Technical report Analysis of plant remains from Gortore 1b, Co. Cork (E2410) By Penny Johnston May 2010 Cite as: Johnston, P. (2010). Analysis of plant remains from Gortore 1b, Co. Cork (E2410). Technical report. Further information: Hegarty, L. (2011). Archaeological Excavation Rport E2410 Gortore 1b, Co. Cork Mesolthic, Neolithic, and Early Bronze Age activity on the banks of the River Funshion. Eachtra Journal, 10. Retrieved from http://eachtra.ie/new_site/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/gortore1b-journal.pdf This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en_us.
Appendix 5 Plant remains Analysis of the plant remains from Gortore 1b, Co. Cork (E2410) By Penny Johnston Introduction This report details the results of plant remains analysis from Gortore 1b, Co. Cork (E2410). The site comprised a Neolithic rectangular house, many pits and post-holes indicative of external domestic activity. Methodology The samples were collected on site as bulk soil and were processed using machineassisted floatation (following guidelines in Pearsall 2000). The floating material (or flot ) from each sample was collected in a stack of geological sieves (the smallest mesh size was 250μm). When all the carbonised material was collected the flot was then air-dried in paper-lined drying trays prior to storage in airtight plastic bags. The samples were scanned under low-powered magnification (x 10 to x 40) using a binocular microscope. Nomenclature and taxonomic order follows Stace (1997). Results The results of preliminary scanning are presented in Table 1 at the end of this report. A total of 99 samples were scanned and plant remains were present in 54 of the samples. The identifications are presented in Tables 2-5. The plant material from this site is split-up according to the different phases of activity at the site, from the Early Mesolithic, the Early Neolithic, the Middle and Late Neolithic and the early medieval period. Early Mesolithic plant remains Radiocarbon dates and lithic finds indicated some Mesolthic activity at Gortore 1b, in particular associated with pits near the river bank. The radiocarbon date from the crescent-shaped pit C.527 (taken from hazelnut shell fragments) indicated a Mesolithic date and a similar Mesolithic date was returned from another pit C.479 where hazelnut shell fragments were also recovered in relatively large quantities (from C.41 from the re-cut pit C.122 within this pit). Hazelnut shell fragments were found in abundance in samples from both of these features. These results indicate that hazelnuts were a common wild food that was exploited during the Mesolithic at this site. These are common finds in Mesolithic deposits from northern Europe (Robinson and Harild 2002, 84). However, a small quantity of other plant items was also recovered from these samples (as shown in Figure 1).
5 0 25 20 15 10 5 0 Knotgrass Legume Plantain Cleavers Other plant items Figure 1 Wild plant remains recovered from Mesolithic samples at Gortore 1b In general, the remains from these features appear to represent food waste, most of it coming from the crescent-shaped pit C.527. Some of the plant remains included berries and fruit stones. As these items were all from Mesolithic contexts it is likely that they were gathered plant material. Most recent archaeobotanical studies of material from Mesolithic sites across Europe have concentrated on identification of fibres and tubers, rather than seeds. This type of material has only rarely been identified from archaeological contexts in temperate Europe (Kubiak-Martens 2002, 2). Some examples include the Danish Late Mesolithic sites of Halsskov and Tybrind Vig, dating to between 5600 and 4000 BC, where the charred remains of roots from ramsons (wild garlic), pignut and sea beet, hazelnut and acorn shell fragments, berries such as raspberries and seeds from fat hen, oraches, knotgrass, sweet-grass and water lily were found (Kubiak-Martens 2002, 24 29; Kubiak- Martens 1999, 117). While some plant fibres and tubers were more than likely used at Gortore 1b they are not included in this report because of (1) it is likely that much of the plant material used at the site was not exposed to fire and has therefore not been preserved, (2) to the dearth of specialist knowledge and () to the limits of time and budget that constrain further investigation of these items. Further specialist work on the material is ongoing but lies beyond the limits of this technical report. The preservation of the material from Gortore 1b was poor but this is generally the case in material of this type, being generally only found in very favourable circumstances (Behre 2008, 65). Fruits and seeds, such as the material from Gortore, are not often recovered from European Mesolithic sites and, when they are, preservation is generally so poor that identification is often difficult (Perry 2002, 110). However, some comparative Mesolithic charred plant material is known from Irish sites, such as the rich assemblage found at Clowanstown 1. It included wheat,
