The burning issue of dung in archaeobotanical samples: a case-study integrating macro-botanical remains, dung spherulites, and phytoliths to assess sample origin and fuel use at Tell Zeidan, Syria

Abstract

Since Naomi Miller's first discussion of dung fuel within macro-botanical samples from Malyan, Iran, considerations of dung fuel across Southwest Asia have become commonplace, yet archaeobotanists remain divided on: (1) the extent to which dung fuel contributed to archaeobotanical assemblages relative to remnants of repeated crop processing and household activities; and (2) the plant-based, middle-range theories that should be used to infer the presence of dung within macro-botanical assemblages. Here we present a case-study integrating a simple, well-established geo-archaeological approach to assess the presence and relative abundance of dung spherulites within paired sediment and flotation samples from Ubaid period Tell Zeidan, Syria (5300-5100 bc). Spherulite data generated from "sediment smears" are integrated with macro-botanical and phytolith data to assess elevated concentrations of dung within samples. Our analyses demonstrate that plant-based depositional processes across a site are complex, reflecting the rich nature of plant use in antiquity. By using a multi-proxy approach, it is possible to differentiate between predominantly fuel-based deposits and those resulting from predominantly crop-processing processes with greater resolution. This study documents the use of wood fuels in hearths and dung fuel within pyrotechnic features and an oven during the Ubaid period, thereby contributing to discussions of fuel selection and the Secondary Products Revolution. When spherulites are preserved within sediment in abundance, they are also present in floated material, so it is possible to use this approach to consider the presence of dung within archived macro-botanical samples and resolve decade-old debates.

Dung in the dumps: what we can learn from multi-proxy studies of archaeological dung pellets

“…Finally, different combinations of micromorphological, palynological, phytolith, macroremain and other proxies are being used to study the botanical components of dungassociated sediments (e.g. di Lernia 2001;Shahack-Gross et al 2003, 2014Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein 2008;Delhon et al 2008;Savinetsky et al 2012;Kühn et al 2013;Baeten et al 2018;Smith et al 2019;Portillo et al 2019). A few studies have examined botanical contents of individual dung pellets (Karg 1998;Rotunno et al 2019;Dalton and Ryan 2020).…”

“…Multi-proxy methodologies are now being used to study the botanical components of dung-associated sediments (e.g. Baeten et al 2018;Smith et al 2019;Rotunno et al 2019). The present authors recently led a study combining botanical proxies (seeds, pollen, phytoliths) with geoarchaeological methods to compare the botanical contents of dung pellets and associated sediments (Dunseth et al 2019).…”

Anatolian Empires: Local Experiences from Hittites to Phrygians at Çadır Höyük

“…In recent years, archaeobotanical studies of ancient fuel management and use have yielded deep socio-cultural and economic insights (Smith et al 2015). During the second and first millennia BCE, wood and dung fuel were the most obvious choices within central Anatolia.…”

Applied archaeobotany of southwest Asia: a tribute to Naomi F. Miller

“…Three articles in this issue directly address Naomi's dung fuel model (Spengler 2019;Allen 2019;Smith et al 2019). Spengler (2019) draws on ethnographic observations, historical ethnographies, and experimental work to characterize the carbonized seed assemblages produced by dung burning in central Asia.…”

“…Pairing this study with a thorough review of the literature on other archaeological markers of dung use (following that of Miller and Gleason 1994b, among others), Spengler concludes that, although a wide variety of seeds pass through the guts of ruminant animals and are carbonized when dung is burned, these effects are disproportionate by seed taxon and favour the preservation, in particular, of Chenopodium in archaeobotanical assemblages of central and western Asia. Smith et al (2019) consider carbonized seeds and wood alongside phytoliths and dung spherulites recovered from paired sediment samples at Tell Zeidan, Syria. These multiple lines of evidence allow the authors to infer patterned use of various fuel types in specific depositional contexts across the site.…”