Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

First direct evidence of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Central Europe

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Chemical analysis of archaeological objects is an important part of current investigations. In the presented study, a soil from an archaeological vessel from rescue excavation close to the village Držovice (Central Moravia Region, Czech Republic; findings dated to Eneolithic period) was analyzed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and firstly in archaeological science by atmospheric pressure solids analysis probe with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry. Miliacin, a chemical marker of a broomcorn millet, was unambiguously confirmed by both techniques. The obtained results can help to understand the diet habits of Corded Ware population and connection between Central Europe and Asia, where broomcorn millet has been domesticated. The identification of miliacin as a “chemical imprint” of millet from the end of Eneolithic period of Moravia is therefore extraordinarily important.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bossard N, Jacob J, Le Milbeau C, Sauze J, Terwilliger V, Poissonnier B, Vergès E (2013) Distribution of miliacin (olean-18-en-3β-ol methyl ether) and related compounds in broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) and other reputed sources: implications for the use of sedimentary miliacin as a tracer of millet. Org Geochem 63:48–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckley M, Melton ND, Montgomery J (2013) Proteomics analysis of ancient food vessel stitching reveals > 4000-year-old milk protein. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 27(4):531–538

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calderoni G, Guglielmin M, Tellini C (1998) Radiocarbon dating and postglacial evolution, Upper Vatellina and Livignese area Sondrio, Central Italian Alps Permafrost Postglacial Process, 9: 275–284

  • Dreslerová D, Kočár P (2013) Trends in cereal cultivation in the Czech Republic from the Neolithic to the migration period (5500 B.C.–A.D. 580). Veg Hist Archaeobot 22(3):257–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards HGM, Sibley MG, Derham B, Heron CP (2004) Raman spectroscopy of archaeological samples from the Barber-Surgeon’s medicine chest on the Mary Rose. J Raman Spectrosc 35(8–9):746–753

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eerkens J (2002) The preservation and identification of pinon resins by GC-MS in pottery from the Western Great Basin. Archaeometry 44:94–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evershed RP, Dudd SN, Charters S, Mottram H, Stott AW, Raven A, van Bergen PF, Bland HA (1999) Lipids as carriers of anthropogenic signals from prehistory. Philos Trans R Soc Lond Ser B Biol Sci 354(1379):19–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evershed RP, Heron C, Goad LJ (1990) Analysis of organic residues of archaeological origin by high-temperature gas-chromatography and gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry. Analyst 115(10):1339–1342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evershed RP, Mottram HR, Dudd SN, Charters S, Stott AW, Lawrence GJ, Gibson AM, Conner A, Blinkhorn PW, Reeves V (1997) New criteria for the identification of animal fats preserved in archaeological pottery. Naturwissenschaften 84:402–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fojtík P (2015) Držovice na Moravě (okr. Prostějov): IS pro 25 RD v poloze “Pastviska” (parc. č. 702, 703/1). Kultura se šňůrovou keramikou. Pohřebiště. Záchranný výzkum. Přehled výzkumů 56(1), /in print/

  • Haak W, Lazaridis I, Patterson N, Rohland N, Mallick S, Llamas B, Brandt G, Nordenfelt S, Harney E, Stewardson K, Fu Q, Mittnik A, Bánffy E, Economou C, Francken M, Friederich S, Pena RG, Hallgren F, Khartanovich V, Khokhlov A, Kunst M, Kuznetsov P, Meller H, Mochalov O, Moiseyev V, Nicklisch N, Pichler SL, Risch R, Rojo Guerra MA, Roth C, Szécsényi-Nagy A, Wahl J, Meyer M, Krause J, Brown D, Anthony D, Cooper A, Alt KW, Reich D (2015) Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe. Nature 522(7555):207–211. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hajnalová M (2012) Archeobotanika doby bronzovej na Slovensku. Štúdie ku klíme, prírodnému prostrediu, poľnohospodárstvu a paleoekonómii, Nitra

  • Hejcman M, Hlísnikovský L, Hejcmanová P, Šálková T, Beneš J (2016) Kernel weights of triticum, hordeum, avena, secale and panicum species can be used for better estimation of importance of different cereal species in archaeobotanical assemblages. IANSA 7(2):189–196. https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2016.2.4

  • Heron C, Nemcek N, Bonfield KM, Dixon D, Ottaway BS (1994) The chemistry of Neolithic beeswax. Naturwissenschaften 81:266–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heron C, Shoda S, Breu Barcons A, Czebreszuk J, Eley Y, Gorton M, Kirleis W, Kneisel J, Lucquin A, Müller J, Nishida Y, Son J, Craig OE (2016) First molecular and isotopic evidence of millet processing in prehistoric pottery vessels. Sci Rep 6(1):–9

