Somogyvári Ágnes – V. Székely György szerk.: A Barbaricum ösvényein… A 2005-ben Kecskeméten tartott tudományos konferencia előadásai - Archaeologia Cumanica 1. (Kecskemét, 2011)

Mária Hajnalová: Bread of Sarmatians on the Danube, or evidence of arable farming at the site of Harta-Gátőrház (Bács-Kiskun County) in the Roman Period

ARCHAEOLOGIA CUMANICA 1 on preliminary ceramic analyses and comparison with Harta-Gátőrház material. At Harta-Weierhivl, 300 meters east of Harta-Gátőrház, Rozália Kustár has excavated another cluster of Sarmatian settlement features.

5 Moreover, between those two sites, approximately 100150 m from each, Ágnes Somogyvári unearthed part of a Sarmatian cemetery.

6 It is not yet clear whether all these sites represent one large contemporary settlement agglomeration, or rather reflect the development and gradual shifting of the same Sarmatian settlement. This question will be addressed when the final ceramic and small finds analyses are completed. Sarmatian settlement features at the other two forementioned sites were also sampled for plant macro-remains. Their analyses is still in progress. Methods The sampling strategy for the sites was to obtain samples from discrete, undisturbed contexts representing all excavated periods. An optimal sample volume was 10 litres. However, the volume of samples varied from 2 litres to 20 litres. A modified Schiraf water separation machine was used for processing the samples to separate plant macro-remains from the sediment. All samples were sorted and analysed under a binocular microscope. All but two of the richest samples, which were sub-sampled, were fully sorted. The identification of cultivated plants is complete. Charcoal and detailed identification of wild plant species (at the time of writing these had been determined to genus level) are now in process. Material Plant macro-remains at Harta-Gátőrház were collected from 53 archaeological features, dating from all periods of the site. 115 samples were processed by water flotation.7 All the archaeological plant remains were carbonized. Uncharred seeds are thought to be contaminants from the modern soil seed bank, and though botanically identified, were ignored. Although all samples were studied archaeobotanically, for the purposes of this paper attention will be given only to those which date to the Roman Age. 5 Kustár 2005 6 Somogyvári 2006 7 A total of 821 liters of soil sediment has been wet sieved. Archaeobotanical remains from the Roman period originate from 48 samples and represent 29 Sarmatian features (hut/house, pits, post-holes, ditches), archaeologically the best-sampled and archaeobotanically the best-represented period at the site.

8 Results and Discussion The analysis of archaeobotanical material from the site has yielded a total number of 8,362 carbonized plant macro-remains - seeds of cultivated and wild plants, chaff and charcoal fragments. The vast majority of those (8,284) date to Roman Age. The average volume of a sample from the Roman Age was 7.3 litres, varying between 3 and 23. Density of seeds per litre of sediment varied between 0 to 245 items, with the average number of identifiable items 24 per litre. That is much higher in comparison with the other periods of the site. Typically material was well-preserved, but preservation varied considerably between samples. Overall, and surprisingly, wild plant seeds and legumes were better preserved than cereal grains. Two-thirds of the wheat/barley kernels were "puffed up"

9 to the extent that identifying them with any greater precision was impossible. Sample Composition In general terms the Sarmatian samples from HartaGátőrház are comprised of cereals and arable weeds and originate from various stages of crop processing. From other cultivated plants only sweet pea and flax were present. Charcoal fragments were rare (Fig. la). No seeds of cultivated or gathered fruits were found. Cultivated plants Grains of cereals constitute the majority of the cultivated plants. As mentioned, a very high proportion of these were impossible to identify or identify with greater certainty due to bad preservation (Fig. lb). Among the identifiable remains, barley (Hordeum vulgare) was the most numerous and abundant, followed by free-threshing bread/macaroni wheat (Triticum aestivum/durum)

. 8 A total of 96 well-dated samples from 64 features as well as six samples from six other contexts with unknown dating were distributed for archaeobotanical analyses. The 19 samples were not provided for plant remains analyses to date. 9 Most probably due to exposition to high temperatures during charring 162