Archaeobotany at Gabii: an investigation of macro plant remains in 6th century BCE Central IItaly

Abstract

This paper is a consideration of carbonised carpological remains of mixed tertiary deposits from early Iron Age central Italy. The site in question is an elite stone settlement from Area D in the Latin city of Gabii. Twenty floatation sediment samples taken from Room 1, Room 2 and open areas of the complex were weighed, sieved and sorted for macro-remains. Carbon remains were set aside for future analysis and carpological remains were identified using an array of reference atlases, consultation and scholarship articles. Seeds and fragments were counted and considered in terms of formation processes and composition. While the formation process of the indoor deposits was the same, a significant difference in density, diversity and preservation was found in the open areas of the complex suggesting they stem from separate refuse sources and represent different assorted activities. In terms of composition, the deposits were found to be mostly rich in staple crops with little chaff and weeds present. It appears that the initial crop processing stages occurred elsewhere, attesting to an abundant availability of labour. The plant assemblage represents a range of crops typical of archaeobotanical studies from contemporary sites in the area with certain variations occurring due to cultural preferences. The plants of these deposits showed a limited range of crops usually associated with low status foods despite the wealth of the complex thus casting doubt on the concepts of “high” and “low” status crops. With archaeobotanical identification still pending in several areas of the complex, no definitive conclusions have been made on the exact location of initial processing, therefore a synchronisation of data will be needed in the future