2001; Davis in press; Kenward and Hall 1995; Moffett 1991; Pelling 2000.
13 Van der Veen et al 2007.
14 Hall 2004.
15 Allan Hall, pers comm.
16 Hall and Huntley 2007.
17 Planning Policy Guidance Note 16: Archaeology and Planning.
18 Van der Veen et al 2007.
19 KNA 3·2.
20 O Brinkkemper, pers comm.
21 Hall and Kenward 2006; Hughes and Hammon 2001; Kenward and Hall 2007.
22 In line with the Valletta Convention, see Fitzpatrick 2012.
23 Parks 2012; Van der Veen et al 2007.
24 Lauwerier and Brinkkemper 2012; see also Bazelmans 2012.
25 Ballantyne 2005; Carruthers 2011; forthcoming; Fryer and Murphy 2003; Moffett 2007.
26 English Heritage 2002, 24; and repeated in the 2011 edition.
27 Eg Cooper 2006.
28 Eg Higham and Ryan 2010; Oosthuizen 2007.
29 Moffett 2011; Van der Veen and Hill forthcoming.
30 Manuring can now also be established using stable nitrogen isotope analysis of carbonised grain (Fraser et al 2011).
31 Eg Grant 1988; Sykes 2006; 2007; 2009; Müldner 2009; Pluskowski 2007.
32 Livarda 2008; 2011; Livarda and Van der Veen 2008; Van der Veen 2008; Van der Veen et al 2008.
33 Dyer 2006.
34 Eg Davies 2010.
35 Jones 1991; Van der Veen and Fieller 1982.
36 English Heritage 2002, 20; repeated in the 2011 edition: 33–4.
37 Mineralised plant remains tend not to float in water and the residues, as well as the flots, will thus need sorting under a microscope, as most mineralised pulses, fruit and spice seeds, etc are found in these residues (W Carruthers, pers comm).
38 And be prepared to discard some samples prior to assessment and analysis, once the phasing of the site is completed. Preferred practice is to sample comprehensively on site, as it will not be possible to determine with any certainty the dating of all deposits at the point when a decision needs to be made about whether or not to collect a sample (A Hall and H Kenward pers comm).
39 See also Hughes and Hammon 2001, 83; it is also worth remembering that sieving recovers artefacts (eg coins and flints), as well as seeds and bones (Albarella 2001, 11).
40 English Heritage 2011, 12, 33–34.
41 Moffett 2011; Van der Veen and Hill forthcoming; Van der Veen research in progress.
42 Eg Cooper 2006.
43 Eg Bradley 2006; Fulford and Holbrook 2011; Parks 2012; Webley et al 2012.
44 Vander Linden and Webley 2012, 4.
45 See Van der Veen and Jones 2007 for a more detailed discussion.
46 English Heritage 2002, 24; 2011, 7.
47 Collart 2012; Vander Linden and Webley 2012.
48 For example, by conducting extensive sampling and sieving on site and storing the material for future research (eg for PhD projects).