An insight into Bronze Age subsistence strategy in forested Carpathian foothills, based on plant macro-remains

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0720-9 ORIGINAL PAPER An insight into Bronze Age subsistence strategy in forested Carpathian foothills, based on plant macro-remains Magda Kapcia 1 & Aldona Mueller-Bieniek 1 Received: 6 August 2017 / Accepted: 20 September 2018 # The Author(s) 2018 Abstract Lipnik site 5, from which a storage pit dated to the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1400–1100) was studied, gave more than 70 plant taxa in the extraordinarily well-preserved charred assemblage. In the paper, a detailed description of selected plants is presented followed by environmental interpretation. Acorns (Quercus) dominated in volume and proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) in the number of specimens. The first large find of that late incomer north of the Carpathian Mountains is presented here. The pit users also used hulled wheat (einkorn, emmer, and spelt); barley; and probably peas. In the pit, a large number of grassland plants were noted accompanied by a very few remains of aquatic (Elatine) and forest herbaceous plants (Astrantia major). Weeds and ruderal plants were also present. The composition of plant remains is very unusual for this type of archeological feature, suggesting a mixed type of food strategy for its users, dominated by plant gathering and animal husbandry. The site is located in a newly settled ecotone zone, on the margin of fertile loess areas and mountain foothills. Keywords Fruits . Seeds . Millet . Acorns . Grassland plants . Lipnik . The Trzciniec culture . SE Poland Introduction In most Polish archeological sites, plant remains were preserved through contact with high temperature (charred, carbonized) while uncharred remains of differing degrees of decomposition are usually interpreted as modern contamination of past assemblages (Lityńska-Zając and Wasylikowa 2005; Pearsall 2009; Mueller-Bieniek 2011). High temperature usually influences seed and fruit morphology, both in shape and surface view. Additionally, taxonomical composition of charred archeobotanical assemblages is strongly influenced by past economic activity of the settlers representing only a small part of plant remains present at any site at the time of its occupation (Jacomet et al. 1989; van der Veen 2007; Colledge and Conolly 2014; Mueller-Bieniek et al. 2015a). The studied material from a Bronze Age storage pit at Lipnik site 5 was collected during excavation because of the large number of charred acorn Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0720-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Aldona Mueller-Bieniek 1 W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz 46, 31-512 Kraków, Poland remains, well visible during field work (Przybyła and Blajer 2008). Two small subsamples of the soil taken from the pit were analyzed showing extraordinarily good preservation of the charred remains and very considerable taxonomical diversity (Bieniek 2008), which is exceptional for a storage pit, which usually contains crop deposits (Lityńska-Zając 2005). A detailed morphological study of charred archeobotanical remains allowed paleoecological and paleoeconomical interpretations of the assemblage. In the studied samples, fruits, seeds, buds, and wood charcoal were found. In the paper, we will focus on plant macro-remains excluding acorns (Kapcia and MuellerBieniek 2017) and wood charcoal. Site description Lipnik, district Przeworsk (N: 49° 59′ 37.16″; E: 22° 18′ 39.44″) is located within a loess plateau called the Kańczuga Plateau (Fig. 1) between the Wisłoka and the San valleys close to its border with the higher elevated, hilly area, which belongs to the Carpathian foothills. It is a part of the Rzeszów Upland (Podgórze Rzeszowskie) also known as the Foreland Loess Plateau (Czopek 2003; Łanczont et al. 2003). Geologically, it is a part of the Sandomierz Basin. The main river of the region is the Eastern Mleczka, a tributary of the Wisłok River. The Archaeol Anthropol Sci Fig. 1 Location of the Lipnik site altitude of the region varies between 180 and 300 m above sea level and has non-uniform surface features. The central part of the region is slightly undulating and crossed by river valleys; to the north, it is sharply defined by the Wisłoka valley; and to the east, it is mildly bordered by the San valley (Łanczont et al. 2001, 2003). To the south it adjoins the Dynów Foothills of the Carpathian Mountains (Kondracki 2000). In the vicinity of the site, several Bronze Age archeological sites were noted (Przybyła and Blajer 2008) as well as early Neolithic ones (Przybyła pers. comm.). Nevertheless, the Lipnik site is located between the loess upland and the previously unsettled Dynów Foothills. Such a location allowed for the exploitation of two different environments. During the last cold stage of the Pleistocene, the Kańczuga Plateau remained approximately 350 km beyond the maximum extent of the Scandinavian ice sheet and at this time, a thick layer of loess was deposited upon older, mostly sandy Quaternary materials. The area is mainly covered by brown earths on sedimentary rocks and podzols created on loess and other types of dusty bedrock (Musierowicz 1958; Dobrzański et al. 1999). The climate of Kańczuga Plateau in the neighborhood of Lipnik (ca. 50° N latitude, and 22° 18′ E longitude) is relatively continental as reflected mainly in annual precipitation, reaching up to 650 mm, most of it occurring during the summer months (400–450 mm) and the mean annual amplitude of temperature being higher than 21 °C. The mean monthly temperature over the course of a year ranges between 7.5 and 8 °C, the mean temperature of January ranges from − 3.5 to − 3 °C (min. − 36 °C), and in July, it ranges from 17.5 to 18 °C (max. + 33 °C). The duration of winter is between 80 and 90 days, with snow cover between 50 and 60 days (based on data for 1961–1995) (Koźmiński and Michalska 2001; Klimek et al. 2006). The area is currently covered mainly by fields, orchards and mixed forests. Without intensive human influence, the area would be overgrown by mixed (Tilio-Carpinetum, Dentario glandulosae-Fagetum) and riparian forests (Ficario-Ulmetum chrysosplenietosum and Alnetum incanae) (Matuszkiewicz 2008). In the past, during the Subboreal period, when the settlement in Lipnik site developed, the surrounding area was most probably covered by mixed forest with spruce (Picea), oak (Quercus), hornbeam (Carpinus), beech (Fagus), fir (Abies), and lime (Tilia) (Zernickaya et al. 2003; Kołaczek 2011). Nevertheless, a local signature of pollen data derived from nearby localities must be underlined. Human influence at this time was visible in pollen diagrams via increasing values of pioneer trees and shrubs (Betula, Alnus, Salix) as well as grassland plants. The activity of Bronze Age settlers can also be detected in the increase in soil erosion and intensification of (...truncated)