Nitrogen isotope evidence for manuring of early Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture cereals from Stensborg, Sweden

Abstract

Citation for published item: qronD uF tF nd qr¤ okeD hF F nd vrssonD wF nd ørensenD vF nd vrssonD vF nd owleyEgonwyD F eF nd ghurhD wF tF @PHIUA 9xitrogen isotope evidene for mnuring of irly xeolithi punnel feker gulture erels from tensorgD wedenF9D tournl of rheologil siene X reportsFD IR F ppF SUSESUWF Further information on publisher's website: httpsXGGdoiForgGIHFIHITGjFjsrepFPHIUFHTFHRP Publisher's copyright statement: c 2017 This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractLittle is known about arable agriculture in the Early Neolithic (4000-3300 cal BC, Funnel Beaker Culture) of Southern Scandinavia. Archaeobotanical material is rare and few archaeological sites have yielded more than a small number of charred cereal grains. In this short communication, we present single-entity carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of charred cereals from Stensborg, an early Funnel Beaker Culture site near Stockholm, Sweden. This cereal assemblage is important as it is large, well-preserved and consists of multiple crop species. Our isotopic results indicate that many of the Stensborg cereal crops had been manured and that there is intra-and inter-species variation in manuring. We interpret these data as evidence of an integrated regime of stock-keeping and small-scale agriculture in the early Funnel Beaker Culture near its northernmost limit.

Neolithic Farming and Wild Plant Exploitation in Western Britain: Archaeobotanical and Crop Stable Isotope Evidence from Wales (c. 4000–2200 calbc)

“…Nomenclature follows Stace (2010 Table 2 and Table S4 for full details of the sites. Following the methodological justification outlined by Gron et al (2017), each sample is an individual cereal grain, opposed to bulk samples of >10 grains (eg, Bogaard et al 2013). Each cereal grain was measured, and the degree of preservation/distortion noted, following Hubbard and al-Azm (1990).…”

“…Stable isotope analyses of cereals can be used to investigate directly cultivation conditions of specific cereal-types, independently of weed seed data (Bogaard 2014). In particular, cereal δ 15 N values have been used to identify manuring in Neolithic Europe, however, samples have only been analysed from a small number of Early Neolithic sites Kanstrup et al 2014;Styring et al 2016;2017;Gron et al 2017). The cereal isotope measurements for Early Neolithic Wales provide an important contribution to this dataset.…”

“…In England, 'high' δ 15 N values were recorded in a rectangular structure/house at Lismore Fields, Derbyshire (c. 3810-3600 cal BC) suggesting long-term intensive manuring (Jones & Bogaard 2017), whilst slightly lower δ 15 N values from a causewayed enclosure at Hambledon Hill, Dorset (c. 3700-3300 cal BC) may indicate less intensive/shorter-term manuring Jones & Bogaard 2017). At Stensborg (c. 3700-3360 cal BC), southern Scandinavia, Gron et al (2017) identified evidence for long-term intensive manuring, though variation is present and δ 15 N values range from 'low' to 'high', with emmer wheat and naked wheat more intensively manured than barley. Evidence for intensive manuring was also identified at LBK Vaihingen (c. 5500-5070 cal BC) and Viesenhäuser Hof (c. 5500-4000 cal BC, data not presented in Fig.…”

“…The evidence from Early Neolithic Wales contrasts with this general pattern of intensive manuring recorded at other European Early Neolithic sites, though variability is present. For instance, samples within the 'low' to 'no manuring' range were identified at Stensborg (Gron et al 2017), as well as in the later E.R. Treasure et al NEOLITHIC FARMING & WILD PLANT EXPLOITATION, WALES site of Sarup (3400-2900 cal BC) southern Scandinavia .…”

“…Szpak 2014). A baseline δ 15 N value for Neolithic soil can be estimated by analysing the δ 15 N values of wild herbivores recovered from the same site/ period (Gron et al 2017;Aguilera et al 2017;Styring et al 2017). Wild herbivore δ 15 N values are not available for the sites analysed in Early Neolithic Wales.…”