Andreas G. Heiss

Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) | ÖAW · Austrian Archaeological Institute – OeAI

The detection of direct archaeological remains of alcoholic beverages and their production is still a challenge to archaeological science, as most of the markers known up to now are either not durable or diagnostic enough to be used as secure proof. The current study addresses this question by experimental work reproducing the malting processes and...

Cereals, in addition to being a major ingredient in daily meals, also play a role in the preparation of foodstuffs for ritual purposes. This paper deals with finds that may correspond to such ritual preparations retrieved from the hillfort site of Stillfried an der March. The site, spreading across an area of ca. 23 ha, held a very important positi...

The site of Parkhaus Opéra is located on the north-eastern shore of Lake Zürich (Switzerland) and was documented during a rescue excavation in 2010 and 2011 by the Office for Urbanism, City of Zürich. Two charred bread-like objects were found in late Neolithic Layer 13 of the pile-dwelling, and are investigated using a novel set of analyses for cer...

Late Neolithic charred bread-like object from the Canton of Bern (Switzerland). Cereal product from the lakeshore settlement Twann, Lake Biel, dated to the Late Neolithic (Cortaillod culture, early to mid-4th millennium BCE). Excavated in 1974–1976 under the direction of Werner E. Stöckli and Alex R. Furger. First documented by Max Währen in 1994....

A wealth of well-contextualised archaeobotanical data from Aigeira and Lousoi can serve as a basis for in-depth studies on the history of agriculture, food and resources. The most spectacular finds from Aigeira are charred provisions from the Late Mycenaean acropolis, which provide fascinating insights into the economy and storage strategies of the...

Animal dung analyses are a useful tool for vegetational studies. Preserved ruminant dung from archaeological layers offer a unique possibility for the reconstruction of past fodder management strategies, and further for studying the impact of fodder acquisition and pasturing on forests. In this case study we investigate the impact of Late Neolithic...

Charred bread-like object from str. 487, rue Saint-Symphorien, Reims (Marne), France. Cereal product from the basement of a burnt-down Roman period (3rd c. CE) domus, close to the forum of Durocortorum. Part of an ensemble of roughly a dozen bread-like objects found on a wooden plate. Excavated in 2006 under the direction of Stéphane Sindonino. Ana...

Charred bread-like object from str. 487, rue Saint-Symphorien, Reims (Marne), France. Cereal product from the basement of a burnt-down Roman period (3rd c. CE) domus, close to the forum of Durocortorum. Part of an ensemble of roughly a dozen bread-like objects found on a wooden plate. Excavated in 2006 under the direction of Stéphane Sindonino. Ana...

Charred bread-like object from Us 4113/4129, zone 4, Longeas, Chassenon (Charente), France. Cereal product from the site of Longeas, a late antique (5th/6th c. CE) dwelling in the ruins of the Roman baths of Cassinomagus. Excavated 1995–2013 under the direction of David Hourcade. Analyses carried out within the framework of the PEPS blanc CNRS INEE...

Charred bread-like object from str. 1312, la Justice, Varennes-sur-Seine (Seine-et-Marne), France. Cereal product from a La Tène D2 (c. 80–30 BCE) pit at the site of la Justice, in the alluvial plain of the Seine. Excavated in 2007 under the direction of Jean-Marc Séguier. Analyses carried out within the framework of the PEPS blanc CNRS INEE 2016 P...

The Late Bronze Age site of Prigglitz-Gasteil provides a wealth of proxies for the reconstruction of wood use, past vegetation, and forest management at a copper production site. In this paper we have combined charcoal analyses from domestic contexts, an investigation of mining timbers found in the backfill of the opencast copper ore mine, and a pr...

An international research project (FWF I-1693) recently finished investigating archaeological sites in the hinterland of the lake pile dwelling sites of Mondsee and Attersee in Oberösterreich (Upper Austria), with the goal of reconstructing the spatial networks of Copper Age (agri-)cultural landscapes and human-environmental interactions in the reg...

Over the past several decades, both the philosophy of cultural, social and historical anthropology have focused on the many avenues of study relating to food, or rather modes of consumption, by focusing on the construction of individual and collective identities. As a counterpoint to these theoretical considerations, archaeological experience bring...

