Zat er nog wat in? Archeobotanisch onderzoek aan een Westeinder raatakker

Abstract

Despite being a well-known type of site, later pre¬historic field systems (Celtic fields or raatakkers) have received only moderate archaeobotanical attention. This means we are poorly informed on the past agricultural use-histories of these types of sites. To this end, the Celtic field com¬plex of Westeinde - Noormansveld (Drenthe, The Netherlands) was used as a case-study to inves¬tigate the potential of macrobotanical research. Whilst several foodcrops could be identified (e.g. emmerwheat, barley, millet and flax/linseed) their numerical presence with regard to sam¬ple volume were extremely low (1.5-5 charred remains per 100 liter Celtic field sediment). Moreover, contextual association to charcoal and sherds, suggests that this selection of species represents settlement activities (i.e. manuring and refuse disposal) rather than local production. This tallies with the fact that species for which no char¬ring is required during processing (e.g. flax and millet) are also found in a charred state. These results merit more detailed attention to sample types, contexts, volumes and interpretations in the study of later prehistoric field systems