Agricultue in Southern Primorye in the I millennium BC according to archaeobotanical data from the settlement of Cherepakha-13

Abstract

The paper presents the results of an archaeobotanical study of charred seeds obtained with the water flotation technique on the site of Cherepakha-13. The multilevel site is located on the western seacoast of Ussuri Bay in Southern Primorye. The area of the site was totally excavated (7616 м2) in 2015. Remains of 52 pit-dwellings, one land based dwelling, 114 pits with different functions and 26 burials were unearthed at the site. The site deposits content materials of five chronological periods: the Zaisanovskaya archaeological culture of the Late Neolithic, the Lidovskaya culture of the Bronze Age, the Yankovskaya and the Krounovskaya cultures of the Early Iron Age, the Middle Age (XII c.). The vast majority of the constructions' remains and archaeological materials belong to the Yankovskaya culture. According to the analysis of the ceramic collection of the site and its location in pit-dwellings, we distinguished two chronological periods of the site occupation by the Yankovskaya culture population. More than 150 litres of soils were studied by the water flotation in pit-dwellings of the 1st (№ 10, 17, 18) and the 2nd (№ 1, 48) periods of occupation by the Yankovskaya culture and from a pit-dwelling (№ 19) of the Krounovskaya culture. 420 seeds of plants were obtained from 20 samples. Cultural plants seeds were found in all pit-dwellings. Seeds of foxtail and broomcorn millets dominated among them. We obtained the most numerous millet seeds from the samples of the pit-dwelling № 48, which is 87 % of all seeds in the dwelling. One seed of nuked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum) and one seed of soybean (Glycine max) were found in the same deposit. But there were not many remains of cultural millets in the deposits of the 1st occupation period by the Yankovskaya culture. Thus, our data demonstrates an increasing role of the millet agriculture in the 2nd period. Seeds of barnyard millet were discovered in the Krounovskaya culture pit-dwelling. It is the first finding of millet of such species in the Prehistoric time of Primorye. The archaeobotanical data from Cherepakha-13 site testify a significant role of the agriculture in the subsistence system of the Yankovskaya culture population that chose to live on the seacoast. Our data do not confirm the importance of barley for the Krounovskaya culture population.

Keywords

• agriculture
• water flotation
• seeds
• foxtail
• broomcorn
• barnyard millets
• naked barley
• soybean
• the Early Iron Age
• I mil. BC
• the South of the Russian Far East