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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Francesco CarrerORCiD, Dr Oliver Craig
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2017 The Author(s). The domestication and transmission of cereals is one of the most fundamental components of early farming, but direct evidence of their use in early culinary practices and economies has remained frustratingly elusive. Using analysis of a well-preserved Early Bronze Age wooden container from Switzerland, we propose novel criteria for the identification of cereal residues. Using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we identified compounds typically associated with plant products, including a series of phenolic lipids (alkylresorcinols) found only at appreciable concentration in wheat and rye bran. The value of these lipids as cereal grain biomarkers were independently corroborated by the presence of macrobotanical remains embedded in the deposit, and wheat and rye endosperm peptides extracted from residue. These findings demonstrate the utility of a lipid-based biomarker for wheat and rye bran and offer a methodological template for future investigations of wider range of archaeological contexts. Alkylresorcinols provide a new tool for residue analysis which can help explore the spread and exploitation of cereal grains, a fundamental component of the advent and spread of farming.
Author(s): Colonese AC, Hendy J, Lucquin A, Speller CF, Collins MJ, Carrer F, Gubler R, Kuhn M, Fischer R, Craig OE
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Scientific Reports
Year: 2017
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Online publication date: 26/07/2017
Acceptance date: 19/06/2017
Date deposited: 08/08/2017
ISSN (electronic): 2045-2322
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06390-x
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-06390-x
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