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Trends in cereal cultivation in the Czech Republic from the Neolithic to the Migration period (5500 b.c.–a.d. 580)

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Abstract

This study summarises the current state of research on cultivated cereals from archaeological sites in the Czech Republic. We discuss the first appearances of particular cereals, their first proven cultivation (which usually happens much later) and their part within cereal husbandry. The questions of possible contamination of archaeobotanical material and problems concerning the identification of some cereal taxa are related to this topic. Trends in the importance of the cultivation of individual cereals are shown with generalized linear models (GLMs), based on an assemblage of 81 newly sampled sites. The results of GLM enable the division of the cereals into four groups characterised by: (1) species showing a gradual decrease in importance—Triticum monococcum (einkorn) and T. dicoccum (emmer), (2) species with progressively accumulating representation on sites during prehistory—Hordeum vulgare (common barley) and T. spelta (spelt), (3) those with a marked increase by the end of prehistory—T. aestivum/turgidum (naked wheat), Avena sp. (oats) and Secale cereale, (rye) and (4) a specific group including only Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet). There is a gradual increase in the diversity of cultivated cereals through time, starting with T. monococcum and T. dicoccum, followed by Hordeum, Panicum, T. spelta and T. aestivum/turgidum, Secale and Avena. Comparison of the chronological development of cereal cultivation in the area of the Czech Republic and surrounding countries shows a general correspondence with the trends observed in other parts of eastern-central Europe, although with some local specific differences.

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Acknowledgments

The study was funded by the Grant Agency of the ASCR, project no. M300020902 (Arbodat). For the statistical analysis we are grateful to Marek Bastl, for the graphics to Čeněk Čišecký, and to the reviewers for their comments and suggestions. Finally, we are very thankful to Malgorzata Latałowa for improving the manuscript and for editing the final version of the article.

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  1. Institute of Archaeology ASCR, Letenská 4, 11801 Praha 1, Prague, Czech Republic

    Dagmar Dreslerová & Petr Kočár

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  1. Dagmar Dreslerová
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Correspondence to Dagmar Dreslerová.

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Communicated by M. Latałowa.

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Dreslerová, D., Kočár, P. Trends in cereal cultivation in the Czech Republic from the Neolithic to the Migration period (5500 b.c.–a.d. 580). Veget Hist Archaeobot 22, 257–268 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-012-0377-8

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