barley, flax, hazelnut, crowberry, sedges, pondweed, vetchs and alder cones, although the cereal grains were interpreted as later, intrusive remains (Archaeological Services University of Durham 2009). Early Neolithic plant remains Only three samples with plant remains (from cut features C.99, C.420 and C.47) were associated with the Early Neolithic house at Gortore 1b. The remains were very poor and included just a small amount of hazelnut shell fragments, some indeterminate cereal grains and possible tuber fragments. These results were unusually poor, since samples from Early Neolithic houses at Gortore 1 (Johnston 2006), Corbally, Co. Kildare (Purcell 2002), Tankardstown South, Co. Limerick (Monk 1988, 185-191), Ballygalley, Co. Antrim, (Simpson 199) and Cloghers I (Kiely and Dunne 2005). have all produced reasonably large assemblages of plant remains, cereals in particular. However, the house at Gortore 1b was extremely truncated and this may have militated against the recovery of good assemblages of plant remains, as occurred at Kishoge, Co. Dublin, for example (Johnston 200/4). However, the plant remains were not widely associated with the deposits from the Neolithic house at Gortore 1b and the only cereal remains recovered were not identifiable to type (Ceralia). Hazelnut shell fragments were found, as is relatively common from samples throughout prehistory (and into the historic period). The only material of note from these samples was the fragment from a possible tuber. Charred tubers are sometimes recovered from cremation deposits, for example at Ballyveelish, Co. Tipperary (Monk 1987) but at Gortore the remains appear to be associated with domestic occupation. It is possible that tubers were used as starchy food but it also possible that grass was pulled up, dried and used as tinder. Possible Early and Middle Neolithic plant remains The north-western part of the site was riddled with swallow-holes and the archaeological features in this area are disturbed. The finds from this area of the site included some Early and Middle Neolithic vessels and it is possible that the archaeological remains from this area date to the Neolithic. One sample from this area contained more than ten cereal grains, from the post-hole C.12. Most of the grains were indeterminate (Ceralia) but some of the remains were identified as barley and wheat. Early medieval plant remains Early medieval radiocarbon dates (approximately seventh to eighth century AD) were obtained from an area located approximately 2.25 m to the south-east of the Neolithic house. Three samples from the pit C.9 (from C.12, C.1 and C.96) were amongst the richest cereal assemblages from the site. Another relatively rich cereal assemblage was recovered from a sample taken from the fill of the adjacent pit C.94. Both barley and wheat were recovered from these samples (Figure 2).
80 70 60 50 Counts 40 0 20 10 0 12 (C.9) 1 (C.9) 96 (C.9) 24 (C.94) Contexts Barley Emmer wheat Wheat grains Barley/Wheat Ceralia Figure 2: Cereal remains from different contexts within the pits C.9 and C.94 There were large quantities of indeterminate cereals in these samples, making up 89% of the total cereal assemblage (Figure ). This indicates that preservation quality was poor. Of the identifiable remains, roughly equal quantities of wheat and barley were recovered. A small quantity of the wheat remains were identified as the primitive glume wheat, emmer. It was not possible to identify any of the barley grains to type. One immature oat grain was also recovered from these samples, but the general dearth of oat grains from early medieval assemblages is relatively unusual. Oat is often recovered in abundance in samples from sites of early medieval date (e.g. Monk et al. 1998).