Inventory no. 3544. Late Neolithic charred bread-like object from Upper Austria. Cereal product from the lakeshore settlement Station "see", Lake Mondsee, dated to the Late Neolithic (mid-3rd millennium BCE). Excavated in 1872 under the direction of Matthäus Much, first documented and analysed by Elise Hofmann in 1924. Property of the University of...

It is an honour and pleasure to invite you to the 19th Conference of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany (IWGP) which will be held in České Budějovice (Budweis in German), the capital of South Bohemia region and centre of academic life. IWGP in České Budějovice will offer the results of archaeobotanical research on a global scale at...

Nigella damascena (Ranunculaceae) is a common Mediterranean species traditionally used as condiment and healing herb. Its perianth dimorphism has been known since 1591. In all modern accessions examined to date, a single allele of the NdAP3–3 gene characterized by a MITE insertion has been found to be responsible for the mutant morph, lacking a cor...

Despite their favourable nutritional, agricultural and ecological traits, Lathyrus species are among the under-recognized legume crops meriting further exploitation as nutrient-rich seeds. Holistic chemical characterization of nutrients/anti-nutrients in this genus is an important prerequisite to select high quality seeds for breeding programs. Her...

Seeds of domesticated Vicia (vetch) species (family Fabaceae-Faboideae) are produced and consumed worldwide for their nutritional value. Seed accessions belonging to 16 different species of Viciaboth domesticated and wild taxawere subjected to a chemotaxonomic study using ultraperformance liquid chromatography−mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) analyzed...

This paper starts from theoretical and methodical considerations about the role of archaeobotanical finds in culinary archaeology, emphasizing the importance of processed cereal preparations as the “missing link” between crop and consumption. These considerations are exemplified by the discussion of abundant new archaeobotanical data from the Late...

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Miller) is a popular aromatic plant native to the Mediterranean basin and cultivated worldwide that is valued for the nutritional and health benefits of its fruits. Headspace solid-phase microextraction of 12 fennel accessions of cultivated (F. vulgare subsp. vulgare) and wild forms (F. vulgare subsp. piperitum) of differ...

Ancient beer is hard to find, and new methods for identifying its remains are constantly being sought for. During their search for new ways of how to unlock the secrets of charred prehistoric food crusts, an international team of archaeologists uncovered a new identification trait for foodstuffs made of malted grain. They also discovered the possib...

Lacustrine sediments are important archives for high resolution palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of the Holocene. Despite the density of ancient cities and settlements along the western coast of Turkey, the archives from coastal lakes in this area have until now not been recognized to their fullest potential and are, therefore, only poorly studi...

OPEN-ACCESS, SEE https://rdcu.be/b6e3t FOR FULL LIST OF AUTHORS Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is not one of the founder crops domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but was domesticated in northeast China by 6000 BC. In Europe, millet was reported in Early Neolithic contexts formed by 6000 BC, but recent radiocarbon dating...

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70495-z

Three Roman Wells in the Lassnitz Valley (Styria). Contributions to the History of Settlement and Agriculture in South-Eastern Noricum. In the present contribution, three Roman wells in the Lassnitz Valley in western Styria are compared. While the wells from the Roman ›hamlet‹ at Schönberg and the site in Wohlsdorf have a similar simple constructio...

Bioarchaeological research in Austria has largely been characterised by the lack of institutionalisation for nearly a century. In contrast to the long tradition of biological anthropology research facilities, archaeobotanical and archaeozoological positions only became established in a period from the 1970s till the early 1990s. Forming a cornersto...

The Roman period villa from Kleinklein (Leibnitz, Styria, Austria) On a high terrace above the west bank of the river Saggau in the village of Kleinklein near Großklein, a Roman period building was confirmed in 1995 by geophysical measurement. In 2017 and 2018, in a cooperation between the Universalmuseum Joanneum and the University of Graz, two e...

Early medieval finds from Kleinklein (Leibnitz, Styria, Austria) Early medieval finds in Styria are very rare, so it was quite surprising that on a terrace above the river Saggau, on the same site as the Roman villa mentioned previously, remains from that period were discovered during campaigns carried out in 2017 and 2018. In the case of Kleinkle...

Burgstallkogel near Großklein (Leibnitz, Styria, Austria) For almost two centuries, the Burgstallkogel near Großklein (Municipality of Großklein, District of Leibnitz, Styria) has been in the focus of archaeological research due to its famous Hallstatt period hilltop settlement and tumulus necropolises. Meanwhile, the site with some 700 well-prese...

