A ps:
In eastern Central Europe (like eastern Austria) Panicum is present in
larger amounts already towards the later phases of the Neolithic! My
email before concerned mainly Switzerland. SJ
Prof. Dr. Stefanie Jacomet
IPNA / IPAS
Institute of Prehistory and Archaeological Science
Dept. of Environmental Sciences
Basel University
Spalenring 145
CH-4055 Basel
http://pages.unibas.ch/arch/
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+41 61 201 02 11
private:
Dorfstrasse 50
CH-4452 Itingen
Switzerland
mobile +41 79 322 39 17
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Von: The archaeobotany mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] Im Auftrag von Mandy Jay
Gesendet: Montag, 16. Juni 2008 10:50
An: [log in to unmask]
Betreff: Panicum miliaceum in prehistoric UK
I'm working on carbon isotope shifts in late prehistoric skeletal
material
(late Neolithic through to Iron Age) from both Britain & the Continent.
Millet, as a C4 plant, is a suspect for some of what I'm seeing on
the western European mainland & I've seen literature which supports the
presence of Panicum miliaceum in increasing amounts over the period I'm
looking at. But I've never seen any reference to its presence in the
UK.
I'm increasingly wondering why it isn't there - surely if it's around in
small quantities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland & Denmark (for
instance)
as early as the Neolithic and increasing in quantities through to the
Iron
Age, it would have got to Britain somehow, at least by the Iron Age,
even
if only on a bird & a breeze? I'm not necessarily so concerned about
the
idea of it as a domesticated crop, only as a presence, perhaps just as
a 'weed' that could get included in the diet of domesticated herbivores.
Does anyone have any information/literature references/comments?
Mandy Jay
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