Prehistoric cereal foods of southeastern Europe: An archaeobotanical exploration

Valamoti, Soultana Maria; Marinova, Elena; Heiß, A.; Hristova, Ivanka; Petridou, Chryssa; Popova, T. I.; Michou, Stavroula; Papadopoulou, Lambrini; Chrysostomou, Panagiotis; Darcque, Pascal; Grammenos, Dimitrios; Iliev, Stanislav; Kotsos, Stavros; Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, Chaido; Leshtakov, Krassimir; Malamidou, Dimitria; Merousis, Nikos; Nikolov, Vassil; Nikov, Krassimir; Panayotova, Κrastina; Papanthimou, Aikaterini; Popov, Hristo; Stefani, Liana; Tsirtsoni, Zoï; Ruseva, Tatjana Kanceva

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2018.11.004

Cited by 33 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…Within the scope of the ERC project PLANTCULT, systematic microscopical analyses not only of entire charred "bread buns"-bread-like objects, to be more precise [58]-but also of amorphous charred objects (ACO) from a wide range of mainly prehistoric sites across central and south-eastern Europe were carried out [58,[63][64][65][66], and some finds from other regions such as Egypt were re-evaluated. The overall goal was to gather diagnostic characters of the components and operational sequences involved in the production of the cereal products concerned, and eventually to establish systematised approaches for the analysis and classification of this find category [58,63,67].…”

Section: A New Look At Charred Finds Of Cereal Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the material is also heavily affected by massive chemical transformations during pyrolysis [68,69], which limits chemical analyses of such materials to mostly imprecise results [70][71][72][73][74][75][76]. However difficult the situation may still be, interpretations of ACO containing ground cereal remains have still been able to approach a wide range of possible foodstuffs, ranging from porridge-like finds to others resembling precooked bulgur, to air-dried cereal preparations similar to pasta and trahanas/tarhana and also to bread and beer in the widest sense [47,63,66,67,75,[77][78][79][80][81][82][83].…”

Section: A New Look At Charred Finds Of Cereal Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mashes to Mashes, Crust to Crust. Presenting a novel microstructural marker for malting in the archaeological record

et al. 2020

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The detection of direct archaeological remains of alcoholic beverages and their production is still a challenge to archaeological science, as most of the markers known up to now are either not durable or diagnostic enough to be used as secure proof. The current study addresses this question by experimental work reproducing the malting processes and subsequent charring of the resulting products under laboratory conditions in order to simulate their preservation (by charring) in archaeological contexts and to explore the preservation of microstructural alterations of the cereal grains. The experimentally germinated and charred grains showed clearly degraded (thinned) aleurone cell walls. The histological alterations of the cereal grains were observed and quantified using reflected light and scanning electron microscopy and supported using morphometric and statistical analyses. In order to verify the experimental observations of histological alterations, amorphous charred objects (ACO) containing cereal remains originating from five archaeological sites dating to the 4 th millennium BCE were considered: two sites were archaeologically recognisable brewing

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Section: A New Look At Charred Finds Of Cereal Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A New Look At Charred Finds Of Cereal Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mashes to Mashes, Crust to Crust. Presenting a novel microstructural marker for malting in the archaeological record

et al. 2020

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“…A major group of cereal remains (n = 76, ubiquity 28%) was represented by amorphous charred objects (ACOs) containing fragments of cereal bran or glumes embedded in their matrix, and which are commonly interpreted as cereal products [ 48 , 82 , 120 , 143 , 181 ] ( Fig 14 ). It was taken care to verify that the cereal tissue fragments were indeed contents of the chosen ACOs and were not just sticking to them.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dig out, Dig in! Plant-based diet at the Late Bronze Age copper production site of Prigglitz-Gasteil (Lower Austria) and the relevance of processed foodstuffs for the supply of Alpine Bronze Age miners

