Corncockle: a noxious weed in medieval Ireland?

Corncockle (from Wikimedia Commons)

Corncockle (Agrostemma githago) has been in the news recently after the BBC programme, Countryfile, offered viewers free packets of wild flower seeds via the Grow Wild project run by Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. These packets included seeds of corncockle, a colourful wild flower. Corncockle can, however, be poisonous, hence the kerfuffle. Interestingly, quite a number of our most popular garden plants are poisonous, including daffodils, ivy, lupins and foxgloves. In the case of corncockle, you would need to ingest large quantities of the seed to be in danger, so it remains a favourite of gardeners wishing to add colour to a garden border.

But there was a time when corncockle was a troublesome plant because of its poisonous qualities. During the medieval period in Ireland (c. AD 1150 to 1500) in particular, corncockle was an abundant arable weed, growing alongside crops and sometimes inadvertently harvested. Corncockle seeds are quite similar in size to cereal grains, so great effort would have been required to remove corncockle seeds from cereal grains when preparing foods. If corncockle seeds were not removed, the seeds would have affected both the colour and the taste of flour, and if eaten in large enough quantities, could have affected the health of the consumer. Indeed Gerard’s 16th century Herball (history of plants) noted “what hurt it doth among corne, the spoile of bread, as well in colour, taste, and unwholesomnesse, is better knowne than desired” (Woodward 1994, 252). 

Corncockle seeds (from Wikimedia Commons)

Despite the importance of removing corncockle seeds from cereals, our ancestors were not always successful in this regard. Corncockle seeds have been found during scientific analysis of deposits from archaeological excavations in Ireland, most recently at the just published Hiberno-Norse (Viking) and medieval excavations at South Main Street in Cork. My analysis of deposits discovered that tiny fragments of corncockle seeds were present in what appears to be cess (human faeces) at South Main Street (McClatchie 2014). It is likely that corncockle was consumed because the fragmented seeds had not been properly removed from the cereal grains. Similarly, pellets of hardened faeces from Hiberno-Norse Dublin contained fragments of corncockle seeds, suggesting that they were also consumed inadvertently with cereals (Geraghty 1996, 31).


So there was a time when care was needed in dealing with corncockle. But due to the increased use of herbicides and other grain cleaning techniques, corncockle is now largely extinct as an arable weed in Ireland, and hence there is little chance of it being incorporated into foods. The rarity of corncockle, as well as its beauty, now encourages gardeners to continue propagation of this interesting plant.

References
Geraghty, S (1996) Viking Dublin: botanical evidence from Fishamble Street. Royal Irish Academy: Dublin 

McClatchie, M (2014) 9.1.1 Non-wood plant macro-remains, 429-447. In MF Hurley and C Brett (eds), Archaeological excavations at South Main Street 2003-2005. Cork City Council: Cork

Woodward, M (ed.) (1994) Gerard's Herbal. Senate: London

New book: agriculture in early medieval Ireland

Together with my collaborators at University College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast, I am delighted to see that our new book on agriculture in early medieval Ireland has been published. The book details results from a major research project on archaeological evidence for animals and plants in Ireland during the period AD 400—1100. Agriculture is an important aspect of Irish identity today, and it is fascinating to discover that we had a thriving agricultural landscape on the island more than 1000 years ago.

The project 

This project formed part of the Heritage Council-funded Early Medieval Archaeology Project (EMAP), a collaborative research initiative between University College Dublin and Queen's University Belfast, supported by the state Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in the Republic of Ireland. The project brought together experts in early medieval settlement, animal husbandry and crop cultivation, providing a great opportunity to collaborate and compare results from different types of evidence.

The research 

The early medieval period was a time of enormous economic and social change across western Europe. Key amongst these changes were innovations in agriculture, enabling food production on an unprecedented scale. In Ireland, careful scientific work over the past few decades has revealed extensive, high-quality evidence for farming, mainly in the form of preserved animal bones and the grains, chaff and seeds of plants. We also have widespread archaeological evidence for farming, including the remains of farmsteads, field enclosures, kilns and mills. This book brings together this detailed evidence for the first time, revealing new insights into what was being farmed, how farming was undertaken, and what these activities meant for broader society.

New discoveries: legumes

Some of the new discoveries detailed in our book relate to regional differences in early medieval agriculture. I am particularly curious about legumes (such as peas and beans), and I was interested to learn that evidence for legumes was restricted to the east and south of Ireland. Indeed, the east and south displayed more diversity in all types of crops when compared with other regions. Perhaps the soils and climate in the east and south were better suited to arable farming, much as they are today. The management of crops (including soil preparation and application of manures) and cultural preferences would also have played a role in distinguishing who grew legumes and why.

