Fig 1.
Aerial view of Stillfried an der March, as seen from the west.
River March/Morava is visible in the upper part of the image. The reconstructed former fortification ramparts of the late Bronze Age hillfort are outlined in red. Insets indicate the location of the site at the Austrian-Slovakian border, and Austria’s location within Europe. Aerial Image No. 02030701.096 reprinted under a CC-BY license with permission from the Aerial Archive, Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna. Map sources: Wikimedia Commons, users TUBS and NordNordWest, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Fig 2.
Elevation map of the northern area of the Late Bronze Age hillfort, indicating the location of pit V5400.
Brown rectangles mark excavation trenches while blue lines indicate excavated structures. Toponyms indicated (e. g. Küssleracker, Wagneracker) are referred to in the text. Image: ÖAW-OREA / B. Biederer, I. Hellerschmid, I. Petschko.
Fig 3.
Simplified spectrum of cereal grain finds at Late Bronze Age Stillfried.
The original data of M. Kohler-Schneider [49] were processed following the scheme of Stika & Heiss [52, 53]: included are only grain finds of taxa definitely or at least probably (cf.) identified to species level. Chaff finds as well as grains identified only to genus level are excluded, as are intermediate groups. Naked wheats which are not satisfactorily discernible by their grains are treated as a single species. Percentages are rounded to whole numbers. N = 4,256. Image: ÖAW-ÖAI / A. G. Heiss.
Table 1.
Known occurrences of cereal preparations in Late Bronze Age pits from Stillfried.
Identifications by M. Kohler-Schneider [49]. The localities “Hügelfeld” and “Wagneracker” are indicated in Fig 2 and the radiocarbon dates obtained there are given in Table 2.
Fig 4.
Annotated profile photo (above) and plan (below) through Pit V5400 at Küssleracker, 1978 excavation campaign.
The grey layer at the bottom is the burnt debris which contained the rings. In the foreground, the charred plank (find number ST 12050.1) is visible. Image: excavation documentation Stillfried, State Collections of Lower Austria, Department of Prehistory, Protohistory, and Medieval Archaeology.
Fig 5.
The annular objects from the find assemblage in the debris layer of pit V5400.
Twelve of the 14 rings made of clay (find numbers ST 12044.1–9, 12116.1, 12266.1–2, box 10/60044) are shown, as well as the charred organic rings (find numbers ST 12050.2–4, box 9/60043) which are the focus of this contribution. Scale bar units: centimetres. Image: ÖAW-OREA / B. Biederer.
Fig 6.
Vessel with conical neck (Kegelhalsgefäß) and handle from the burnt debris layer.
This deviant ceramic object, split in half vertically (find number ST 12051.1/box 1/60001), was possibly used for scooping liquid. Scale bar units: decimetres/centimetres. Image: ÖAW-OREA / M. Griebl.
Fig 7.
Edge piece of a grinding stone with preserved top surfaces and side edges, broken in halves.
The marked burning traces of this object (find number ST 12260.5, box 3/60048) may derive from the same fire as the remaining burnt debris. Scale bar units: decimetres/centimetres. Image: ÖAW-OREA / B. Biederer.
Fig 8.
Burnt daub, interpreted as architectural elements.
These elongated daub fragments (find number ST 12049.11, boxes 2/60028 and 2/60033) are comparable to finds out of the burnt rubble-layer in storage pit V5001 of the same hillfort. Scale bar units: decimetres/centimetres. Image: ÖAW-OREA / B. Biederer.
Fig 9.
FTIR spectra of the surface coating of sample A.
a) PVAC. red: sample curve, blue: reference material, b) Shellac. red: sample curve, grey: reference material. Image: BDA / R. Linke.
Table 2.
Radiocarbon dates of the contexts discussed in the text.
Fig 10.
Line drawing of the three charred organic rings.
Image: ÖAW-OREA / B. Biederer, S. Tikatsch.
Fig 11.
Charred organic rings, sample A (find no. ST 12050.4).
a “top”, b “bottom”, c inside, d outside view. Arrows indicate furrows extending to the surface. Scale bar units: centimetres. Image: ÖAW-ÖAI / N. Gail.
