Seeds
Otto Frödin’s excavations
Not all of the seeds have been registered in the database.
Eight tables and three appendices in Hans Browall’s 2011 publication (tabell 184-191; appendix 2,3 and 14) deal with the various seeds found during the early excavations. The cereals found consist primarily of wheat and barley. The species of wheat is not specified (Tricticum) whereas the species of barley is said to be Hordeum vulgare L. ssp. polystichum or six-row hulled barley (Browall 2011:347).
Fig. 1. Seeds from Frödin’s excavations registered in the database (file will be downloaded shortly).
Mats P. Malmer’s excavations
Fig. 2. Seeds from Malmer’s excavations (file will be downloaded shortly).
None of the 96 records registered here as seeds come from the numbered macrofossil series of samples. 72 of them have been registered as cereals and one as Vicia (Vetch) but no more information as to genus or species has been available. The genus or species of the other 23 seed samples has not been identified.
Hans Göransson studied macrofossils from soil samples taken during these excavations. He identified a large number of seeds and fruits in these samples, grouping them according to habitat or function. He identified the species of wheat found during these excavations as emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) and the barley as four-row naked barley, Hordeum vulgare var. nudum (Göransson 1995:19 ff). Göransson’s study of the macrofossils leads him to the conclusion that barley and wheat were cultivated in wandering arable fields among stump-sprout forests. Leaf fodder seems to have been stored in the pile dwelling and used to feed goats, sheep and cows which were kept at the pile dwelling throughout the winter, producing manure which was spread on the fields in the spring. These fields in the immediate vicinity of the pile dwelling may have been not wandering but permanent (Göransson 1995: 91 ff). This interpretation is not generally accepted (e.g. Browall 2011: 401 f).
The following reference cited on this page has no web link:
Browall, H., 2011. Alvastra pålbyggnad, 1909-1930 års utgrävningar. Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien. Handlingar. Antikvariska serien 48. Stockholm.