FISHBOURNE ROMAN PALACE, WEST SUSSEX: CARBONISED PLANT MACROFOSSILS FROM GARDEN FEATURES
Author(s): W Carruthers
Small quantities of carbonised plant material were recovered from the garden features. These remains, consisting of cereal grains, chaff fragments and weed seeds, probably originated in a mixture of burnt crop processing waste, garden refuse and domestic waste which may have been dug into the soil in compost. Spelt wheat, cf. bread/club wheat, hulled barley and possibly oats were represented amongst the cereal remains and an opium poppy seed may be evidence of one of the plants grown in the garden for culinary and/or medicinal purposes. Some fragments resembling burnt bread were examined under a Scanning Electron Microscope and found to contain fragments of spelt or bread-type wheat.
- Report Number:
- 130/1991
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 10
- Keywords:
- Grain, Carbonised Plant Remains
