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Integrating Archaeological Data Toward a Better Understanding of Food Plants Choices and Territory Exploitation in the Northwestern European Early Neolithic: The Case of Remicourt “En Bia Flo II”

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Social Perspectives on Ancient Lives from Paleoethnobotanical Data

Abstract

Here we present data from five archaeobotanical proxies (seed analysis, wood charcoal, pollen grains, phytoliths, and starch grains) and use-wear analyses on grinding stones to better understand the economy and food choices of the first Northwestern European farmers. We focus on one LBK site in eastern Belgium, Remicourt “En Bia Flo II” and examine the importance of its regional setting. Specifically, we discuss which plants were gathered and harvested, how they were processed, and the sociocultural setting in which these plants were used. We base our discussion by comparing two of the main theoretical models used to explain human–nature relationships and the neolithization process, namely Human Behavioral Ecology and Historical Ecology. We come to the conclusion that Historical Ecology constitutes the best available tool to interpret and explain the complex entanglement of relationships between human groups and nature.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The two other main contemporary European Neolithic expansion traditions are the Cardial in the Adriatic Sea area, Italy, Southern France and eastern Spain; and the Chasséen in Central and Western France, and the British Islands.

  2. 2.

    A Schlitzgrube is a ditch with a profile in “V”, that appears with the LBK and is usually associated with the Neolithic. This kind of structure may have a specific signification in particular when associated with a village gate and therefore potentially specific remains.

  3. 3.

    Field and laboratory processes are detailed in Annex 1.

  4. 4.

    Field and laboratory processes are detailed in Annex 1.

  5. 5.

    See Annex 1.

  6. 6.

    Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop., D. ischaemum (Schreb ex Schweigg.) Muhlenb., Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Beauv., Setaria pumila (Poir.) Roem et Schult., S. verticillata (L.) Beauv., S. (L.) Beauv., S. italica (L.) Beauv., Bothriochloa ischaemum (L.) Keng. There is currently a ninth species present un Belgium, Panicum miliaceum L, but its archaeological presence is only attested since the Roman Period onward.

  7. 7.

    See Annex 1.

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Acknowledgements

This contribution was initially a paper presented at the SAA 2011 Fryxell Symposium co-authored by Alexandre Chevalier, Aurélie Salavert, Caroline Hamon, and Mark Golitko. All of these original authors aided in transforming it into a chapter, with insightful comments, and their contributions are evident throughout. We also would like to thank the anonymous reviewers as well as the editors of this book, Maria Bruno and Matt Sayre, for their very constructive comments that helped to improve dramatically our manuscript. But most and foremost, the first author is forever grateful to Christine Hastorf for welcoming him as a postdoctoral researcher for three years at UC Berkeley and initiating him to social archaeology and historical ecology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium

    Alexandre Chevalier

  2. SPW-DGO4-Service de l’Archéologie en province de Brabant Wallon, Wavre, Belgium

    Dominique Bosquet

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  1. Alexandre Chevalier
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  2. Dominique Bosquet
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Correspondence to Alexandre Chevalier .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota, USA

    Matthew P. Sayre

  2. Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA

    Maria C. Bruno

Annex 1: Methodologies Used for the Extraction and Identification of Macro- and Microfossils

Annex 1: Methodologies Used for the Extraction and Identification of Macro- and Microfossils

Wood Charcoals

Layers containing charcoal were systematically sampled during fieldwork in 10 cm arbitrary layers. Soil sample weight was preferred over volume because of field random bloc sampling. Due to their high clay content, sediments were dried at 50 °C for 24 h prior to their flotation and wet sieving, to allow a better dispersion of soil particles and to avoid any fragmentation. Sediments were then floated and wet sieved using a 250 µm mesh to allow the recovery of all macroremains (Salavert 2010a).

Wood charcoal fragments were split according to their three sections of anatomical observation (transversal, longitudinal tangential, longitudinal radial). The identification of wood charcoal was achieved under a reflection microscope (X50 to X500) with the help of the reference collections available at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and at the French CNRS, UMR 7041 (National Museum of Natural Sciences), as well as with the help of the Schweingruber atlas (1990). Wood charcoals were identified up to the point where the performance curve is flat, in our case 50 fragments after the last new taxon has been identified without new taxon (Salavert 2010a).

Seeds

All the seeds and fruits were identified under magnifying binoculars with the help of the reference collections at the French CNRS, UMR 7041 and at the French Regional Archaeological Centre of Val d’Oise (CRAVO).

Phytoliths

We have applied adapted current published procedures for the phytolith extraction from soils (Madella et al. 1998; Piperno 2006). 5 gr of soils sieved at 500µ were used. Carbonates and organic matted material were removed with HCl (37% concentration) and HNO3 (69% concentration), respectively. Because of the high clay composition of the analyzed soils, a strong oxydizer was used (1:1 HCl + HNO3) to remove metallic compounds and break down electric charges. Organic colloids were removed with a 10% solution of KOH for 5 min. The soils were then dispersed with NaHCO3 and continuously stirred up for 12 h. Light soil particles were removed by several one-hour settlings in a 10 cm demineralized water column. Phytoliths were recovered through heavy flotation with [Na6(H2W12O40)H2O], then washed. A standardized quantity of extract was mounted on a microscope slide with Canada Balsam®, covered, and sealed with nail polish. Observation was carried out with a Zeiss microscope under magnification from 125x to 500x. Morphotypes were described according to the ICPN (Madella et al. 2005). A standardized count of 300 short cell was carried out for every microscope slide. Identification was achieved with the help of the RBINS phytolith reference collection, as well as some references that present and describe taxa that may have a relationship with our study area, in particular the Poaceae, arboreal taxa of the temperate zones, as well as herbaceous and arboreal dicotyledons, such as Archer (2009) Fredlund and Tieszen (1994), Fuller (2007), Kaplan et al. (1992), Miller Rosen (1992), Pearsall (2008), Piperno and Pearsall (1998), Twiss et al. (1969). This methodological approach is not unusual for areas that lack extensive reference collections (Neumann et al. 2009; Stromberg 2004).

Starches

For precise procedures regarding stone tool extractions for both phytoliths and starch grains, we refer to Piperno and Holst (1998), Perry (2004), Babot (2005), Piperno (2006), Chandlel-Ezell and Pearsall (2006), and Barton (2007). All the selected grinding stones were thoroughly washed with demineralized water. Subsequently, demineralized water was put on the grinding stones and a sonic toothbrush was used to extract the microfossils from the stone’s cavities. The resulting liquid was collected in a beaker and centrifuge to extract the supernatant. A standardized extract was directly mounted with an equal amount of glycerin, covered, and sealed with nail polish. Slides have been completely checked for microfossils under transmission clear and polarized light with a Zeiss microscope under magnification from 125x to 500x.

We have followed Babot’s (2005) procedure to describe the starch grains, and used the RBINS reference collection as well as Reichert (1913) for their identification.

All the tools and work surfaces were sterilized and non-powdered glows were worn and changed at all times.

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Chevalier, A., Bosquet, D. (2017). Integrating Archaeological Data Toward a Better Understanding of Food Plants Choices and Territory Exploitation in the Northwestern European Early Neolithic: The Case of Remicourt “En Bia Flo II”. In: Sayre, M., Bruno, M. (eds) Social Perspectives on Ancient Lives from Paleoethnobotanical Data. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52849-6_2

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