----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday,
October 29, 2007 3:20 AM
Subject: AW: cess
pit mineralised material
Hallo to all,
there is plenty of literature about such
mineralised stuff from latrines from central Europe, although a lot in german (or French), but
there is also stuff in English. Wendy Carruthers did a lot, the first in the
70ies was F. Green (a Naomi already told you). We find such layers e.g. on the
bottom of pits in Roman legionary camps
(or other Roman settlements) as well as in the middle ages (many of them in
towns). I attach here some citations, I tried to be es anglish as possible.
Concerning animal remains (small animals) see Hüster-Plogamann et al. 2006. In
Jacomet 2003 (unfortunately in German) I tried to compile the current
literature. Hope this helps! Stefanie
Bakels, C. C. und Dijkman, W. (2000) Maastricht in the first millenium
AD. The archaeobotanical evidence. Archaeologia Mosana 2, 78.
Carruthers, W. (1986) The Late Bronze Age Midden at Potterne. Circea
4/1, 16-17.
Carruthers, W. (1991) Mineralised Plant Remains: Some Examples from
Sites in Southern England. In: Palaeoethnobotany and Archaeology. International
Work-Group for Palaeoethnobotany 8th Symposium Nitra-Nové Vozokany 1989. In:
Hajnalova, E. (Hrsg.) Palaeoethnobotany and Archaeology. International Work-Group
for Palaeoethnobotany 8th Symposium Nitra-Nové Vozokany 1989. ACTA 7. Nitra, 75-80.
Carruthers, W. (2000) Mineralised plant remains. In: Lawson, A. J.
(Hrsg.) Potterne 1982-5: Animal husbandry in later prehistoric Wiltshire.
Wessey Archaeology Report 17, 72-84.
Ciaraldi, M. (2000) Drug preparation in evidence? An unusual plant and
bone assemblage from the Pompeian countryside, Italy. Vegetation History and
Archaeobotany 9/2, 91-98.
Dickson, C. (1989) Human coprolites. In: Bell, B. und Dickson, C.
(Hrsg.) Excavations at Warebeth (Stromness Cemetery) Broch, Orkney. Proc Soc
Antiq Scot 119, 115-131.
Green, F. J. (1979a) Botanical Remains. In: J.S.F. Walker (ed.),
Excavations in Medieval Tenements on the Quilter's Valut Site in Southampton.
In: Walker, J. S. F. (Hrsg.) Excavations in Medieval Tenements on the Quilter's
Valut Site in Southampton. Proc. Hants. Field Club Archaeol. Soc. 35, 183.
Green, F. J. (1979b) Collection and Interpretation of Botanical
Information from medieval Urban Excavations in Southern England. In:
Körber-Grohne, U. (Hrsg.) Festschrift Maria Hopf zum 65. Geburtstag am 14. September 1979. Archaeo-Physika 8.
Köln, 39-55.
Green, F. J. (1979c) Phosphatic mineralization of seeds from
archaeological sites. Journal of Archaeological Science 6, 279-284.
Hellwig, M. (1997) Plant remains from two cesspits (15th and 16th
century) and a pond (13th century) from Göttingen, southern Lower Saxony,
Germany. Vegetation History and Archaeoabotany 6/2, 105-116.
Hüster-Plogmann, H., Jacomet, S. und Hagendorn, A. (2006) Unspecified
early Roman pits: an Interdisciplinary Excursion to Identify the Use of Pits in
Vindonissa (Windisch), Switzerland. In: Maltby, M. (Hrsg.) Integrating
Zooarchaeology. Proceedings ot the 9th Conferece of the International Council
of Archaeozoology, Durham, August 2002 Oxford, 92-97.
Hüster-Plogmann, H.,
Jacomet, S., Klee, M., Müller, U. und Vogel Müller, V. (2003) Ein stilles
Örtchen. Zur Latrinengrube in Feld 6, Grabung TOP-Haus AG, Kaiseraugst (2001.01).
Jahresberichte aus Augst und Kaiseraugst 24, 159-191.
Jacomet, S. (2003) Und
zum Dessert Granatapfel - Ergebnisse der archäobotanischen Untersuchungen. In:
Hagendorn, A., Doppler, H. W., Huber, A., Hüster-Plogmann, H., Jacomet, S.,
Meyer-Freuler, C., Pfäffli, B. und Schibler, J. (Hrsg.) Zur Frühzeit von
Vindonissa. Auswertung der Holzbauten der Grabung Windisch-Breite 1996-1998.
