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Archaeobotanical analysis of radiocarbon-dated plant remains with special attention to Secale cereale (rye) cultivation at the medieval village of Mankby in Espoo (Finland)

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Abstract

Several urban medieval sites in Finland (ad 1000–1500) have been archaeobotanically investigated, but until now only a few rural medieval settlements have been studied. Therefore, many aspects of the crops and agricultural methods of medieval villages in Finland still remain unknown. At the 12th to mid-16th century medieval village of Mankby, Espoo, a systematic sampling for archaeobotanical material was carried out. The analysed samples derived from hearths, building contexts and medieval field layers etc. The archaeobotanical material was carbonised, and it consisted mostly of conifer needles, cereal grains and weed seeds. Secale cereale (rye) and Hordeum vulgare (barley) were the only crop species found, Secale being the most frequent. Seeds of Bromus secalinus (rye brome) and achenes of Centaurea cyanus (cornflower), which are associated with autumn sown winter cereal crops, were also present. The archaeobotanical material shows areas of activity linked to storing crops, as well as cultivation within the village boundaries. Based on radiocarbon dated grains, cultivation of the fields started in the 12th century and continued until the abandonment of the village in 1556. Archaeobotanical material from Mankby has been compared to other contemporary sites in Finland, and differences between the sites can be seen. Results from Mankby have added to our knowledge of medieval agriculture, past areas of activity and economic conditions within the village.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by grants from the Kone Foundation and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. We especially wish to thank Karl-Ernst Behre, Terttu Lempiäinen and Julian Wiethold (Institut national de recherches archéologiques preventives, Laboratoire archéobotanique, Metz, France) as well as an anonymous referee, whose valuable comments helped to improve this paper. The final version of the manuscript has benefited from a linguistic revision by Tapani Hopkins (Zoological Museum, University of Turku).

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  1. Department of Biology, Herbarium, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland

    Mia Lempiäinen-Avci

  2. Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Georg Haggrén, Ulrika Rosendahl, Tarja Knuutinen & Maija Holappa

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  1. Mia Lempiäinen-Avci
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Correspondence to Mia Lempiäinen-Avci.

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Communicated by K.-E. Behre.

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Lempiäinen-Avci, M., Haggrén, G., Rosendahl, U. et al. Archaeobotanical analysis of radiocarbon-dated plant remains with special attention to Secale cereale (rye) cultivation at the medieval village of Mankby in Espoo (Finland). Veget Hist Archaeobot 26, 435–446 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-017-0604-4

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