Pre - and protohistoric bread in Sweden : a definition and a review

Hansson, Ann-Marie

doi:10.4000/civilisations.1432

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…A popular substance added to flour, abundantly available in forest-covered parts of Sweden, was tree bark, specifically the cambium layer or phloem of pine, Pinus sylvestris L. Traces of bark have been found in prehistoric bread from archaeological sites [4,16,29,49]. Bark bread does not leaven as pure grain bread because of the bark content; the more bark to flour rate, the slower the leavening, so bark bread was often baked as a simple flat bread.…”

Section: Bark Breadmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peasant Food Provision Strategies and Scientific Proposals for Famine Foods in Eighteenth-Century Sweden

Svanberg,

Ståhlberg

2024

Gastronomy

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The peasant diet during the Little Ice Age in Sweden was mainly grain-based (bread, gruel, and porridge), and the country was heavily dependent on grain imports to meet the population’s needs for food. During the eighteenth century in particular, when famines were frequent following failed harvests, Swedish peasants utilized a range of locally available resources to survive. Bark bread made of cambium (phloem) from Pinus sylvestris was, for example, commonly used as famine food. Scientists of the Enlightenment period and the state authorities tried to alleviate hunger and poverty through the introduction of new food resources and cooking techniques, including wild or agricultural plants such as lichens or potato, and the use of protein sources different from the traditional ones, such as horse meat. However, many of these proposals encountered strong resistance from the peasantry, and only at the end of the 1800s famines ceased to cause suffering in Sweden. Scientific studies have so far focused mainly on mortality, malnutrition, demography, and official responses to famines; yet the question of what the starving peasants gathered, prepared, and consumed is important for the understanding of the historical situation. Also, the difference between the scientific proposals and peasants’ decisions and choices must be clearly distinguished. This historical study using an ethnobiological approach discusses peasant subsistence strategies in Sweden in the eighteenth century using contemporary sources, which provide an opportunity to study how the population obtained foodstuffs, adapted their diet to available ingredients, and the interaction and conflicting views of peasants and scientists about new, science-based nutrition proposals.

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Section: Bark Breadmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peasant Food Provision Strategies and Scientific Proposals for Famine Foods in Eighteenth-Century Sweden

Svanberg,

Ståhlberg

2024

Gastronomy

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“…Common explanations for the presence of the plant remains in graves are that the plants functioned for example as gifts or offerings to the deceased person for use during afterlife, to share food and drink during banqueting to unite the sacred and profane worlds, as ornamentation, and/or as symbols of life, death, fertility, regeneration and/or identity and cultural association (Olivier 1999;Karg 2001 When looking at burials in Europe other than the Roman cremation graves, finds of intentionally deposited plant remains are fairly rare. There are some overview studies of primarily seeds and fruits from for example Late Iron-Age and Hellenistic Bulgaria (Hristova 2015) and late Medieval to 20th century Finland (Tranberg 2015), while some wellpreserved finds are known from Greece (Mégaloudi et al 2007) and Sweden, including Early Medieval and Viking-Age Sweden (Hansson 2002;Hansson and Bergström 2002). The sections below present an overview of finds of nonwoody botanical grave goods from European sites, because the scope of this paper focuses on Viking-Age finds from northern Europe and on finds other than wood (even though wood in or as part of Viking-Age graves is not uncommon, e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The potential of phytolith analysis to reveal grave goods: the case study of the Viking-age equestrian burial of Fregerslev II

Out

Hasler

Portillo

et al. 2022

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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Non-woody plant remains are known from burial contexts in North-western Europe, but get overlooked when preservation is suboptimal. While phytolith analysis has demonstrated its value regarding the detection of vegetative grave goods, systematic application of this method to graves in European archaeology is, however, scarce. This paper concerns the examination of the elite Viking-Age equestrian burial at Fregerslev II, where phytolith analysis, combined with pollen analysis, revealed the presence of two types of plant material in the grave. The phytolith analysis of Fregerslev II included the investigation of chaff located close to a horse bridle, the chaff being both detected in the field and during investigation of a block sample by means of stereomicroscopy, and systematic examination of other parts of the grave to interpret this find. Elongate dendritic chaff phytoliths were subjected to systematic morphological and morphometric analysis and subsequent statistical analysis. The application of both methods simultaneously to large numbers of phytoliths is unique. Comparison of the various samples showed that the chaff represents a concentration of oat, which is most likely common oat, with minor admixture of barley, interpreted as horse fodder, while bedding consisting of hay or straw was presented elsewhere on the bottom of the grave. The finds are placed in a wider context and methodological implications of the two identification methods applied to the chaff concentration are discussed. KeywordsVegetative grave goods • Viking-age equestrian burial • Phytolith morphology and morphometry • Horse fodder • Grave bedding • North-western Europe * Welmoed A.

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“…Traces of bark of Pinus sylvestris L. have been found in prehistoric breads from archaeological sites [58]. The innermost layer of P. sylvestris bark was commonly used to make bread among the peasantry in the northern Sweden still in the 18th century, but in the 19th century it was used mostly as flour substitute at times of famine.…”

Section: Bark Buds and Other Edible Plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of wild plants as food in pre-industrial Sweden

Svanberg

2012

Acta Soc Bot Pol

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This paper is a review of the actual gathering and use of wild edible plants in the 18th and 19th centuries, with a brief concluding discussion on the present day use of wild plants as food within Sweden. The peasants and the nomads in pre-industrial Sweden utilised very few wild plant taxa as food. Many even despised the wild fruits and green plants. Some plants and fruits were earlier mostly eaten fresh on the spot, or gathered for consumption in bread, gruel or soup. Other fruits were dried or preserved in other ways. In times of food shortages the amount of wild plants increased in the diet, but still the peasantry and nomads were often able to use fish and game to provide enough nutrients.With access to cheap sugar in the early 20th century wild fruits (Vaccinium myrtillus L., V. vitis-idaea L., and Rubus chamaemorus L.) increased in importance, especially among urban-dwellers and within food industry. In the last few decades fungi have also become part of the urban diet. Fifty years ago working class people gathered only Cantharellus cibarius (Fr.) and occasionally Boletus edulis Bull. Nowadays more taxa are utilised within the Swedish households, and especially the easy to pick Cantharellus tubaeformis (Pers.) has become very popular recently. Harvesting fruits and mushrooms in the forests is a popular pastime for many urban people, but also a source of income for immigrants and especially foreign seasonal labour. The only traditional green wild food plant that is regularly eaten in contemporary Sweden is Urtica dioica L.

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Pre - and protohistoric bread in Sweden : a definition and a review

Abstract: Many thanks to Kai Fechner for inviting me to participate both in the 1995 « Bread, Hearths and Ovens » workshop and in the subsequent publication. Warm thanks to Uaininn O'Meadhra for kindly checking my English and also to Kjell Persson for creating the map-illustration.

Cited by 7 publications

References 1 publication

Peasant Food Provision Strategies and Scientific Proposals for Famine Foods in Eighteenth-Century Sweden

Peasant Food Provision Strategies and Scientific Proposals for Famine Foods in Eighteenth-Century Sweden

The potential of phytolith analysis to reveal grave goods: the case study of the Viking-age equestrian burial of Fregerslev II

The use of wild plants as food in pre-industrial Sweden

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