The search for a needle in a haystack – New studies on plant use during the Mesolithic in southwest Central Europe

Abstract

The existence of Mesolithic agriculture is a subject of debate in the archaeobotanist community. So far, reliable and AMS-dated on-site evidence of cereal macro remains are lacking to support the hypothesis. Archaeobotanical analysis of two rock shelters with Mesolithic occupation layers in NE-France and SW-Switzerland, namely Lutter, Abri St. Joseph (FR) and Arconciel, La Souche (CH), revealed the presence of cereal remains within the Mesolithic deposits. They gave rise to a possible answer to the question, however direct dating of the individual cereal grains revealed their intrusive nature in the older deposits. The main aim of this paper is to place the newly acquired data from both sites in the broader framework of archaeobotanical research on Mesolithic sites in Central Europe with a special focus on methodological and taphonomic issues often encountered at such sites.