The settlement on Königsberg near Heimschuh (Leibnitz, Styria, Austria) In 2016, the Department of Archaeology & Coin Cabinet at the Universalmuseum Joanneum launched a new research project titled “The Königsberg at Heimschuh – a prehistoric fortress above the Sulm”. The settlement on the Nestelberg (“Königsberg”) at Heimschuh has for some time be...

The Kogelfuchs hilltop settlement near Schönberg (Leibnitz, Styria, Austria) The late Copper Age hilltop settlement known as Kogelfuchs is located north of the village Matzelsdorf on the spur of a hilly range between Kainachtal and Laßnitztal facing to southwest. Gerald Fuchs and Helmut Ecker-Eckhofen carried out a first rescue excavation at the s...

Research in the area of the so-called Ringburg of the castle Eppenstein near Judenburg (Murtal, Styria, Austria) On a rugged towering rock at the southern edge of Aichfeld, some 200 m above the entrance to Granitzenbach valley, the ruins of Eppenstein Castle rise. The castle’s various ruins cover a total length of about 250 m. Perched directly on...

Research under the Church of St. Jacob the Elder on Frauenburg near Unzmarkt (Murtal, Styria, Austria) The ruins of Frauenburg Castle and the Church of St. Jacob the Elder tower impressively over the Murtal near the Styrian village of Unzmarkt. The edifice is attributed to Ulrich I of Liechtenstein (about 1200–1275). Ever since 2012, FIALE has car...

The Rittersaal cave near Peggau (Graz-vicinity, Styria, Austria) The Rittersaal (Austrian cave cadastre number: 2836/40) is a small cave in the southern third of the socalled Peggauer Wand, a vertical cliff of the Tanneben karst plateau. The cave is 20 m long, 5 to 7 m wide and 2 to 5 m high. It is a part of a larger cave system, called Große Pegg...

A burnt-offering site near Koppentretalm (Liezen, Styria, Austria) Koppentretalm archaeological site is located in Koppental near the Upper Austrian-Styrian border. From 2004 to 2007 and in 2017, archaeological prospections and excavations led here to the exploration of a wooden building from the Roman Age and a burnt-offering site dating to the t...

The paper discusses possible evidence for cereal food from seven Bulgarian archaeological sites spanning the Early Neolithic to the Early Iron Age (6th millennium BC – 1st millennium BC). It aims to increase the awareness of excavators towards such finds and to present the methods for collecting and extracting such remains from archaeological layer...

The landscape on the middle course of Lafnitz valley during Latène and Roman Age. Pollen and plant macrofossil analysis on the profile 2004/1 of the archeological excavation at Wörterberg, Güssing district, Burgenland. In 2004 the chance occured to take a profile from an archaeological excavation place containing remains from the Latène and Roman P...

The Iceman site is unique in the bryology of the Quaternary. Only 21 bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) grow now in the immediate vicinity of the 5,300 year old Iceman discovery site at 3,210m above sea level in the Ötztal Alps, Italy. By contrast 75 or more species including at least ten liverworts were recovered as subfossils frozen in, on and ar...

Find no. 45/43-28 from burnt layer AH2. Late Neolithic charred bread-like object from Baden-Württemberg (Germany). Cereal product from the lakeshore settlement Hornstaad Hörnle IA, Lake Constance, dated to the Late Neolithic (early 3rd millennium BCE). Excavated in 1987 under the direction of Bode Dieckmann, and first documented by Ursula Maier in...

Find no. Si10 538/127-1054 from burnt layer 2.9.2. Late Neolithic charred bread-like object from Baden-Württemberg (Germany). Cereal product from the lakeshore settlement Sipplingen Osthafen, Lake Constance, dated to the Late Neolithic (early 3rd millennium BCE). Excavated in 2010 under the direction of Helmut Schlichtherle. Property of the Landesa...

To decorate the living space, objects and clothes with colour seems to be a basic human need. While mineral pigments of cave paintings have lasted up to 30,000 years the earliest textile dyes of vegetable and animal origin are about 3,000 years old. It is likely that in the Bronze Age the experimental phase of textile dyeing started simultaneously...

In 2004, excavations in Dwelling Unit 5 (WE5) of Terrace House 2 (HH2) in Ephesus unearthed a large flat pit beneath room 12a, partially dug into the bedrock. The pit had been filled in the mid-1st c. CE and was later sealed by a mosaic floor. Its filling lacks stratification and, together with the narrow temporal range of the ceramics found therei...

