Organic Residue Analysis

In this chapter, we present comparative analyses of artifacts and ecofacts from most of the Project excavations at Nebelivka (House A9, the Mega-structure, the Pit in Sondazh 1 and the test pits). The finds from the Ukrainian excavations of Houses B17 and B18, the 'industrial feature' and their respective pits are published elsewhere. All classes of finds were subject to the same taphonomic protocols before comparative analysis between the excavation units at Nebelivka and comparisons with other Trypillia sites and megasites. A team of pottery specialists considered alternatives to the Ryzhov pottery system, using the sherd rather than the whole vessel as the unit for 14 different comparative analyses. Dmytro Kiosak examined the small lithic assemblage, identifying a major decrease in lithic deposition after the large Early Trypillia samples. The special finds analysis considered the sample of almost 100 figurines, fired clay tokens and the only gold ornament known so far from the Trypillia group. David Orton and colleagues have written the first modern faunal report of a Trypillia assemblage, paying attention to inter-analyst variability and contextual variability. The small botanical assemblage, discussed by Galyna Pashkevych, was the result of the first water-sieving operation conducted on a Trypillia excavation and confirmed her views, counterfactual for megasites, on Trypillia arable farming as low in production and efficiency.

Between 2800 and 2400 cal BC pastoralists from Central Europe migrated into the eastern Baltic paving the way for the Corded Ware Culture (CWC), and a new type of economy, animal husbandry. Traditionally the CWC people were viewed as highly mobile due to the lack of substantial traces of dwellings and material culture at settlement sites; they were reliant on an economy based on animal husbandry as demonstrated by zooarchaeological and stable isotopic evidence. However, this paradigm is beginning to shift. Here, we present new AMS radiocarbon (14C) measurements, pollen and macrobotanical data from sediment samples and a portable fi sh screen, as well as technological, molecular and isotopic data obtained from ceramic vessels from three CWC sites in the eastern Baltic. Overall, our results indicate a de-Neolithisation process undergone by some CWC groups, particularly in lacustrine and coastal ecotones, and a shift to hunting, gathering and fishing.

The paper aims at investigating an unusual pottery category which occurs in the Late Chalcolithic of Southern Levant, as well as in Western Anatolia, Northern Aegean and Sicily between the early Fourth and middle Third Millennium BC. In the archaeological literature of eastern
Mediterranean prehistory cylindrical barrel-shaped vessels are interpreted as “churns”, because they closely resemble skin-bottles used by modern pastoral nomads in rural Anatolia for converting milk into products such as butter or light cheese.
The archaeological investigations and the results of complementary chemical analyses to detect organic residues, involve some ethnographic evidence, in order to define use and function of such uncommon pottery assemblage, which represents one of the most important element of dairy production.

The study of childhood diet, including breastfeeding and weaning,
has important implications for our understanding of infant
mortality and fertility in past societies1. Stable isotope analyses of
nitrogen from bone collagen and dentine samples of infants have
provided information on the timing of weaning2; however, little is
known about which foods were consumed by infants in prehistory.
The earliest known clay vessels that were possibly used for feeding
infants appear in Neolithic Europe, and become more common
throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. However, these vessels—
which include a spout through which liquid could be poured—have
also been suggested to be feeding vessels for the sick or infirm3,4.
Here we report evidence for the foods that were contained in
such vessels, based on analyses of the lipid ‘fingerprints’ and the
compound-specific δ13C and Δ13C values of the major fatty acids of
residues from three small, spouted vessels that were found in Bronze
and Iron Age graves of infants in Bavaria. The results suggest that
the vessels were used to feed infants with milk products derived
from ruminants. This evidence of the foodstuffs that were used to
either feed or wean prehistoric infants confirms the importance of
milk from domesticated animals for these early communities, and
provides information on the infant-feeding behaviours that were
practised by prehistoric human groups.

Volume 2 of the BEFIM series contains six papers by the BEFIM team and close co-operation partners. The interim reports of BEFIM 1 are enhanced, finalised, and integrated into overall interpretations. An introductory paper provides insights into and an overview of the potential of biomarker and isotopic analysis in studying ancient organic residues.

The core of the book consists of three articles on the final archaeo-scientific results of BEFIM. The first paper combines the ORA results of local and imported pottery from early, younger, and current excavations on and around the Mont Lassios with excavation contexts and aspects of vessel shapes. By doing so, it becomes possible to compare the use of different vessel shapes and wares in each of the settlement zones. The second contribution integrates the organic residue analyses (ORA) of pottery from the old excavations (1950-85) and recent excavations at both the Vorburg settlement (2004-08) and on the Plateau (2015) of the Heuneburg into their archaeological contexts. The pottery from relevant find contexts allows for a spatially and temporally differentiated view of eating and drinking habits and vessel usage, followed by comparisons with the evidence from the Mont Lassois. The third text presents the results of food residue analyses from Breisach-Münsterberg in their archaeological context.

The volume ends with two gender-historical contributions, one on the question of alcohol in the female sphere of life in ancient cultures of Europe and the Near East with regard to production, distribution, trade, ritual, and consumption, the other one on gender stereotypes in the interpretation of ostentatious Iron Age graves.

What the so-called “early Celts” used to drink has been a matter of debate amongst scientists and in the wider public for more than a century. Finds of Mediterranean imported pottery were the reason for scholars to suspect already at an early date that the “Celts” had aimed at imitating Mediterranean drinking habits. Until recently, these drinking vessels of Greek origin and Mediterranean transport amphorae were considered proof of exactly this adoption of Greek lifestyle even north of the Alps. This is the point, where our conference came into play, the basis of which is research conducted in the context of the joint research project BEFIM (www.befim.de).

We aim at connecting innovative approaches from both arts and sciences and at profitably transferring them to the archaeological evidence. To this purpose, academics from entirely different disciplines presented their research results at the conference – whether it be on interculturality, pottery of the early Celts, scientific analyses of food residues or wine consumption also beyond the Keltiké.

In the centre of interest there were questions such as these: Did the contact with foreign drinking customs and the associated vessels unfold transformative potential even beyond the group of persons we simplistically call the “elite”? How quickly and in which contexts were exotic drinks (such as wine in particular) appropriated? Was this accompanied by the use of new vessel types and thus perhaps also by different drinking habits? Did the acceptance of unusual banqueting customs result in cultural change beyond the early Celts? How can we prove the presence of these Mediterranean drinks? What used to be consumed in which way before their arrival? What types of food lent themselves to being transformed into (alcoholic) beverages at all and which techniques for producing drinks are reflected in the archaeological evidence? Is the exchange of knowledge on the production and seasoning of beverages recognisable in the intercultural dialogue?

This volume with its general introductions, overview articles, and specialised papers is directed at a broader academic public from universities, museums, and heritage preservation authorities on the one hand as well as students and interested non-specialists on the other hand.