Deposition, Disturbance, and Dumping: The Application of Archaeobotanical Measures to Taphonomic Questions

Summary

This study assesses the utility of archaeobotanical measures to recognize differential site formation processes, drawing on the Bronze and Iron Age hill fort site of Zagorë, in northern Albania, as a case study. The blanket sampling strategy for collection of flotation samples applied by the Projeki Arkeologjik I Shkodres (PASH) (2010-2014) during the site’s excavation provides a complete record of archaeobotanical changes across the depth of each excavation unit. The use of small mesh sizes for the light and heavy fractions, 0.25 and 1.00 mm respectively, allowed for the recovery of small weed seeds and chaff remains. The recovered archaeobotanical remains, all of which are carbonized, are typically well preserved and include several cereal and pulse crops, such as barley, einkorn wheat, emmer wheat, millet, lentils, bitter vetch, and peas.

Here, we compare archaeobotanical assemblages from two excavation units, one of which shows an undisturbed chronostratigraphic sequence of ceramics, and another in which ceramics from different phases are mixed. The bases for comparison are three separate volume-based density measures of archaeobotanical remains. We use statistical analysis to assess relationships between these measures and their correlation with ceramic data in each unit.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22550