Back to the modern day, and I am looking forward to the harvest of pea plants in my own garden, reflecting on the fact that I am continuing a practice that has a very long history in Ireland.

Reference

McCormick F, Kerr TR, McClatchie M, O'Sullivan A (2014) Early Medieval Agriculture, Livestock and Cereal Production in Ireland, AD 400—1100. Archaeopress, Oxford.

Apples in early historic Ireland: insights from law texts and archaeobotany

This weekend, I will be attending a conference in honour of Professor Fergus Kelly on the occasion of his retirement. Prof. Kelly’s studies of early Irish law texts have had a profound influence on our understanding of Ireland during the early historic period. His work is also a pleasure to read, being written in an engaging style that helps transport the scholar ‘back in time’.

One of Prof. Kelly’s books, “Early Irish Farming” (Kelly 1997), is a key resource for archaeologists interested in finding out about daily life in early medieval Ireland (AD 400-1100). It is a text that I return to again and again. The book provides an account of farming practices as detailed in law texts from the seventh and eighth centuries AD. A wide variety of topics is addressed, including domestic animals, cultivated crops from fields and gardens, wild animals and plants, food products, farm layouts, land tenure, farm labour, and tools and technology. It is indeed a comprehensive review of many different aspects of farming practice.

One section of the book deals with fruit crops, and I was interested to read about Prof. Kelly’s findings on apples (Malus spp.). Apples are a very useful resource, particularly because they are easy to store. Their period of use can be extended even further by cutting the apples into rings and then drying them over a fire. Do we have archaeobotanical evidence for ancient apples?

The answer is yes. Archaeobotanical evidence indicates that Ireland’s earliest settlers (Mesolithic, 8000-4000 BC and Neolithic, 4000-2500 BC) would have had access to Malus sylvestris, wild apple (McClatchie et al. 2012; Warren et al. 2013). Charred pips and core fragments (endocarp) of wild apple have been found at a number of excavations, most recently at the famous portal tomb of Poulnabrone, Co. Clare (McClatchie 2014).

Charred and waterlogged apple pips and endocarp fragments have also been found at early medieval excavations in Ireland, including the Viking towns of Waterford and Dublin (Geraghty 1996; Tierney and Hannon 1997). Do these early medieval remains represent wild apples or cultivated apples? Unfortunately, it can be difficult to distinguish between the two categories simply by looking at the gross morphology (appearance) of the preserved seeds and endocarp fragments.

Prof. Kelly’s studies of the early law texts have revealed, however, that there was a generally recognised distinction between the sour wild apple and sweeter cultivated types (Kelly 1997, 259). Kelly notes that the ninth-century text Bethu Brigte refers to an abundant crop of sweet apples, ubla cumra, in a churchyard, while an eighth-century law text refers to a wild apple, fiaduball (Kelly 1997, 259-260).

Is there any potential for archaeological science to contribute further to our understanding of apples in the past? Analysis of the ancient DNA of apple remains may be useful here, with a view to distinguishing between different categories of apples. Waterlogged archaeobotanical remains of apples are suitable for aDNA analysis, and this is an avenue of research that would be worth pursuing.

References

Geraghty S (1996) Viking Dublin: botanical evidence from Fishamble Street. Royal Irish Academy, Dublin 

Kelly, F (1997) Early Irish farming. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin 

McClatchie M (2014) Non-wood macrofossil analysis. In: A Lynch, Poulnabrone: an early Neolithic portal tomb in Ireland. Archaeological Monograph Series: 9. Dublin, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin, pp 158-161

McClatchie M, Bogaard A, Colledge S, Whitehouse N, Schulting R, Barratt P, McLaughlin R (2012) Neolithic farming in north-western Europe: archaeobotanical evidence from Ireland. Journal of Archaeological Science. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.10.022 

Tierney J, Hannon M (1997) Plant remains. In: Hurley MF, Scully OMB, McCutcheon SWJ (eds), Late Viking Age and medieval Waterford: excavations 1986-1992. Waterford Corporation, Waterford, pp 854-899

Warren G, Davis S, McClatchie M, Sands R (2013) The potential role of humans in structuring the wooded landscapes of Mesolithic Ireland: a review of data and discussion of approaches. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00334-013-0417-z

Environmental archaeology: standardisation of approaches in the Republic of Ireland

Dealing with disparate datasets

During recent years, I have been involved in several major research projects that undertook analysis of archaeobotanical data from large numbers of excavations. These projects include “Cultivating Societies”, “EMAP” and my current postdoctoral project. In each project, I tracked down individual excavation reports that contained relevant archaeobotanical data. I then entered the archaeobotanical data into a project database, which allowed me to analyse the data in more detail and build up the ‘big picture’.

