Carbonised Cereal from Three Late Neolithic and Two Early Bronze Age Sites in Western Norway

Abstract

Carbonised cereals were found in three Late Neolithic and two Early Bronze Age sites in western Norway. One site, Hjelle is located in northwestern Norway with no close connection to the sea. The Skrivarhelleren site is located in the mountains of the inner Sognefjord. The Voll, S0rb0 and Ystab0 sites are located on two islands in the middle of a fjord area north of Stavanger, SW Norway. Primarily Hordeum vulgare var. nudum (naked barley) were found. A few grains of Hordeum vulgare (hulled barley) were present in samples from two of the sites. Triticum dicoccum (emmer), Triticum sp. (wheat) and remains of collected plants were also found. The data produced for this article showed that by the end of the Neolithic/beginning of the Bronze Age there must have been an established agricultural economy in parts of western Norway.

The Agrarian Life of the North 2000 BC–AD 1000

“…This corresponds with the dates for two-aisled houses in Rogaland and an increase in the number of carbonised cereals related to houses and other settlement structures (Soltvedt 2000;Høgestøl and Prøsch-Danielsen 2006: 27). A similar pattern is also seen along the coast further north, and both the botanical data and the archaeological evidence suggests that the deforestation phase corresponds with the establishment of an agrarian economy throughout most of western Norway (Bakka and Kaland 1971;Prescott 1996;Soltvedt 2000;Hjelle et al 2006;. The LN and EBA settlement on Hundvåg is part of this picture, and the dates of cereals from Austbø implies that the shift towards a new economy on the island took place in the first half of the Late Neolithic.…”

Inferring Long-term Land-use Development Through On-site Botanical Analyses at Øvre Øksnevad, Southwestern Norway

“…based on lake or bog sediments, show the first indication of human activity from c. 4000 BC, mainly associated with minor woodland clearances (Solem 2005;Hjelle et al 2018). More substantial changes are observed c. 2400-2000 BC, in connection with the regional transition to an agricultural economy (Soltvedt 2000;Prøsch-Danielsen and Sandgren 2003;Diinhoff 2005). This is when the first human activity is registered at Øvre Øksnevad.…”

“…The dates obtained from burnt layers (c. 2100 BC and c. 1400-1300 BC) and from cultivation layers (c. 2300-1900 BC and c. 600-500 BC) suggest several phases of woodland clearance and cultivation at Øvre Øksnevad (Figure 8). The earliest phase is contemporary with the period of transition to an agricultural economy in southwestern Norway (Soltvedt 2000;Diinhoff 2005). The land at Øvre Øksnevad was probably cleared to make way for grasslands and arable fields belonging to a settlement situated nearby.…”

Interpreting complex diachronic ‘Neolithic’-period data in Norway

“…Agricultural practices are documented through a multi-source body of data. Direct evidence of an agro-pastoral economy is found in the bones of domesticated animals (Hufthammer, 1995) and cereals that are AMS-dated (Soltvedt, 2000;, dated through associationor both. There are indications of fields and clearances, while indirect evidence like distribution studies and palynological data also indicate agro-pastoral production (Prescott, 1995;Glørstad, 2012;Hjelle et al, 2018;Prøsch-Danielsen et al, 2018).…”