One of our on-going projects this year has been the recovery and analysis of paleobotanical samples: charred seeds, wood charcoal, and other plant remains recovered via flotation. When we reach a floor deposit, or a hearth with ashy remains, or a storage pit, we take a sample of the soil and separate out the earth from the organic remains by floating the samples in water. The earth dissolves, rocks, pottery and small artifacts sink, and what is left floating are charred seeds.
After the samples are dried, our specialists – Melissa Rosenzwieg and Lucas Proctor – examine the ancient plant remains present in the soil under a microscope and identify them by comparing them to a reference collection taken from known species. This is a time-consuming and tedious task, and Melissa and Lucas have been working hard all season to classify the plants used for food, animal fodder, fuel, and even the weeds that tell us about the diet, economy and environment of Ziyaret Tepe’s ancient inhabitants.
Melissa, a PhD student from Chicago, has been here previously and is primarily concerned with our Assyrian levels. Lucas is one of our new faces. He is a new PhD student at the University of Connecticut and was working in northern Iraq before coming to Turkey. Here they are consulting over a sample in our field laboratory.
Lucas’ task at Ziyaret Tepe was to analyze the paleobotanical remains from the Roman period buildings excavated in earlier seasons. He just finished the identification of the last sample this morning and now will undertake a statistical analysis of the counts before writing his final report. Overall, the Roman samples generated an array of botanic species that have not been found in the Assyrian samples, suggesting that the flora surrounding Ziyaret Tepe was in some ways quite different 1,000 years after the Assyrians left Tushan. Lucas also told me that we have evidence for the Romans growing grapes and utilizing poppies.
There was also a single grain of rye from his samples, the first we’ve seen of rye at Ziyaret Tepe. What to make of a single piece of rye? Well, we have to wait for the analysis before drawing any conclusions, but our picture of Roman life here has already improved.
