Kupfer- und bronzezeitliche Pflanzenreste aus Porcuna, Prov. Jaén, in Andalusien

Abstract

Archaeobotanical analysis of Copper and Bronze Age sediments from the excavations of El Berral and Los Alcores in Porcuna resulted in more than 10,000 remains of cultivated and wild plants. Among the cereals, naked barley, naked wheat (bread wheat and/or compact wheat) and hulled wheats (einkorn and emmer) were found. Naked barley is also documented by a Chalcolithic storage find. Flax, opium poppy, field bean and pea were also found in the samples. Disregarding the storage find, Porcuna displays the general tendency of Iberian agriculture: The nearly equal proportions of barley and naked wheat in the Eneolithic shift towards barley in Late Bronze Age, while einkorn decreases in favour of emmer. Wild plant finds predominantly represent ruderal and segetal habitats. The differences visible in the local cultivated and wild plant spectra and those from other sites in the southeastern Spain’s arid areas may be due primarily to the differing ecological conditions in Porcuna.