PLANT MACROFOSSILS FROM A LATE ROMAN FARM, GREAT HOLTS FARM, BOREHAM, ESSEX
Author(s): P Murphy
Excavations at this site revealed the plan of the fields, 3rd and 4th century farmhouses, bathhouse, granaries/barns, well and ponds of a Roman farm. The farm originated in the late 1st century, but most environmental data obtained relate to its latest, 4th century, phase. Prehistoric features and a post-constructed early medieval building were also excavated. Post-holes and associated deposits of a late Roman aisled barn included abundant charred remains of spelt, barley and pulses, representing granary deposits charred when the building was destroyed by fire. Information on cultivation methods, crop purity and use of space in the building was obtained. Charred Roman plant remains from elsewhere on the site were of crop processing waste. Charred cereals and pulses were also obtained from the medieval building. Samples of waterlogged fills from a late Roman well included macrofossils of a range of food plants: chestnut, hazelnut, walnut, stone-pine nuts and cone bracts, hawthorn, olive, cherry, sloe, bullace, apple and grape. Uncharred cereal remains, principally chaff of spelt wheat, were common. The samples also produced macrofossils of grassland and wetland herbs and mosses, thought to represent residues from hay, cut in more than one type of grassland. This mixture of food waste, crop processing waste and hay is considered to represent debris from activities within the adjacent farmhouse.
- Report Number:
- 7/1997
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 25
- Keywords:
- Grain, Carbonised Plant Remains Seed