N = 182 Barley 6% Wheat 5% Ceralia 89% Figure : Percentage distribution of cereals in early medieval samples Plant remains from features of unknown date Most of the samples from this site were not in features from dateable contexts, 6 samples in total. Most of the plant remains from these features were identified as hazelnut shell fragments, with 11 fragments counted. Hazelnut shell fragments are frequent finds in Irish archaeological sites. Their frequency is due partly to the fact that they were collected, eaten and used frequently in the past. It is also partly due to the taphonomic factors that govern the preservation of hazelnut shells (as outlined in Monk 2000, 74 75). The fact that these were widely distributed in the samples from Gortore 1b suggests that these wild foods were probably utilised through all phases of activity at the site, not only gathered by hunter-gatherers in the Mesolithic but gathered and used throughout prehistory and prehistory. A small quantity of cereal grains were also recovered from the samples of unknown date, just over 0 grains were counted, including both wheat and barley, although barley was marginally more common. Single examples of haw stones, legumes, and plantain seeds were also recovered from these samples. Penny Johnston May 2010 References Archaeological Services University of Durham (2009) Appendix 17: Environmental Report, in Mossop, M. and Mossop, E. Report of the archaeological excavation of
Clowanstown 1, Co. Meath A008/011 E064. Excavation report for Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd. Online: http://www.mmotorway.ie/archaeology/section2/clowanstown1/file,16720,en.pdf (accessed 20 May 2010). Behre, K.-E. (2008) Collected seeds and fruits from herbs as prehistoric food, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 17, 65 78. Johnston, P. (2006) Appendix 4 Charred plant remains from Gortore 1b (E2119), unpublished technical report for Eachtra Archaeological Projects. Johnston, P. (200/4) Appendix I Plant Remains, in E. O Donovan A Neolithic House at Kishoge, Co.Dublin, Journal of Irish Archaeology XII & XIII, 1-27. Kiely, J. and Dunne, L. (2005) Recent Archaeological Excavations in the Tralee Area, in M. Connolly (ed.) Past Kingdoms: Recent Archaeological Research, Survey and Excavation in County Kerry. Castleisland, Kerry County Council and The Heritage Council. Kubiak-Martens, L. (2002) New evidence for the use of root foods in pre-agrarian subsistence recovered from the late Mesolithic site at Halsskov, Denmark, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 11, 2 1. Kubiak-Martens, L. (1999) The plant food component of the diet at the late Mesolithic (Ertebolle) settlement at Tybrind Vig, Denmark, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 8, 117 127. Monk, M. (2000) Seeds and soils of discontent, pp. 67-87 in A. Desmond, G. Johnson, M. McCarthy, J. Sheehan and E. Shee Twohig (eds.) New Agendas in Irish prehistory. Bray, Wordwell. Monk, M.A., Tierney, J. and Hannon, M. (1998) Archaeobotanical studies and early medieval Munster, pp. 65 75 in Monk, M.A. and Sheehan, J. (eds) Early Medieval Munster. Archaeology, history and society. Cork, Cork University Press. Monk, M. A. (1988) Appendix : Archaeobotanical samples from pipeline sites, in M. Gowen Three Irish Gas Pipelines: New Archaeological Evidence from Munster. Dublin, Wordwell. Monk, M. (1987) Appendix V: The charred plant remains from Ballyveelish, in Doody, M. Ballyveelish, Co. Tipperary, in Cleary, R. M., Hurley, M. F. and Twohig, E. A. (eds.) Archaeological Excavations on the Cork-Dublin Gas Pipeline (1981-82) Cork: Cork Archaeological Studies No.1. Pearsall, D. (2000) Paleoethnobotany: a Handbook of Procedures. New York, Academic Press. Perry, D. (2002) Preliminary results of an archaeobotanical analysis of Mesolithic sites in the Veenkiliníen, Province of Groningen, the Netherlands, pp.108 116 in Mason, S. and Hather, J. (eds.) Hunter-Gatherer Archaeobotany. Perspectives from the northern temperate zone. London, Institute of Archaeology. Purcell, A. (2002) Excavation of three Neolithic houses at Corbally, Kilcullen, County Kildare, Journal of Irish Archaeology XI, 1-75.