Fig 12.
Charred organic rings, sample C (find no. ST 12050.2).
a “top”, b “bottom”, c inside, d outside view. Bright surface features originate from the consolidating agent (wood glue). Arrows indicate furrows extending to the surface. Scale bar units: centimetres. Image: ÖAW-ÖAI / N. Gail.
Fig 13.
Charred organic rings, sample D (find no. ST 12050.3).
a “top”, b “bottom”, c inside, with visible furrow, d outside view. Bright surface features originate from the consolidating agent (wood glue). Arrows indicate furrows extending to the surface. Scale bar units: centimetres. Image: ÖAW-ÖAI / N. Gail.
Table 3.
General traits of the three annular objects.
Fig 14.
The two fractured faces of sample A under the binocular (10x).
Scale bar lengths: 1 mm. Image: ÖAW-ÖAI / A. G. Heiss.
Fig 15.
The two fractured faces of sample C under the binocular (10x).
Scale bar lengths: 1 mm. Image: ÖAW-ÖAI / A. G. Heiss.
Fig 16.
The two fractured faces of sample D under the binocular (10x).
Scale bar lengths: 1 mm. Image: ÖAW-ÖAI / A. G. Heiss.
Fig 17.
SEM overview of one of the fractured faces in sample A.
Arrows indicate cereal bran fragments. Image: die Angewandte / R. Erlach.
Fig 18.
SEM of patches of transverse cells in sample A, a and b with overlaying tubular cells. a, b, c, probably thin-walled transverse cells of the barley type (cf. Hordeum vulgare). d transverse cells of Triticum sp. in cross-section, arrows indicating the conspicuous wall thickenings and “wavy” aspect of the pitted thick walls. Image composed from a stack of 3 images using Helicon Focus 7. Image: die Angewandte / R. Erlach.
Fig 19.
Patches of aleurone tissue (with still intact aleurone granules) in cross-section.
The single layer indicates a cereal other than barley. Image: die Angewandte / R. Erlach.
Fig 20.
Partly gelatinised starch granules in the endosperm of sample A.
a Overview and position in relation to the aleurone layer (close-up of Fig 19B). Arrows indicate structures resembling incompletely gelatinised starch granules, the rectangle indicates the position of image b. b Magnified area as indicated in a. Image: die Angewandte / R. Erlach.
Fig 21.
Glume of hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare).
Image composed from a stack of 3 images using Helicon Focus 7. Image: die Angewandte / R. Erlach.
Fig 22.
Histogram of the recorded maximum dimensions of components (N = 187) in sample A.
X axis: number of occurrences, Y axis: size class in micrometres (100 μm steps). Grouping is according to grain sizes of modern grain products: a) flour and dunst (smaller than 300 μm), b) semolina (300–1000 μm), and c) grist (larger than 1000 μm). Raw data is given in S1 Table.
Fig 23.
Histogram of the pores measured in a) sample A (N = 1,341), b) sample C (N = 328) and c) sample D (N = 875). X axis: number of occurrences, Y axis: size class in micrometres (100 μm steps). Raw data is given in S2 Table.
Fig 24.
Cross section of charred “Grünkern” spelt (immature Triticum spelta ‘Bauländer Spelz’).
After charring of the dry grains at 230° C for 7 hours, starch granules are still easily discernible. Images: Universität Hohenheim, M. Berihuete Azorín. Images: Universität Hohenheim, M. Berihuete Azorín.
Fig 25.
Cross section of charred “Grünkern” spelt (immature Triticum spelta ‘Bauländer Spelz’).
After charring a) at low temperature (230° C) for 7 hours, wide portions of the endosperm have fused into an amorphous glassy matrix while others have formed irregular cavities. Charring b) at high temperature (300° C) for 6 hours has led to extensive formation of cavities with a broad range of sizes, the largest of these “pores” slightly surpassing the category of micropores. Images: Universität Hohenheim, M. Berihuete Azorín.