Dig out, Dig in! Plant-based diet at the Late Bronze Age copper production site of Prigglitz-Gasteil (Lower Austria) and the relevance of processed foodstuffs for the supply of Alpine Bronze Age miners

Abstract

This paper starts from theoretical and methodical considerations about the role of archaeobotanical finds in culinary archaeology, emphasizing the importance of processed cereal preparations as the “missing link” between crop and consumption. These considerations are exemplified by the discussion of abundant new archaeobotanical data from the Late Bronze Age copper mining site of Prigglitz-Gasteil, situated at the easternmost fringe of the Alps. At this site, copper ore mining in opencast mines took place from the 11th until the 9th century BCE (late Urnfield Culture), as well as copper processing (beneficiation, smelting, refining, casting) on artificial terrain terraces. During archaeological excavations from 2010 to 2014, two areas of the site were investigated and sampled for archaeobotanical finds and micro-debris in a high-resolution approach. This paper aims at 1) analysing the food plant spectrum at the mining settlement of Prigglitz-Gasteil basing on charred plant macroremains, 2) investigating producer/consumer aspects of Prigglitz-Gasteil in comparison to the Bronze Age metallurgical sites of Kiechlberg, Klinglberg, and Mauken, and 3) reconstructing the miners’ and metallurgists’ diets. Our analyses demonstrate that the plant-based diet of the investigated mining communities reflects the general regional and chronological trends rather than particular preferences of the miners or metallurgists. The lack of chaff, combined with a high occurrence of processed food, suggests that the miners at Prigglitz-Gasteil were supplied from outside with ready-to-cook and processed grain, either from adjacent communities or from a larger distance. This consumer character is in accordance with observation from previously analysed metallurgical sites. Interestingly, the components observed in charred cereal products (barley, Hordeum vulgare, and foxtail millet, Setaria italica) contrast with the dominant crop taxa (broomcorn millet, Panicum miliaceum, foxtail millet, and lentil, Lens culinaris). Foraging of fruits and nuts also significantly contributed to the daily diet.