Food production and food procurement in the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age
(2000-500 BC)
Hingh, A.E. de
Citation
Hingh, A. E. de. (2000, January 1). Food production and food procurement in the Bronze Age and
Early Iron Age (2000-500 BC). Archaeological Studies Leiden University. Retrieved from
https://hdl.handle.net/1887/13513
Version:
Corrected Publisher’s Version
License:
Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the Institutional
Repository of the University of Leiden
Downloaded from:
https://hdl.handle.net/1887/13513
7.1
Geldrop
7.1.1
INTRODUCTIONThe archaeological excavations in Geldrop (province of
North-Brabant) are part of the Kempen-project, a diachronic
study of the (pre-) history of the Kempen region. This
pro-ject is carried out by archaeologists of the University of
Amsterdam and recently also by the Free University of
Amsterdam, and is at present incorporated in the MDS
project on “Settlement and Landscape” (see chapter 1). The
1994 campaign in Geldrop was directed by Frans Theuws.
During the excavations, which were focussed on the research
of a medieval arable complex, the remains of prehistoric
occupation were discovered. The prehistoric structures were
only preliminarily investigated by Mara Wesdorp (Wesdorp
1997). The location is situated on Pleistocene coversand.
7.1.2
FEATURESDuring the excavations in Geldrop, remains of prehistoric
agrarian settlements were found, consisting of houses,
gra-naries and (refuse) pits. At least two prehistoric occupation
phases could be distinguished: one is situated in the Middle
Bronze Age, one in the (Middle) Iron Age.
Trench 63 contained the majority of the Middle Bronze
Age structures (figure 7.1). Granary 6 is dated in the
7
The botanical material under study: the MDS region
27 60 119 145 122 112 110 83 81 93 95 94 106 138 262 96 granary 6 granary 4 0 10m
Bronze Age on the basis of the pottery found in one of the
postholes. Granary 4 is ascribed to the Bronze Age by
association. All pits are dated in the Middle Bronze Age.
Pit 262 contained large quantities of Middle Bronze Age
pottery (Drakestein, Hilversum) and is associated with the
neighbouring house. This house presents a typical Middle
Bronze Age layout with double post lines. Pit 112
con-tains, among others, five undecorated Middle Bronze Age
shards.
Trench 61 yielded mainly Iron Age features. The pits 243,
253 and 258 are dated in the Iron Age. Building 5 is a
char-acteristic so-called Haps-type house and dates from the
Middle Iron Age (figure 7.2).
7.1.3
SAMPLESSystematic sampling for botanical analysis made up an
integrated part of the excavation. The main focus of
attention was paid, however, to the medieval occupation
of this site as the prehistoric features did not have a high
priority. As a corollary, only part of the prehistoric
struc-tures were sampled, i.e. the postholes of complete
build-ings and black layers in structures that were clearly
dis-cerned in the field. The volume of the samples was 5
litres of unsieved sediment average. The samples were
flotated and the residues were collected on sieves with
meshes of 2,5 to 0,5 mm. The botanical analyses were
carried out by J. Goudzwaard and the author (see table
7.1).
The samples taken from trench 63 can be dated, without
exception, in the Bronze Age. A total of 23 samples were
taken from 14 different Middle Bronze Age pits and two
different Bronze Age granaries (granaries 4 and 6). Only one
sample, from pit 110 (sample 885) did not yield any
botani-cal material.
The samples taken from trench 61 can be dated, without
exception, in the Iron Age. A total of 20 samples were taken
from 14 postholes in house 5 and from three different pits.
Ten postholes of the building did not yield any botanical
remains (samples 934, 933, 919, 917, 918, 922, 921, 930,
931, 932). One sample from an Iron Age pit produced no
seeds (sample 929). All other features yielded charred
botan-ical material.
7.1.4
MACRO REMAINSAll Bronze Age samples contained remains of crops and, to
a lesser extent, remains of wild plants and weed seeds.