Within the scope of ERC Project PLANTCULT we organized an international workshop “Ancient beer: multidisciplinary approaches for its identification in the archaeological record” at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. At the IWGP, we want to present a summary and the results of the discussions during this workshop. Traditionally, malt finds in...

Dung and plant based food remains are not uncommon in archaeological samples, yet they are difficult to recognize and often end up in the very general group of amorphous charred objects. Interpretation of such remains is quite problematic as no standardized methodology and classification exists yet. The current presentation provides evidence for am...

An international research project (“Beyond Lake Villages”, FWF I 1693, PI Timothy Taylor) is currently investigating settlements in the hinterland of the well-known pile dwellings of lakes Mondsee and Attersee in Upper Austria, with the goal of reconstructing the spatial networks of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age (agri-) cultural landscapes in...

During the past seven millennia, huge environmental changes have occurred in the environs of the (later) city of Ephesos (W Turkey) due to the delta progradation of the Küçük Menderes and its tributaries within an extended former marine embayment. In addition, an ever increasing human influence on the landscape (settlements, agriculture, herding) h...

Due to their high degree of specialisation, mining communities rely on external resources: Food, tools, timber and fuel wood need to be provided from outside in presumably highly organised supply chains. The excavation of an opencast copper mine at Prigglitz-Gasteil “Cu I” revealed two Late Bronze Age (11th–9th c. BCE) settlement/workplace terraces...

Different ways have been used by human societies to transform cereals into food: gruels, porridges, soups, breads, alcoholic beverages are examples of the rich variability observed in ancient and modern culinary practice. Our presentation explores the possible ways in which cereals could have been consumed in antiquity, integrating ancient written...

Cultivation of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) was a widespread practice in later European prehistory. When and how this ‘crop from the East’ was introduced to the continent and spread across it has not been determined. So far, based on the relative chronology of millet finds and a small set of radiocarbon-dated caryopses, it has been sugge...

Remains of ancient dishes can contribute significantly to the knowledge of past dietary habits, adding cuisine as the “missing link” between crop and consumption. Charred and fragmented archaeological remains of processed cereal preparations, while long having been neglected as a find category, bear large potential for analysis just as entire archa...

Well-preserved finds of sacrificial cakes from the Sanctuary of Demeter at Monte Papalucio (Oria, southern Italy, VI-III cent. B.C.) are among the most famous bread-like remains from the ancient Mediterranean region. These unusual finds represent direct and rare evidence of the food products offered as part of religious practice by the indigenous (...

This paper addresses for the first time a large body of archaeobotanical data from prehistoric Southeastern Europe, mostly published for the first time, that correspond to cereal food preparations. The evidence presented here comes from 20 sites situated in Greece and Bulgaria, spanning the Early Neolithic through to the Iron Age (7th millennium B....

Since the first excavations of lakeshore dwellings around the Alps, finds of more or less intact (supposed or actual) charred “bread loaves” have been extensively documented, as have charred lumps containing cereal remains. Within the scope of European Research Council funded project “PLANTCULT” (ERC-CoG-2015, Grant Agreement No. 682529, PI Soultan...

Fabaceae is well-known for its seed nutritious and bioactive composition as exemplified by Lupinus and Lens. Developing efficient analytical approaches for profiling their bioactive matrix is a prerequisite to provide proof for their health benefits or nutritive traits. Eight Lupinus and Lens seed accessions were subjected to liquid chromatography-...

The backfill of the antique harbour of Ephesus is not only attributed to a natural siltation by sediments of the nearby river Kaystros, but also to the anthropogenic deposition of waste materials, which the city's inhabitants dumped into the harbour basin for half a millennium. Sediments of municipal waste water still contain relics of pathogens, i...

Animals and plants are fundamental for nutrition and the development of human culture and societies in the past. The archaeobiological remains reflect direct heritage of the past and serve knowledge and understanding for the daily life of earlier societies. They are essential for the reconstruction and the understanding of previous living environme...

Plant foods have sustained human populations for millennia across the globe. Project PLANTCULT: Investigating the Food Cultures of Ancient Europe, funded by the European Research Council aims to investigate plant ingredients, plant foods and their culinary transformation and change through time. Through an interdisciplinary investigation of plant f...