et al. 2021

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This paper starts from theoretical and methodical considerations about the role of archaeobotanical finds in culinary archaeology, emphasizing the importance of processed cereal preparations as the “missing link” between crop and consumption. These considerations are exemplified by the discussion of abundant new archaeobotanical data from the Late Bronze Age copper mining site of Prigglitz-Gasteil, situated at the easternmost fringe of the Alps. At this site, copper ore mining in opencast mines took place from the 11th until the 9th century BCE (late Urnfield Culture), as well as copper processing (beneficiation, smelting, refining, casting) on artificial terrain terraces. During archaeological excavations from 2010 to 2014, two areas of the site were investigated and sampled for archaeobotanical finds and micro-debris in a high-resolution approach. This paper aims at 1) analysing the food plant spectrum at the mining settlement of Prigglitz-Gasteil basing on charred plant macroremains, 2) investigating producer/consumer aspects of Prigglitz-Gasteil in comparison to the Bronze Age metallurgical sites of Kiechlberg, Klinglberg, and Mauken, and 3) reconstructing the miners’ and metallurgists’ diets. Our analyses demonstrate that the plant-based diet of the investigated mining communities reflects the general regional and chronological trends rather than particular preferences of the miners or metallurgists. The lack of chaff, combined with a high occurrence of processed food, suggests that the miners at Prigglitz-Gasteil were supplied from outside with ready-to-cook and processed grain, either from adjacent communities or from a larger distance. This consumer character is in accordance with observation from previously analysed metallurgical sites. Interestingly, the components observed in charred cereal products (barley, Hordeum vulgare, and foxtail millet, Setaria italica) contrast with the dominant crop taxa (broomcorn millet, Panicum miliaceum, foxtail millet, and lentil, Lens culinaris). Foraging of fruits and nuts also significantly contributed to the daily diet.

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“…monococcum, T. dicoccum and T. timopheevi , respectively). During the Bronze Age, spelt wheat ( T. spelta ) also appears for the first time at the end of the 3rd millennium B.C., while the free-threshing wheats (common wheat, Triticum aestivum and durum wheat, Triticum durum ) had a more limited occurrence in prehistoric times [ 9 ]. Nowadays, the glume wheats, together with certain pseudocereal species, are widely referred to as ‘ancient grains’, whereas those described as ‘modern’ (naked) wheats ( T. aestivum and T. durum ) have already been grown since the Neolithic period.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reinvigorating Modern Breadmaking Based on Ancient Practices and Plant Ingredients, with Implementation of a Physicochemical Approach

Sereti

Lazaridou

Βiliaderis

et al. 2021

Foods

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In this study, the potential use of ancient plant ingredients in emerging bakery products based on possible prehistoric and/or ancient practices of grinding and breadmaking was explored. Various ancient grains, nuts and seeds (einkorn wheat, barley, acorn, lentil, poppy seeds, linseed) were ground using prehistoric grinding tool replicas. Barley-based sourdough prepared by multiple back-slopping steps was added to dough made from einkorn alone or mixed with the above ingredients (20% level) or commercial flours alone (common wheat, spelt, barley). Sieving analysis showed that 40% of the einkorn flour particles were >400 μm, whereas commercial barley and common wheat flours were finer. Differential scanning calorimetry revealed that lentil flour exhibited higher melting peak temperature and lower apparent enthalpy of starch gelatinization. Among all bread formulations tested, barley dough exhibited the highest elastic modulus and complex viscosity, as determined by dynamic rheometry; einkorn breads fortified with linseed and barley had the softest and hardest crust, respectively, as indicated by texture analysis; and common wheat gave the highest loaf-specific volume. Barley sourdough inclusion into einkorn dough did not affect the extent of starch retrogradation in the baked product. Generally, incorporation of ancient plant ingredients into contemporary bread formulations seems to be feasible.

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Prehistoric cereal foods of southeastern Europe: An archaeobotanical exploration

Cited by 33 publications

References 24 publications

Mashes to Mashes, Crust to Crust. Presenting a novel microstructural marker for malting in the archaeological record

Mashes to Mashes, Crust to Crust. Presenting a novel microstructural marker for malting in the archaeological record

Dig out, Dig in! Plant-based diet at the Late Bronze Age copper production site of Prigglitz-Gasteil (Lower Austria) and the relevance of processed foodstuffs for the supply of Alpine Bronze Age miners

Reinvigorating Modern Breadmaking Based on Ancient Practices and Plant Ingredients, with Implementation of a Physicochemical Approach

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