Dozens of grains of six-row barley and hundreds of grains of
the hulled variety of six-row barley were found. Grains and
chaff remains of emmer wheat dominated the seed
assem-blage, some grains of millet, bread wheat and probably
61 61 61 61 61 61 61 61 61 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 243 253 255 264 270 273 276 277 277 60 81 83 94 95 95 96 96 106 106 112 914 927 928 935 920 936 923 924 925 898 896 897 890 888 889 891 892 886 887 893
Cerealia 10 1 ---20 12 -11 8 2 4 7 1
--Hordeum vulgare (grain) -1 ---1 ---8 2 1 1 1 -2 -1 1
-Hordeum vulgare vulgare (grain) ---1 --- ---54
Hordeum/Triticum (grain) ---2 4 -1 1 2 ---144
Panicum miliaceum (grain) -3 --- ---- --1cf ---Triticum aestivum (grain) --- ---- ---4
Triticum dicoccum (glume base) 9 ----2 ----2 --- ---1
--Triticum dicoccum (grain) -1 ---1 ---5cf --5 3cf 1 2 10 1 1 65 Triticum dicoccum/spelta (grain) --- ---- ---3
--Triticum monococcum (grain) ---- ---- ---Triticum spec. (glume base) -1 ---2 --2 -1 --1
--Triticum spec. (grain) ---4 1 5 -- ---2
--Corylus avellana -2fr -- ---- ---Quercus spec. --- ---- ---1 --Agrostis spec. --- --1cf - ---Anagallis arvensis ---- ---- ---Avena spec. ---- ---- ---Brassica spec. --- --1cf - ---Bromus spec. ---- ---- ---Capsella bursa-pastoris --- ---- ---1
Chenopodium album 2 ----1 -1 1 - --1 1 ---4
Chenopodium ficifolium 2 --- --1 - ---2
Chenopodium spec. --- ---- ---1
Echinochloa crus-galli ---- ---- ---Fallopia convolvulus 15 ---1 -1 - -1 -1 -7 Festuca/Lolium spec. --- --1 - ---12 Galeopsis segetum ---- ---- ---Galeopsis spec. 1 --- ---- ---Galium aparine ---- ---- ---Galium spec. ---- ---- ---Galium spurium --- --1 - ---Glyceria/Molinia spec. ---- ---- ---Gramineae 1 --- ---- ---1 Lolium perenne ---- ---- ---Papilionaceae 1 --- ---- ---Persicaria hydropiper 1 --- ---- ---Persicaria lapathifolia 38 1 1 1 --1 --2 3 1 2 2 2 -1 1 -14 Persicaria lapathifolia/maculosa ---1 1 --- ---- ---Persicaria maculosa ---- ---- ---Plantago lanceolata --- ---- ---1 --Polygonum aviculare 1 --- ---- ---Rumex acetosella 3 --- ---- --1 ---Rumex spec. 11 --- ---- ---Setaria/Echinochloa spec. ---- ---- ---Solanum dulcamara ---- ---- ---Solanum nigrum --- ---- -1 ----Solanum spec. --- ----1 ---Spergula arvensis --- ---- ---2 Vicia hirsuta ---- ---- ---Vicia hirsuta/tetrasperma --- --1 - ---1cf Vicia tetrasperma --- ---- ----1cf
-Table 7.1 List of species. Geldrop, trench 61 and 63
63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 112 122 145 262 262 267 ? 279 280 303 309 894 884 883 904 905 906 908 902 903 900 901
Cerealia xxx -13 xxx - 2 -17 - 2 1
Hordeum vulgare (grain) --4 8
-Hordeum vulgare vulgare (grain) 99 ---48
-Hordeum/Triticum (grain) 68 1 1 -2 - - 3 150
-Panicum miliaceum (grain) ---4
-Triticum aestivum (grain)
-Triticum dicoccum (glume base) 18 --35 -3cf --2 1 1
Triticum dicoccum (grain) 486 1 -36 ---5 33 1
-Triticum dicoccum/spelta (grain) --1
-Triticum monococcum (grain) 2cf
-Triticum spec. (glume base) ----33
-Triticum spec. (grain) ----1
-Corylus avellana -Quercus spec. ---40* 40* -8* -Agrostis spec. -Anagallis arvensis ---1 -Avena spec. ----kn. -Brassica spec. -Bromus spec. ----1
-Capsella bursa-pastoris
-Chenopodium album 2 --4 5 --56 2
-Chenopodium ficifolium 1
-Chenopodium spec. ---1
-Echinochloa crus-galli ---1 1 ---1
-Fallopia convolvulus 49 --14 14 3 -3 11 -Festuca/Lolium spec. 9 ----1 -Galeopsis segetum ---1 -Galeopsis spec. ----1 -Galium aparine ---1 1 -Galium spec. ---2 ----1 -Galium spurium ---1 Glyceria/Molinia spec. ---1 -Gramineae 2 ---5 -Lolium perenne ----1 -Papilionaceae -Persicaria hydropiper 1 -Persicaria lapathifolia 28 --20 38 3 2 -Persicaria lapathifolia/maculosa 18fr -Persicaria maculosa 5 --1 ---6 14 1 -Plantago lanceolata -Polygonum aviculare -Rumex acetosella ---1 1 --1cf -Rumex spec. ----1 -Setaria/Echinochloa spec. ----1 -Solanum dulcamara ---1cf -Solanum nigrum ---9 -Solanum spec. ---2 -Spergula arvensis ----2 --3 -Vicia hirsuta ---2 2 -1 -Vicia hirsuta/tetrasperma 2 ---3 -Vicia tetrasperma
