Trac 2014 by Brindle Tom;Allen Martyn;Durham Emma;Smith Alex;

Author:Brindle, Tom;Allen, Martyn;Durham, Emma;Smith, Alex;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Ancient / Greece
ISBN: 2089599
Publisher: Oxbow Books, Limited
Published: 2015-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

Range of plants foods

Depicted in artistic and literary evidence

Robinson 2002

Parts not usually burnt during food preparation

Robinson 2002

Similar to funerary contexts

Palmer and Van der Veen 2002

Processed food (bread/pastry)

Vandorpe and Jacomet 2011

Spatial distribution

Discrete, purposeful burial

Robinson 2002

Rovira et al. 2008

Co-occurring artefacts

Miniature ceramic vessels, Oil lamps, Coins

Robinson 2002;

Rovira et al. 2008

Vandorpe and Jacomet 2011

Recent studies of ritualised deposition have been focussed on animal bones and artefacts, with minimal incorporation of plant remains into their analysis (Smith 2001; Morris 2010; Allen and Sykes 2011). Archaeobotanical criteria are available for identifying purposefully deposited plant remains (Table 1), yet the lack of integration of these studies into broader synthetic studies results in the assignment of plant remains as ritual deposits based on few criteria. Furthermore, the limited incorporation of plant remains into studies of ritualised deposition may have resulted from a lack of theoretical engagement within archaeobotany. In contrast, ‘social zooarchaeology’ has emerged as a research field, investigating a wide range of human-animal relationships (Russell 2012; Overton and Hamilakis 2013; Sykes 2014). The concept of materiality has also recently been extended to plants, through examples of the entanglement of humans and plants through food consumption, plant husbandry and domestication (Van der Veen 2014). The material attributes of plants are also evident in ritualised activities. Livarda has argued that dates (Phoenix dactylifera) should be considered as ‘perishable material culture’, rather than merely foods used in ritual contexts (Livarda 2013: 112). Plant items (fruits, leaves, roots) often have strong smells, textures and colours, which would make an important contribution to the sensory experience and mnemonic effect of rituals (Hamilakis 2011). This applies to both individual plant items, such as dates, or composite materials containing various plant items, such as middens or stable manure (Waddington 2012: 45). The sensory attributes of plant items is particularly evident for the case study subject, stone pine cones, due to their use as incense in mithraic rituals (Bird 2004). The recognition of plant remains as objects which interact with people in ways beyond food consumption highlights the need for plant remains to be considered in detail within studies of ritualised deposition.

Stone Pines in the Roman World

The widespread recognition of stone pine cones in ritual activity (Kislev 1988) makes them a suitable case study for assessing the relevance of depositional criteria. Pinus pinea L. – the stone or umbrella pine, is an evergreen tree (Fig. 1). Stone pine is considered to have survived the glacial period in the western Mediterranean, before spreading east across the Mediterranean from around 1000 B.C. (Vendramin et al. 2008). The tree grows well in coastal areas, and on the low slopes of hills and mountains (Lim 2012). They are currently distributed from Atlantic Portugal to Lebanon and Turkey (Mutke et al. 2012). Pine cones are gathered from wild forests from October to the end of March. They are then left to ripen in the sun, before being beaten to extract the nuts (Harrison 1951; Mutke et al. 2012), which have been used as food source since the Palaeolithic (Humphrey et al.

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