  • Hu Y, Wang S, Luan F, Wang C, Richards MP (2008) Stable isotope analysis of humans from Xiaojingshan site: implications for understanding the origin of millet agriculture in China. Journ Archaeol Sc 35(11):2960–2965. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2008.06.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt HV, Linden MV, Liu X, Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute G, College S, Jones MK (2008) Millets across Eurasia: chronology and context of early records of the genera Panicum and Setaria from archaeological sites in the Old World. Veg Hist Archaeobotany 17:S5–S18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-008-0187-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kreuz A, Marinova E, Shäfer E, Wiethold J (2005) A comparison of early Neolithic crop and weed assemblages from the Linearbandkeramik and the Bulgarian Neolithic cultures: differences and similarities. Veg Hist Archaeobot 14:237–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kristiansen K, Allentoft ME, Frei KM, Iversen R, Johannsen NN, Kroonen G, Pospieszny L, Price TD, Rasmussen S, Sjögren K, Sikora M, Willerslev E (2017) Re-theorising mobility and the formation of culture and language among the corded ware culture in Europe. Antiquity 2017 91(356):334–347

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambert JB, Shawl CE, Stearns JA (2000) Nuclear magnetic resonance in archaeology. Chem Soc Rev 29(3):175–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lityńska-Zając M, Wasylikowa K (2005) Przewodnik do Badań Archeobotanicznych. In: Poznań

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Hunt HV, Jones MK (2009) River valleys and foothills: changing archaeological perceptions of North China’s earliest farms. Antiquity 83(319):82–95. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00098100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGovern PE, Mirzoian A, Hall GR (2009) Ancient Egyptian herbal wines. P Natl Acad Sci USA 106:7361–7366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moskal-Del Hoyo M, Lityńska-Zajac M, Korczyńska M, Cywa K, Kienlin TL, Cappenberg K (2015) Plants and environment: results of archaeobotanical research of the Bronze Age settlements in the Carpathian Foothills in Poland. J Archaeol Sci 53:426–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute G, Staff RA, Hunt HV, Liu X, Jones MK (2013) The early chronology of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Europe. Antiquity 87:1073–1085. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00049875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute G, Jacob J, Telizhenko S, Jones MK (2016) Miliacin in palaeosols from an Early Iron Age in Ukraine reveal in situ cultivation of broomcorn millet. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 8(1):43–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pecci A, Ontiveros MAC, Garnier N (2013) Identifying wine and oil production: analysis of residues from Roman and Late Antique plastered vats. J Archaeol Sci 40:4491–4498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Šálková T (2010) Analýza rostlinných makrozbytků z objektů sídliště mladší doby bronzové v Březnici. Popolnicové polia a doba halštatská Bratislava:308–316

  • Stika HP, Heiss AG (2013) Plant cultivation in the Bronze Age. Chapter 19 in H. Fokkens & A. Harding (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 348–369

  • Soberl L, Gasparic AZ, Budja M, Evershed RP (2008) Early herding practices revealed through organic residue analysis of pottery from the early Neolithic rock shelter of Mala Triglavca, Slovenia. Doc Praehist 35:253–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomczynska Z (2003) Wyniki analizy gatunkowej wegli drzewnych ze stanowiska Paprotki Kolonia st. 1 (sezony 1991–2002). Typescript in archive of the Institute of History and Political Sciences. Białystok

  • Zhao Z (2011) New archaeobotanic data for the study of the origins of agriculture in China. Curr Anthropol 52(Suppl. 4):S295–S306. https://doi.org/10.1086/659308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zohary D, Hopf M, Weiss E (2013) Domestication of plants in the Old World. Oxford University Press, pp 69–71

Download references

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Czech Science Foundation [17-17346S], Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic by the project CZ.1.05/2.1.00/19.0377 and LO1305 and Palacký University Olomouc [project IGA PrF 2018 027] for the financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, 17.listopadu 12, 779 00, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Lukáš Kučera, Petr Barták, Pavla Kučerová & Petr Bednář

  2. Archaeological Centre Olomouc, U Hradiska 42/6, 779 00, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Jaroslav Peška

  3. Institute of Archaeological Heritage Brno, Kaloudova 1321/30, 614 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Pavel Fojtík

  4. Centre of Biology, Geoscience and Environmental Education, University of West Bohemia, Sedláčkova 15, 306 14, Pilsen, Czech Republic

    Jaroslav Pavelka

  5. Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Na Zlaté stoce 3, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Veronika Komárková & Jaromír Beneš

  6. Laboratory of Morphology and Forensic Anthropology (LaMorFA), Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Lenka Polcerová & Miroslav Králík

Authors
  1. Lukáš Kučera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jaroslav Peška
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Pavel Fojtík
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Petr Barták
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Pavla Kučerová
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jaroslav Pavelka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Veronika Komárková
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Jaromír Beneš
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Lenka Polcerová
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Miroslav Králík
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Petr Bednář
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Petr Bednář.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Chromatograms of soil extract from third soil layer of ceramic vessel No. 2 (upper bulge). MRM transition 440 → 189 (a.); MS1 SIM scan type of m/z 189 (b.); MSI SIM scan type of m/z 204 (c.) and MS1 SIM scan type of m/z 218 (d.).

ESM 1

(DOCX 188 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kučera, L., Peška, J., Fojtík, P. et al. First direct evidence of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Central Europe. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 11, 4221–4227 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00798-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00798-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation