The botanical macroremains from the prehistoric settlement Kalnik-Igrišče (NW Croatia) in the context of current knowledge about cultivation and plant consumption in Croatia and neighboring countries during the Bronze Age

Sara Mareković,Renata Šoštarić,Snježana Karavanić,Andreja Kudelić

doi:10.5586/asbp.2015.015

Sara Mareković, Renata Šoštarić + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.5586/asbp.2015.015

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Abstract

This paper presents the results of the first extensive archaeobotanical research into a Bronze Age site in Croatia. The aim of the study was to reveal what plants were consumed (grown) at Kalnik-Igrišče (NW Croatia) in the Bronze Age and to realize if the plant diet of the local population differed from that of the inhabitants in neighboring countries.The results show that all plant macrofossils found at Kalnik-Igrišče can be classified into one of four functional groups: cereals, cultivated legumes, useful trees and weeds. As much as 98% of the findings are of cereals and legumes. The most abundant species found are Panicum miliaceum (millet), Hordeum vulgare (barley), Vicia faba (faba bean), Triticum aestivum ssp. aestivum (bread wheat), Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccon (emmer wheat) and Lens culinaris (lentils). The findings from Kalnik-Igrišče do not differ from the findings of neighboring countries, indicating that there were similar diets and agricultural/plant-collecting activities throughout the whole of the studied area (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Italy, Austria and Hungary).

Highlights

Investigations into human nutrition in the Bronze Age in Croatia are very rare; the only data related to it are from Nova Bukovica [1] and Monkodonja near Rovinj [2]
The results show that all plant macrofossils found at Kalnik-Igrišče can be classified into one of four functional groups: cereals, cultivated legumes, useful trees and weeds
An analysis of 69 116 plant macrofossils from the Late Bronze Age site Kalnik-Igrišče showed that 98% of the findings belong to cultivated species, and the remaining 2% of the remains are useful tree species, the fruits of which were gathered for food by residents, and weeds, which were accidentally brought to the investigated house

Summary

Introduction

Investigations into human nutrition in the Bronze Age in Croatia are very rare; the only data related to it are from Nova Bukovica [1] and Monkodonja near Rovinj [2]. Nova Bukovica-Sjenjak is a site located in the Croatian inland and only two kinds of botanical macrofossils have been recorded; seeds of the faba bean (Vicia faba) and fragments of the acorn (Quercus sp.) [1]. The Monkodonja site is a historical village, surrounded by strong dry stone walls, situated five kilometers from Rovinj [3]. At Monkodonja, archaeologists recorded four plant species: the grapevine (Vitis vinfera), oat (Avena sp.), faba bean (Vicia faba) and grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) [2]. Insight into Late Bronze Age plant remains from Hungary was acquired from Gyulai [4], in which the author summed up all archaeobotanical researches in that

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