Robinson, D. and Harild, J. (2002) Archaeobotany of an early Ertebolle (Late Mesolithic) site at Halsskov, Zealand, Denmark, pp. 84-95 in Mason, S. and Hather, J. (eds.) Hunter-Gatherer Archaeobotany. Perspectives from the northern temperate zone. London, Institute of Archaeology. Simpson, D. (199) The Neolithic Settlement Site at Ballygalley, Co. Antrim, in E. Grogan and C. Mount (eds.) Annus Archaeology: Proceedings of the Organisation of Irish Archaeologists Conference 199, 7-44. Stace, C. A. (1997) New Flora of the British Isles. (2nd edition) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Table 1: Assessment of plant remains from Gortore 1b (E2410) Table 1 Sample Context Charcoal Seeds % Scanned 6 8 L-M L 100 49 12 L H 100 2 1 M H 50 26 96 M H 100 124 102 L Absent 100 216 125 M L 100 154 10 H L 100 184 10 H H 10 177 10 H H 05-Oct 180 10 H H 20 187 10 H H 40 189 10 H M 45 176 10 H H 0 188 10 H M 40 1 10 M L-M 100 69 24 H H 50 84 264 L L 100 84 264 L Absent 100 125 266 L Absent 100 188 279 H Absent 100 108 41 M L-M 100 11 41 M M 100 148 41 L Absent 100 126 9 L Absent 100 14 98 L L 100 17 409 L Absent 100 140 421 L L 100 140 421 L Absent 100 14 422 L Absent 100 150 425 L Absent 100 162 45 L Absent 100 178 474 L-M L 100 20 519 L Absent 100 218 58 L L 100 220 59 M L 100 27 59 L Absent 100 26 618 L L 100 280 658 L L 100 28 668 L L 100 566 1256 M L 100 54 857 L Absent 100 466 922 M L 100 479 102 L L 100 518 1041 L Absent 100 42 108 M Absent 100 452 1104 H M 100 48 1107 M L 100
Table 1 Sample Context Charcoal Seeds % Scanned 480 1120 M M 100 482 112 L M 100 428 1124 L-M L 100 508 1126 L L 100 590 116 L L 100 524 117 M Absent 100 525 118 L L 100 591 1140 L Absent 100 60 1141 L Absent 100 504 114 M Absent 100 505 1144 M Absent 100 52 1209 L L 100 55 1210 H Absent 100 54 1211 M-H Absent 100 560 121 L L 100 569 1256 L Absent 100 586 1266 H L 100 580 127 L Absent 100 579 1277 M L 100 58 1289 L Absent 100 612 11 H M 100 62 177 L Absent 100 585 119 H Absent 50 50 120 M L 100 451 110 H Absent 100 547 122 H L 100 417 1071 M Absent 100 571 1261 M L 100 61 100 H Absent 100 42 765 M L 100 416 940 L Absent 100 510 1160 AB-L Absent 100 79 845 AB-L Absent 100 554 1248 L-M L 100 550 1191 L Absent 100 577 1275 ABSENT L 100 408 96 H Absent 100 496 111 L Absent 100 588 104 AB-L Absent 100 597 111 L Absent 100 604 120 L Absent 100 614 695 L Absent 100 621 14 L L 100 495 110 H L 100 409 1042 L Absent 100 491 1126 L-M L 100 40 107 L-M Absent 100 608 117 L L 100 67 17 L Absent 100
Table 1 Sample Context Charcoal Seeds % Scanned 86 898 M L 100 618 145 M-H L 100 Key : L = Low, M = Medium and H = High Table 2: Identified seeds from Mesolithic features at Gortore 1b, Co. Cork Cut 122 122 527 527 527 527 527 527 527 527 527 527 Context 41 41 10 10 468 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 Sample 108 11 1 154 170 176 177 180 184 187 188 189 Hazelnut shell fragments (Corylus avellana L.) 10 1 8 21 1 40 16 171 21 170 28 56 Indeterminate seeds from the Knotgrass family (Polygonaceae) 1 4 Indeterminate seeds from the Legume