Hi again,
Dear Lara, Ruth and Mikael:
You may very well be right. I am looking at them again now. And it may actually be that simple.
What led me away from this line of thought was the repetetive assymetric-conical shape of the speciemens. I would expect them to be more random if broken in a grinder or similar.
But considering that the burnt layers of the house contain at least several hundred thousand grains it may well be that some outcomes with regards to shape became repetetive, if grains were ground in one and the same device.
If correct, the distribution of these broken grains may even be valuable for the interpretation of the house and the therein performed actions.
Anyhow, I shall later this week, with the help of Lucy from Biax, cut open some of these specimens. Hopefuly we´ll be able to conclude one way or another.
All the best!
/Radoslaw Grabowski
Sent from my ASUS MeMO Pad
"Pelling, Ruth" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I think they have the look of broken grain too, although difficult to see from the photographs.
Ruth
-----Original Message-----
From: The archaeobotany mailing list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lara González
Sent: 05 October 2014 15:14
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: SV: Unidentified macrofossils
Hi all,
That was my first guess too but I wasn't sure.. I agree with Mikael it could be.
Lara.
----- Reply message -----
From: "Mikael Larsson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: SV: Unidentified macrofossils
Date: Sun, Oct 5, 2014 15:02
Dear Radoslaw,
Something that may be an option to look for is if the specimens are grain, presumably barley (?), which were broken before charring. That is, spill from grain broken in a mill or in a mortar process before charring.
Best regards,
Mikael
Department of archaeology and ancient history University of Lund Box 117, 22100 Lund
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Skickat: den 29 september 2014 17:34
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Ämne: Unidentified macrofossils
Dear colleagues,
Please see the attached photographs.
I have found these carbonised macrofossils in samples from a AD 1400-1500 house from Funen in Denmark. The construction was completely burnt and excavated and sampled in the form of an extensive charred layer. The remaining evidence shows traces of various stages of crop processing inside the house in the form of chaff, straw and concentrations of arable weeds as well as probable fodder collection in the form of wetland and grassland taxa. Storage and probable consumption of cereals is also indicated by concentrations of cleaned grain (oat, rye and hulled barley but no wheat of any kind). The arable weeds belong both to summer annual species and taxa commonly associated with autumn sowing (probably of rye) such as Agrostemma githago and Centaurea cyanus.
I have a nagging feeling that I have seen similar specimens illustrated somewhere, but my own inquiries have run into dead ends.
Since I have about 50 of these macrofossils distributed over 10 or so samples any suggestions you may have concerning these finds would be highly appreciated.
Kind regards!
Radoslaw Grabowski
PhD, Archaeology/Environmental Archaeology Lecturer, Umeå University
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