[Sca-cooks] Native foods of Scotland (was Sca-cooks Digest, Vol 20, Issue 45)

[Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise]

Excerpts from 
	The plants and the people from Buiston Crannog, Ayrshire, 
Scotland. Timothy G. Holden.
      Antiquity Dec 1996 v70 n270 p954(6)

on 6th & 7th c. deposits:


"
The small bone assemblage shows clear evidence for the consumption of 
both the prime cuts and poorer parts of domestic cattle, pig and sheep 
as well as the exploitation of red deer, roe deer and geese.

....

Evidence for the economic use of plants (other than building materials) 
comes from separate sources; waterlogged vascular plants, mosses, 
charred plant remains, and wooden and stone artefacts. It is evident 
that cereals formed the main subsistence crops; six-row hulled barley 
(Hordeum sativum) dominates the charred remains, with lesser quantities 
of oat (Avena sp.) and rare occurrences of wheat (Triticum cf. 
aestivum). Quantities of charred flax seed (Linum usitatissimum) were 
also recovered from several contexts; it is not known whether these 
would have represented the use of the plant for oil or fibre production. 
The cereals and the flax are represented by the cleaned grain or seed 
with only minor contamination by weed seeds or persisting chaff 
fragments. The charring of cleaned cereals from domestic contexts in 
northern Europe is commonly linked with crop-processing. It is likely 
that corn-drying, as a prelude to milling in, or over, the domestic 
hearth (Fenton 1982) could account for much of this. However, as flax 
seed is unlikely to warrant this artificial drying, the presence of 
charred masses of flax seed suggests that these crops were more probably 
charred in a conflagration of stored grain or seed. Since there is 
little relevent evidence in the stratigraphic record, the question 
remains unresolved.

...

Both coriander (Coriandrum sativum) and dill (Anethum graveolens) were 
recovered from dumped deposits in a hollow created by the collapsing 
palisade. These herbs have their origin in southern Europe (Pursglove 
1968), but there is ample evidence for their presence in Britain during 
the Roman period. Most early examples derive from urban sites (e.g. 
Jones 1981) but there are occasional examples of coriander and dill from 
rural Romano-British settlements (e.g. Robinson 1979; Jones 1977).

.... 

Whether the herbs were consumed as seed or as green plants is impossible 
to say from Buiston data; they could have been grown as fresh herbs in 
some specially tended part of the crannog.

....

The hazel-shell is a clear example of collected natural resources. 
Quantities of shell fragments were recovered from many samples with a 
particularly large group from around one of the hearths. Hazelnuts are 
likely to have been locally available.

Evidence for other tree species such as Prunus padus L. (bird cherry) 
and Sorbus sp. (rowan/service tree) was also present. These, together 
with other berry-producing members of the Rosaceae also present such as 
raspberry (Rubus idaeus), bramble (Rubus fruticosus agg.) and rose (Rosa 
sp.) are likely to have been used as flavourings and sweeteners, made 
into drinks or condiments, and - particularly the Rubus species - eaten 
fresh. 
"

-- 
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net 
"The tumult and the shouting dies/ The captains and the kings depart
And we are left with large supplies / Of cold blancmange and 
	rhubarb tart." -- Ronald Knox