Veröffentlichungen der Gesellschaft Pro Vindonissa 18. Brugg, 48-79; 173-229; 482-492.
Kenward, H. und Hall, A.
(2000) Decay of delicate organic remains in shallow urban deposits: are we at a
watershed? Antquity 74, 519-525.
Stika, H.-P. (1997)
Pflanzenreste aus dem archaischen Milet. Vorbericht zur Kampagne 1992. Archäologischer Anzeiger 2, 157-163.
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/
[log in to unmask]
+41 61 201 02 11
private:
Dorfstrasse 50
CH-4452 Itingen
Switzerland
mobile +41 79 322 39 17
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: The archaeobotany mailing
list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Im
Auftrag von Sarpaki Anaya
Gesendet: Sonntag, 28. Oktober
2007 19:48
An: [log in to unmask]
Betreff: Re: cess pit mineralised
material
Naomi hello and anyone
out there,
Yes, there is a
possibility that this material could be from incompletely digested
food....although I do not know how one could define this!! I have no idea of
anyone having done experiments such as archaeozoologists have done!! Yet, what
makes me think it is partly digested is the shape of legumes..some of which
seem to have been "bitten"....also seeds which seem like fig seeds
have concretions around looking like mineralised flesh (?)....
Regarding the
rodents..yes, I seem to have a few bones...maybe some individuals...I wonder
whether "methane" which would exist in these sewares would get the
rodents "high" to a point to loose consciousness!!...and drown...
Thank you for Green's
ref. I also traced another ref. Pelling, R.2000a The charred and mineralised
plant remains.In B.M.Charles, et al., A bronze Age ditch and Iron Age
Settlement at Elms Farm, Humberstore, Licester. Trasactions of Leicestershire
Arch.Hist. Society 74: 207-213. I cannot trace it here in Crete so if the
author or anyone else who has access to a full pdf. has it I would be very
grateful.
It is fun....from burnt
dung to human dung.....!!
Thank you for the
response,
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday,
October 28, 2007 7:07 PM
Subject: Re: cess
pit mineralised material
Hello, Anaya and everyone
else,
Is there any possiblity
that the material is from incompletely digested food?
Basis for this
suggestion:
My favorite deposit ever
had lots of mineralized seeds from a straight-sided pit that had a diameter of
about 1 meter, was several meters deep (like a well), the soil had a greenish hue.
There were hundreds of mineralized grape seeds, many identifiable wheat and
barley bits (also mineralized, looking partly 'digested'), perfectly preserved
rodent bones representing entire skeletons (including delicate skulls floating
to the top of the flot. tank), and a high concentration of smooth pebbles that
easily fit in a hand.
The explanation was
latrine (form; chemistry [see Green 1979]; grape seeds–in one end out the
other; wheat and barley–perhaps eaten as groats; drowned rodents (like
the LaBrea tarpit–once they fell in, no other animal was able to fish
them out). As for the stones, though he refused to be credited for the idea, my
diss. advisor suggested use as ancient 'toilet paper'.
ref.: Economy and
Environment at Malyan, a Third Millennium B.C. Urban Center in Southern Iran
(1982). Ph.D. diss., U of Michigan, Ann Arbor, pp. 363-364 and data tables.
I alluded to this
deposit in Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture
1:45-47 (1984), "The Interpretation of Some Carbonized Cereal Remains as
Remnants of Dung Cake Fuel." It was interesting that the proportion of
wheat to barley in the latrine deposit was exactly opposite of the charred
remains (reasonable interpretation: remains of human food vs. burned dung)
1979 Phosphatic
Mineralization of Seeds from Archaeological Sites. Journal of Archaeological Science 6:279-284.
On Oct 26, 2007, at 12:24
PM, Sarpaki Anaya wrote:
I am
looking at few samples from a Minoan sewage at the site of Malia in Crete and I
am quite baffled by what I see......what seems to me to be mineralised seeds,
such as grape etc. However, legume seeds seem to also have been mineralised and
also fragments of "pods". As my experience is with charred material I
find quite difficult to "decipher" these forms. I would therefore
appreciate to have any references which might help me with these. If anybody is
working on cess pits/sewage mineralised material or has published on these, I
would very much appreciate to have their contact address and/or references.
Thank
you for all the help,
-------------------------------------
Naomi F. Miller
University of
Pennsylvania Museum
MASCA-Museum Applied
Science Center for Archaeology
3260 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
19104
--------------------------------------
tel: (215) 898 4075;
FAX: (215) 898-0657
www: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~nmiller0/
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