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This research aimed to compare different sources of botanical material obtained from the infill of Migration Period graves (Vinařice group, 5th century and the turn of 5th and 6th century AD) in Prague Zličín during 2005–2008. From a total number of 173 excavated graves with 176 burials, 74 were sampled for archaeobotanical analyses, and these are the subject of this contribution. All of the researched graves were robbed shortly after the time of burial. The archaeobotanical approach was applied through three methods: macroremains analysis; anthracology – xylotomy; and pollen analysis. The samples had low densities of plant macroremains, and contained many residuals and contaminants which had penetrated the graves’ infill. Only a fragment of the pollen samples was positive. Knowledge about the penetration of intact features by earlier and later plant remains was of major importance in the development of the methodology used for this research in the graves. IANSA 2016 ● VII/1 ● 87–110 Tereza Šálková, Alena Dohnalová, Jan Novák, Tomáš Hiltscher, Jaroslav Jiřík, Jiří Vávra: Unrecognized Taphonomy as a Problem of Identification and the Scale of Contamination of Archaeobotanical Assemblages – the Example of Prague – Zličín Migration Period Burial Ground 88 • reconstruct the burial rite, with a focus on the role of plants; • reconstruct the vegetation of the area during the “life” of the burial ground. 2. Background information about the site Rescue excavations in Prague Zličín (2005–2008) uncovered a multi-period site with a number of settlement features from farming preand protohistory, and 176 burials in 173 graves – dated to the 5th century AD and the turn of the 5th and 6th century – belonging to the Migration Period Vinařice group (Vávra et al. 2012, 3, Figure 2). The burial ground represents the largest inhumation cemetery from the early phase of the Migration Period excavated in Bohemia up to now (Svoboda 1965, especially list of grave yards at pp. 237–295), and it is also one of the largest cemeteries in central Europe (Figure 1). The assemblage of the grave goods from the Prague Zličín graves reflects a material culture from the greater part of the 5th century, a dating which is also supported by radiocarbon dates on human skeletal material. The wide spectrum of the finds demonstrates extensive contacts with various parts of the Barbaricum, as well as the (former) Roman provinces (i.e. “barbarian kingdoms” on Roman territory). Within the relative chronology, the dating of the site can be attributed to the phases D2–D3/E1 sensu J. Tejral (Vávra et al. 2012, 1–3). Accordingly, it was hoped that the site would offer a unique set of information about burial processes and the life of the inhabitants of the Bohemian Basin during the Migration Period. Settlement features from other than the Migration Period, located among the graves (Vávra et al. 2012, Figure 2), can be attributed to the Bronze Age and/or to a wide category of “farming prehistory”. The artefacts recovered from all depths of the features of the Migration Period graves date the occupation of the site more closely. They point to the use of the area during the Neolithic, Late Neolithic, Late Bronze Age and La Tène Period (Vávra, Kuchařík 2015, 123). Occupation of the area from the Late Iron Age to the Early Figure 1. Prague Zličín; plan of the excavation. Blue – graves with floated samples, green – graves with pollen analysis, yellow – graves with both floated samples and pollen analysis. 0 100 m IANSA 2016 ● VII/1 ● 87–110 Tereza Šálková, Alena Dohnalová, Jan Novák, Tomáš Hiltscher, Jaroslav Jiřík, Jiří Vávra: Unrecognized Taphonomy as a Problem of Identification and the Scale of Contamination of Archaeobotanical Assemblages – the Example of Prague – Zličín Migration Period Burial Ground 89 Roman Period could be attested by a fragment of animal bone from grave no. 142 dated by AMS (see results). It is very important to stress that almost all of the graves in Prague Zličín had been reopened and robbed in ancient times, as is often the case (Vávra, Kuchařík 2015, 130–147). There is factual uncertainty about the filling mechanism used for the looting shafts. This probably differed in each case. Assumptions as to the filling of the shafts can only be made in connection with the physical evidence at the site. This is due to the fact that the depths of the graves are variable (see above), and if left open (which seems more probable-given the humous character of the infill, which is clearly different in comparison to the backfill of the grave itself-than the possibility that the looters found the time to refill the open grave) then the time necessary for the shaft to be filled would differ according to the individual extent of the