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Plant economy at a late Neolithic lake dwelling site in Slovenia at the time of the Alpine Iceman

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Abstract

We present the results of a plant macroremain study of the late Neolithic lakeshore settlement Stare gmajne (SG) at Ljubljansko barje, Slovenia, with cultural horizons that ended around 3330 and 3110 cal. b.c., as obtained by dendrochronological and radiocarbon dating of the most frequent construction timbers of Quercus sp. (oak) and Fraxinus sp. (ash). Fourteen systematically taken samples were investigated, using standard methods for studying waterlogged plant remains, which had been developed during lake dwelling research north of the Alps. Most of the remains were preserved in a waterlogged state, and we identified a total of 93 taxa. The most important cultivated plants were Triticum dicoccum (emmer), Hordeum vulgare (six-rowed naked barley), T. monococcum (einkorn), Linum usitatissimum (flax) and Papaver somniferum (opium poppy). The numerous possibly gathered plants also included Trapa natans (water chestnut) and Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris (wild grapevine). Chenopodium album (goosefoot) and Brassica rapa (turnip) with seeds/fruits rich in oil and starch were probably gathered as well. Comparisons of the Stare gmajne results with contemporary north Alpine sites (NA) showed, among other things, that Triticum durum/turgidum (tetraploid naked wheat), frequent at NA, was not found at SG. Trapa natans (water chestnut) was rare and Vitis (grapevine) was not found at NA. The observed differences in the wild plant spectra may have ecological causes, for example a warmer climate south of the Alps, but differences in cultivar spectra are more likely for cultural-historical reasons.

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Acknowledgments

The research was funded by the Slovenian Research Agency, young researchers’ programme, the project J6-6348-0618 (Archaeological and palynological research on Ljubljansko barje) and Slovene Human Resources Development and Scholarship Fund, for funding the stay of Tjaša Tolar in Basel. We would like to express our appreciation to the Institute for Prehistory and Archaeological Science (IPAS), University of Basel, Switzerland, for providing us with washing equipment and the use of their reference collection and literature for precise identification. We thank Tamara Korošec for preparing the figures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeology, Scientific Research Centre of the SASA, Novi trg 2, P.O. Box 306, 1001, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Tjaša Tolar & Anton Velušček

  2. Institute for Prehistory and Archaeological Science IPAS, Spalenring 145, 4055, Basel, Switzerland

    Stefanie Jacomet

  3. Department of Wood Science and Technology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Rožna dolina, Cesta VIII/34, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Katarina Čufar

Authors
  1. Tjaša Tolar
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  2. Stefanie Jacomet
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  3. Anton Velušček
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  4. Katarina Čufar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katarina Čufar.

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Communicated by F. Bittmann.

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334_2010_280_MOESM1_ESM.xls

Table 1 Archaeobotanical record per quadrant (Q1, Q9, Q13) and depth-cut from the latest layer LL in the 4th cut to the early layer EL in the 8th: taxa, remains type, preservation, ecology of the plant, use of the plant, total number of plant remains (XLS 133 kb)

334_2010_280_MOESM2_ESM.xls

Table 2 Concentrations of cultivars per litre of sediment (separately for different remains and types of preservation): LL later layer (3160–3110 b.c.); IL intermediate layer; EL early layer (3350–3330 b.c.) (XLS 20 kb)

334_2010_280_MOESM3_ESM.xls

Table 3 Archaeobotanically investigated waterlogged (W) sites: late Neolithic (3500–3000 cal b.c.), basic data (mainly after Jacomet 2006a, 2009): extrapolated absolute numbers of cultivated and gathered plant remains, also extrapolated to 1 l of organic material (n = 1000) or concentrations (c) extrapolated to 1 l of sediment material. Representativity score: 1 representative; 2–4 not truly representative investigations (after Jacomet 2006a). For regions, see Fig. 1a (Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, France). Sample type: s, systematic sampling (surface samples or profile columns); j, judgement samples (like stocks). Data (app.): very approximate data because of the scarcity of the results in the reference paper. Date b.c. is a dendrodate. The order of settlements is chronological (XLS 31 kb)

334_2010_280_MOESM4_ESM.xls

Table 4 A selection of archaeobotanically investigated late Neolithic waterlogged sites dated 3496–3000 cal b.c. from France, Germany, Switzerland and Slovenia (two phases of Stare gmajne). Representativity: 1, representative; 2–5, not truly representative investigations (after Jacomet 2006a). Sample type: s, systematic sampling (surface samples or profile columns); j, judgement samples (like storage contexts). Reported after: 1, Jacomet (2006a); 2, Herbig (2009a); 3, Jacomet (2009). Approximate locations of the sites are shown in Fig. 1a (XLS 20 kb)

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Tolar, T., Jacomet, S., Velušček, A. et al. Plant economy at a late Neolithic lake dwelling site in Slovenia at the time of the Alpine Iceman. Veget Hist Archaeobot 20, 207–222 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-010-0280-0

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