First direct evidence of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Central Europe

Kučera, Lukáš; Peška, Jaroslav; Fojtík, Pavel; Barták, Petr; Kučerová, Pavla; Pavelka, Jaroslav; Komárková, Veronika; Beneš, Jaromír; Polcerová, Lenka; Králík, Miroslav; Bednář, Petr

doi:10.1007/s12520-019-00798-4

Cited by 22 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Stable isotope results from animals and humans from sites in Bohemia and Moravia suggest a striking change in diet between the early and late 2nd millennium bc, with Late Bronze Age diets having a significant contribution of millet 112 . The age of the recently reported miliacin in soil from a fissured ceramic vessel found in a Corded Ware culture (3rd millennium bc) grave at Držovice, central Moravia 113 is highly questionable. The soil in the pot contained traces of miliacin, but the soil around the pot was not tested and so the possibility of contamination cannot be excluded, particularly since the grave was damaged by modern digging of a drainage system 113 [4222], 114 [188].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The age of the recently reported miliacin in soil from a fissured ceramic vessel found in a Corded Ware culture (3rd millennium bc) grave at Držovice, central Moravia 113 is highly questionable. The soil in the pot contained traces of miliacin, but the soil around the pot was not tested and so the possibility of contamination cannot be excluded, particularly since the grave was damaged by modern digging of a drainage system 113 [4222], 114 [188]. Without an absolute date for the miliacin itself, it is possible that the association is coincidental and that the miliacin is more recent than the pot.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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New AMS 14C dates track the arrival and spread of broomcorn millet cultivation and agricultural change in prehistoric Europe

Filipović

Meadows

Corso

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

105

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Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is not one of the founder crops domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but was domesticated in northeast China by 6000 bc. in europe, millet was reported in Early Neolithic contexts formed by 6000 bc, but recent radiocarbon dating of a dozen 'early' grains cast doubt on these claims. Archaeobotanical evidence reveals that millet was common in Europe from the 2nd millennium bc, when major societal and economic transformations took place in the Bronze Age. We conducted an extensive programme of AMS-dating of charred broomcorn millet grains from 75 prehistoric sites in Europe. Our Bayesian model reveals that millet cultivation began in europe at the earliest during the sixteenth century bc, and spread rapidly during the fifteenth/ fourteenth centuries bc. Broomcorn millet succeeds in exceptionally wide range of growing conditions and completes its lifecycle in less than three summer months. Offering an additional harvest and thus surplus food/fodder, it likely was a transformative innovation in European prehistoric agriculture previously based mainly on (winter) cropping of wheat and barley. We provide a new, high-resolution chronological framework for this key agricultural development that likely contributed to far-reaching changes in lifestyle in late 2nd millennium bc europe.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

New AMS 14C dates track the arrival and spread of broomcorn millet cultivation and agricultural change in prehistoric Europe

Filipović

Meadows

Corso

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

105

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“…Miliacin (olean-18-en-3β-ol methyl ether) is a component linked with broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), with its presence in prehistoric pottery, including northeast Asia, previously demonstrated in Heron et al (2016) and Kučera et al (2019). In the study materials, miliacin was found in one of the Okhotsk containers examined, which is consistent with previous reports of millet being recorded at a number of Okhotsk Culture sites (cf.…”

Section: Plant Biomarkerssupporting

confidence: 90%

Bringing Home Animals: Final-Stage Jomon and Okhotsk Culture Food Technologies

Junno¹

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In this thesis, organic residues preserved in ancient pottery are used to reconstruct diversity and change in the foodways of Late Holocene hunter-gatherer communities in coastal northern Hokkaido (1750 BCE-1250 CE). The Late Holocene period of this region is very dynamic, and characterised by numerous migrations and cultural replacements. The research into these processes has generally focused on typological variation in pottery, which is a device each of the period's different cultures made widespread use of. This thesis takes a novel approach, and uses pottery residue analysis to investigate long-term patterns of continuity and change in cooking practices, employing the concept of cuisine to interpret the results. In particular, the Okhotsk Cultures (400-1100 CE) form a central focus of the thesis, and their complex animal cosmology, diverse subsistence and multifaceted household activities offer a rich context in which to examine changing foodways. The primary goal is understanding long-term and "macro-scale" patterns of continuity and change, and this also requires improving existing chronological frameworks, which largely rely on pottery typologies rather than radiocarbon dating. Refining and improving existing chronologies therefore forms the second goal of the thesis. The third goal is to examine foodways at a more contextual "micro-scale". This involves studying how pottery use was organised within the domestic space of a single Okhotsk Culture long-house, and how these practices were informed by social relations and the cosmology of human-animal interactions. The present thesis consists of an extended introduction, which sets the research in a wider regional and culture-historical setting, and also presents the main methods, concepts and approaches. The central research question is whether the close association between use of pottery and the processing of aquatic resources, which was established by the Early Holocene, does in fact persist into these Late Holocene cultures. The core of the thesis tackles this question by presenting five journal articles, which focus on the archaeological sites of Hamanaka 2, Kafukai 1 and 2, and Menashidomari. The overall results indicate that this older pattern was starting to break down, and that a range of new and more diverse cooking practices was emerging. The thesis also demonstrates that these important shifts in cuisine can also be tied into much higher-resolution chronological frameworks using new methods and approaches. Finally, the "micro-scale" analysis of container function within a single household suggests that some sort of symbolic distinction was made between different sources of foods.

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“…The use of GC/MS together with MRM transition has been applied in the analysis of soil extracts from Neolithic ceramic vessels where a broomcorn millet marker miliacin has been found. The obtained results have improved our knowledge concerning the use of millet in the past and can be highlighted as the first direct evidence of usage of broomcorn millet in Central Europe [ 21 ]. Another technique for the analysis of original and intact lipid molecules, i.e., di- and tri-acylglycerols, is matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry [ 22 , 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 71%

What about Dinner? Chemical and Microresidue Analysis Reveals the Function of Late Neolithic Ceramic Pans

Beneš

Todoroska²,

Budilová

et al. 2021

Molecules

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The Late Neolithic palafitte site, Ustie na Drim, in the northern part of Lake Ohrid (North Macedonia), excavated in 1962, offered ceramic fragments of large, flat, elongated pans. These artifacts could be dated by relative chronology to roughly around 5200–5000 BC. According to their shape and technological traits, the ceramic pans were probably used for baking. The attached materials on the surface of studied pan fragments were sampled for consequent chemical and microscopical analyses (i.e., analyses of starch, phytoliths, and microscopic animal remains). An immunological method revealed the presence of pork proteins in samples. The presence of organic residues of animal origin was, moreover, confirmed by the detection of cholesterol using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Analysis of detected microscopic botanical objects revealed starch grains of several plants (i.e., oak, cattail, and grasses). An interesting find was the hair of a beetle larva, which could be interpreted contextually as the khapra beetle, a pest of grain and flour. Based on our data, we suppose that the ceramic pans from Ustie na Drim were used for the preparation of meals containing meat from common livestock in combination with cereals and wild plants.

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First direct evidence of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Central Europe

Cited by 22 publications

References 25 publications

New AMS 14C dates track the arrival and spread of broomcorn millet cultivation and agricultural change in prehistoric Europe

New AMS 14C dates track the arrival and spread of broomcorn millet cultivation and agricultural change in prehistoric Europe

Bringing Home Animals: Final-Stage Jomon and Okhotsk Culture Food Technologies

What about Dinner? Chemical and Microresidue Analysis Reveals the Function of Late Neolithic Ceramic Pans

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