family (Fabaceae) 1 4 1 2 1 4 Plantain (Plantago L. species) 1 Cleavers (Galium aparine L.) 1 1 1 Indeterminate weed seeds 1 1 2 2 4 4 8 2 2 Possible berry type 2 1 1 Table : Identified seeds from Early Neolithic features at Gortore 1b, Co. Cork Cut 99 420 47 Context 98 421 474 Sample 14 140 178 Hazelnut shell fragments (Corylus avellana L.) 1 1 Indeterminate cereal grains (Ceralia) 1 Possible indeterminate tuber fragments 1 Table 4: Identified seeds from early medieval features at Gortore 1b, Co. Cork Cut 9 9 9 94 Context 1 96 12 24 Sample 2 26 49 69 Hazelnut shell fragments (Corylus avellana L.) 1 1 Pale persicaria (Persicaria lapathifolia (L.) Gray) 16 Balck bindweed (Fallopia convolvulus (L.( Á Löve) 7 24 Indeterminate seeds from the Knotgrass family (Polygonaceae) 27 7 15 Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum L.) capsule Indeterminate seeds from the mint family (Lamiaceae) 1 Plantain (Plantago L. species) 1 Barley grains (Hordeum vulgare L.) 1 1 4 Possible barley grains (cf Hordeum vulgare) 2 Emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum L.) two seeded grain 4 Wheat grains (Triticum L. species) 1 Possible wheat grains (cf Triticum species) 2 Barley/Wheat (Hordeum/Triticum) 20 Indeterminate cereal grains (Ceralia) 7 65 19 20 Indetermiante grasses, Avena type 1 Indeterminate grass seeds (Poaceae)
Table 5: Identified seeds from features of unknown date at Gortore 1b, Co. Cork Cut 9 277 622 548 622 548 548 662 91 1011 1154 1119 90 1121 1121 1127 1154 1127 Context 8 264 125 58 59 618 658 668 898 765 1124 1104 922 102 1120 112 1107 1126 Sample 6 84 216 218 220 26 280 28 86 42 428 452 466 479 480 482 48 491 Hazelnut shell fragments (Corylus avellana L.) 2 8 1 9 1 1 1 7 40 24 6 6 9 Nut fragment 1 Hawthorn: haw stones (Crataegus monogyna Jacq.) 1 Indeterminate seeds from the Legume family (Fabaceae) 1 Plantain (Plantago L. species) Cleavers (Galium aparine L.) Barley grains (Hordeum vulgare L.) 2* Possible barley grains (cf Hordeum vulgare) Wheat grains (Triticum L. species) 1 Barley/Wheat (Hordeum/Triticum) 1 Indeterminate cereal grains (Ceralia) 2 1 2 Indeterminate weed seeds 1 2 1 1 Possible indeterminate tuber fragments
Table 5: Identified seeds from features of unknown date at Gortore 1b, Co. Cork (continued) Cut Context 11 0 112 106 7 112 6 118 120 4 120 106 120 9 12 12 2 125 124 8 112 7 1127 12 1 125 6 1261 126 2 1271 127 5 127 127 7 106 126 6 11 5 1 0 1 5 11 6 117 11 Sample 495 508 525 50 52 547 554 560 566 571 577 579 586 590 608 612 618 621 Hazelnut shell fragments (Corylus avellana L.) 1 22 2 1 2 1 5 5 4 4 2 1 7 2 8 Nut fragment Hawthorn: haw stones (Crataegus monogyna Jacq.) Indeterminate seeds from the Legume family (Fabaceae) Plantain (Plantago L. species) 1 Cleavers (Galium aparine L.) 1 Barley grains (Hordeum vulgare L.) 2 2 Possible barley grains (cf Hordeum vulgare) 1 1 Wheat grains (Triticum L. species) 2 Barley/Wheat (Hordeum/Triticum) Indeterminate cereal grains (Ceralia) 7 6 2 1 Indeterminate weed seeds 1 1 Possible indeterminate tuber fragments 1 14 5 14 0 14