secondary intervention, and also perhaps the slope of the terrain. Without radiocarbon dating of specially-selected plant macroremains, which would indicate contamination by earlier residua as well as later intrusions, interpretation of the assemblage of plant remains is virtually impossible. Regardless of these circumstances, the material from Prague Zličín represents an important body of data on the plant use and vegetation in different time periods, as well as information about coffin manufacture, possible looting equipment directly connected to the robbing of these graves, and the dating of these events (see Vávra et al. 2012, 3, 10–13, Table 1). The graves, varying in depth (0.12–2.6 m), disposition and presence of grave goods, provided variable chemical conditions for the preservation of their organic material. The analyses of the archaeological finds from the graves revealed a wide range of organic, usually perishable, finds in several dozens of cases. Apart from the bones of the deceased, they included bone or antler artefacts (e.g. grave no. 54, 113), hair/ fur/scalp (grave no. 11), leather (e.g. graves no. 132, 152), textile or its imprint (e.g. grave no. 143 and 172), fragments of wooden handles of knives, and an arrow shaft. All of these finds were preserved due to the increased humidity of the sediment (wet, but not waterlogged), or by metal corrosion products (e.g. oxides and sulphides of copper), if connected to the metal finds. The first group, preserved due to the higher soil moisture, included non-carbonized wood (interpreted as remains of the coffins, grave goods such as wooden dishes or furniture, and tools-like hoes, shovels and torches-used for looting). A similar scale of artefacts was reported, for example, from the unique grave-chamber of Poprad-Matejovce, dated to the late 4th/early 5th century AD (Lau, Pieta 2014), where the exceptionally good preservation of the grave chamber was possible due to the waterlogged conditions. In the second group, carbonized diaspores and wood which was connected with the use of fire in the area of the burial ground, or in its hinterland, at the time of human activities at the site, were found. A direct connection between the burial rite and the remains of carbonized plants was impossible without a radiocarbon dating of all finds. 3. Material and methods 3.1 Material The evaluated assemblage is comprised of various types of plant remains obtained from two main types of contexts: funerary and settlement deposits of different age. Macroremains are represented by seeds of cultivated and wild plants, cereal chaff, leaves of conifers, etc., and fragments of wood, preserved in charred, waterlogged, and mineralised form. Pollen grains represent the microremains. 3.1.1 Graves Plant macroremains were recovered from sediment samples collected at different parts of the infill of the various graves: all together 614 samples from 53 graves. Samples were taken to obtain both botanical macroremains and small artefacts. Due to the low density of plant remains per sample, and for better evaluation and interpretation of results, they were divided into 5 groups. These groups are: infill of the coffins and/or the bottom parts of graves (R); upper infill of the graves (J); plunderers’ shafts (S); and “transitional” or uncertain contexts of unknown or mixed depth within upper grave infill or plunderers’ shafts (JS); and, coffins or plunderers’ shafts (RS; Table 2; Figure 2). In three graves (nos. 9, 11, 12), larger remains of wooden coffins were documented in situ. From cleaned surfaces of the profiles of the 34 graves, 95 samples were placed in small boxes and analysed for pollen (Table 1). Figure 2. Prague Zličín; model grave with base contexts. (R and blue – coffins, J and green – graves infill, S and orange – looting shafts, RS and JS – borders between coffin/ looting shaft or between coffin/grave infill). IANSA 2016 ● VII/1 ● 87–110 Tereza Šálková, Alena Dohnalová, Jan Novák, Tomáš Hiltscher, Jaroslav Jiřík, Jiří Vávra: Unrecognized Taphonomy as a Problem of Identification and the Scale of Contamination of Archaeobotanical Assemblages – the Example of Prague – Zličín Migration Period Burial Ground 90 Table 1. Prague Zličín; list of graves with samples analysed by method of macroremains analysis, charcoal/wood analysis and pollen analysis. (In parentheses is the number of pollen samples with more than 100 determinations). Grave number Samples volume (flotation) Macroremains samples count Charcoal/wood samples count Pollen sample count Positive pollen samples count Negative pollen samples count

interdisciplinaria archaeologica

Unrecognized Taphonomy as a Problem of Identification and the Scale of Contamination of Archaeobotanical Assemblages – the Example of Prague – Zličín Migration Period Burial Ground