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Dear Koen,
I gave the following paper at the Bad Buchau Symposium:
Archaeobotanical investigations of Danish Kitchen Middens: Exploitation of plant resources in the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic
David Earle Robinson[1], Jan Andreas Harild2, Eva Koch2 & Søren H. Andersen2
The paper included information on charred finds of Viscum from two Danish Kitchen middens dated to the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition – below is an excerpt of the relevant sections. The paper is not yet published, but we intend to submit it in the near future.
Best wishes
David
Dr David Earle Robinson
Senior Palaeoecologist/ Archaeobotanist
Archaeological Sciences
English Heritage
Fort Cumberland
Eastney
Portsmouth
PO4 9LD
UK
tel: +44 (0) 2392 856 776
fax: +44 (0) 2392 856 701
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/David_Earle_Robinson
0. Abstract
The numerous and extensive shell middens along Denmark's coasts and fjords have interested archaeologists and environmental archaeologists for more than 150 years and as early as 1848 this interest was formalised by the setting up of the first interdisciplinary Køkkenmødding-kommission (Kitchen Midden Commission). Excavation has shown that many of these sites were in use more or less continuously over very long periods of time, with deposits representing activities in the Mesolithic, the Neolithic and, in some cases, up into the Iron Age and later periods.
Kitchen middens deposits are formed primarily of the waste products of hunting and gathering activities – fishing, hunting and the collection of shellfish. Accordingly, one of the most fascinating periods spanned by kitchen midden deposits is the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. How, if at all, is the advent of agriculture reflected in these products of a Mesolithic lifestyle? In what form did the Mesolithic lifestyle continue, if at all, in the face of the new economy?
Previous environmental archaeological investigations of this type of site have focussed very much on the zoological remains. This paper deals with recent archaeobotanical investigations of plant material extracted from Early Neolithic layers at two kitchen middens in Jutland, set against the broader context of the exploitation of plant resources in the Mesolithic and Neolithic. Here we see solid evidence of the continuation of the old way of life, with tantalising hints of the new.
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Finds of Viscum
Perhaps the most remarkable and intriguing finds at Visborg and Krabbesholm were the charred remains of Viscum album which were present in several hearth samples. The characteristic seeds were either whole or fragmented. There were also fragments tentatively identified as epidermis of Viscum berries, several showed the characteristic terminal stigmatic scar, and also possible whole and fragmented female inflorescences
Remains of Viscum album may have been present incidentally on branches of arboreal hosts brought to the site, as the plant was a regular component of Danish forests at this time (e.g. Troels-Smith 1960). If this were the case, the Viscum must have been on green wood intended for use as a raw material for tools, structures and the like, rather than dead wood for firewood. The latter would be unlikely to retain intact Viscum plants complete with berries and seeds.
If the Viscum were brought intentionally to this site, this begs the question “for what purpose”?. There are three obvious possibilities – for animal fodder, for medicinal use or for reasons of mythology, superstition, religion or cult.
In the light of this, it is useful to note that are no archaeobotanical finds of Viscum album, i.e. from an archaeological context, from the Scandinavia Mesolithic. Uncarbonised Viscum remains have previously been found in bog deposits from the Atlantic period; a leaf from Taarbæk in northeastern Zealand (Jessen 1920) and a twig from Dyrholmen, Djursland (Andersen et al. 1983). More recently Claus Malmros (unpub.) has found Viscum charcoal at the Ertebølle sites of Vedbæk in Northern Zealand and Grisby on Bornholm and in Middle Neolithic deposits at Sarup on Funen. However, Visborg represents the first find of carbonised seeds and berries, being later supported by the finds from Krabbesholm.
The use of Viscum as animal fodder in historical and recent times in Scandinavia is well documented (e.g. Brøndegaard 1978-1980), and its use as fodder for livestock in antiquity has been discussed by several authors; notably Troels-Smith (1960) and, more recently by, for example, Akeret and Rentzel (2001). However, one of the most fascinating accounts, both of the use of Viscum and of the broader role of plants in the Neolithic in general is given by Göransson (2002). He gives an inspired description and interpretation of the plant remains and other assorted finds from the Alvastra pile dwelling – a waterlogged site from the Middle Neolithic, which Göransson quite clearly interprets as a byre. In contrast to most Neolithic sites included in this review, the preservation of organic material at Alvastra is exceptional and serves to underline the information which potentially has been lost from dry land sites such the Visborg kitchen midden and many Neolithic settlement sites. The Alvastra material also has species in common with the Visborg material, not least carbonised caryopses of Glyceria spp. and pips of Malus sylvestris. Göransson deals in depth with the customs, practices and superstitions associated both with ancient and more recent agriculture and, in particular, animal husbandry. In doing so he gives a very powerful example, if any were needed, of how the advent of agriculture was much more than the introduction of crop plants and domesticated animals. It represented not only a completely new way of life, there was also a fundamental change in thought and practice, not least in the way plants were perceived, valued and used.
It may well be that the abundant remains of Viscum album found in the Visborg hearths are a much more telling indication of the superimposition of Neolithic society on a Mesolithic way of life than the few miserable carbonised cereal grains which hitherto have commanded so much attention.
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