No abstract

In the coastal area of the northwestern part of the Netherlands, dozens of sites dating to the Single Grave culture (or Corded Ware culture; 2850-2450 cal BC) have been located. Some of the sites have been excavated in the last decades of the 20th century. Within the framework of the Odyssey project of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the excavated materials from three sites (Keinsmerbrug, Mienakker and Zeewijk) could be fully analysed. The results of archaeobotanical research, including the combined botanical and chemical analyses of organic residues (crusts) in ceramics, as well as the study of isolated remains of processed plant food and charred remains of parenchymatous tissue are presented. It is extremely challenging to find out what kind of food people prepared in the past and to determine actual prehistoric vessel use, to understand what kind of meals people prepared in ceramic vessels, what pots they used for what kind of foods, and if they used the same types of pots for the same foods all the time. The results obtained for the three sites are compared to the existing, dichotomous model developed for habitation of the Single Grave culture in the area, with small special activity sites and large permanent settlements.

In this study, solid-state 13 C magnetic resonance spectroscopy using cross-polarization combined with high-powered proton decoupling and magic-angle sample spinning and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy using a diamond anvil cell, are employed to give information about the organic functional groups present in charred and non-charred solid organic residues and to give an insight into the degree of condensation of the chars. Residues were preserved in ceramic vessels recovered from the indigenous settlement of Uitgeest-Groot Dorregeest, dating back to the Roman period. In addition, the application of these solid-state techniques is used for verification of earlier results obtained in analytical pyrolysis studies and to clarify the relationship between the already thermally degraded charred residues and the controlled heating fragmentation taking place during analytical pyrolysis and direct temperature-resolved mass spectrometry. ) provide evidence that a variety of technological, environmental and social factors determine the processes of pottery manufacture and use.Studies directed at the 'actual vessel use', on the other hand, can give independent information about the utilitarian role of ceramic containers. The traditional archaeological approach, the study of recovery context, is usually limited in scope (not many vessels are found in their original use-context) and its interpretations somewhat equivocal. The most direct and detailed way to identify original vessel use is through the study of 'use-alterations'-detectable changes (e.g., scratches, wear, soot deposition, crust formation and cracks) as a result of the use of the vessel (