Cereals from the Late Bronze Age Fortified Settlement of Tállya-Óvár

Abstract

This paper aims to present new archaeobotanical data from the Late Bronze Age settlement of Tállya-Óvár in the North Hungarian Mountains. Upon investigating the area around a bronze hoard found earlier, the floor of a building was unearthed, and 16 archaeobotanical samples were taken. The interpretation of the botanical finds was difficult due to a low to medium density of remains and the judgement sampling method. This paper focuses mainly on cereal remains, attempting to interpret them by comparing them with the record of contemporary sites in Hungary and placing them in a broader European context. The samples from Tállya-Óvár were dominated by spelt, barley, and millet. In general, the archaeobotanical assemblage fits the hypotheses concerning Late Bronze Age agriculture. These results are important because no archaeobotanical data have yet been published from high-altitude fortified settlements in the North Hungarian Mountains.