Unfortunately, I have found that there is no standardised approach towards environmental sampling and reporting of archaeobotanical data in Ireland. This has resulted in difficulties for me and other researchers trying to compare disparate datasets.

Standardisation: new environmental guidelines
In order to address this problem, I have been working with the National Roads Authority in Ireland to develop guidelines on the retrieval, analysis and reporting of palaeoenvironmental remains recovered during archaeological excavations on road schemes. The NRA is the largest procurer of archaeological services in the Republic of Ireland, and the new guidelines will be implemented on their projects. The guidelines enable a standardised approach, ensuring that palaeoenvironmental work conforms to the best professional standards, and is focused on achieving high-quality and scientifically meaningful results.

The guidelines focus on certain categories of remains, including plant macro-remains, charcoal, wood, pollen and insects. The guidelines were written by me and a colleague, Dr Ellen O Carroll, who is an expert in charcoal, wood and pollen analysis. Contributions on insects were also provided by Dr Eileen Reilly.

Workshop to explain guidelines
In order to introduce and explain these new guidelines to colleagues, Dr O Carroll and I will be leading a workshop next week entitled “Implementation and operation of NRA palaeoenvironmental sampling guidelines”. The workshop will form part of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme developed by the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland; the CPD programme helps to maintain and broaden the skill base and standards of professional archaeologists in Ireland. Further information on the workshop can be found here. Hope to see you there!

Grinding of cereals using quern stones

Grinding flour on an ancient quern stone

As part of the “Archaeology of Food” module that I am currently teaching at UCD School of Archaeology, the class recently attempted to grind whole cereal grains into flour, using both ancient and modern saddle-shaped quern stones. Although it was quite a lengthy process, we were successful, producing a relatively fine flour from both wheat and oat grains.

 

What are saddle querns, and how are they used?

Saddle quern stones have been used for thousands of years as grinding implements (Connolly 1994; O’Sullivan and Downey 2006). A saddle quern consists of a large lower ‘bed-stone’ and an upper ‘rubber-stone’. The bed-stone should be wide enough to contain the rubber-stone and of sufficient length to allow the rubber-stone to be drawn backwards and forwards on it (Connolly 1994, 26).

The rubbing-stone is hand-manoeuvred on the bed-stone, moving it in a to-and-fro action to crush and grind the grain. Quern stones can be also used in activities beyond flour production, such as the crushing of grain for meal and ale, as well as crushing and reduction of other substances such as bone and metal ore.

Making flour

Under licence from the National Museum of Ireland, we began to grind our cereal grains on an ancient granite saddle quern stone from Spahill, Co. Carlow. The date of this saddle quern is uncertain, but there is considerable Bronze Age activity in the area that it was found, reflecting a period with which saddle querns are often associated. Although it had been many years since the ancient quern was used to grind grain, we found it to be a very effective tool in producing flour.

Making flour on a modern quern stone

We also began grinding cereal grains on a modern granite saddle quern, produced by UCD Archaeology MA student, John Murphy. It was fascinating to learn from John about the process involved in making a quern stone. John’s finished product was both impressive and effective.

Lessons learned

The flour we produced was quite gritty. Students could understand how the inclusion of such grit in a person’s diet would have had affected teeth, in terms of wear and attrition.

We also learned that the repetitive grinding action is hard work. Extensive use of querns puts pressure on hip and knee joints, for example, which may be detected in osteoarchaeological studies (human bone). 

Finally, we gained a better understanding of just how long it takes to make a bread product. Early documentary sources clearly demonstrate that bread was a staple food product in Ireland, at least from the early medieval period (Sexton 1998). In approximately 40 minutes, we made enough flour for perhaps a small bread bun! Our hands-on experiment at UCD School of Archaeology thereby helped us understand what was involved in the ‘daily grind’ of past societies, and the level of time and resources required in food production.

References

Connolly A (1994) Saddle querns in Ireland. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 57:26–36.

O’Sullivan M, Downey L (2006) Quern stones. Archaeology Ireland 20(2):22–25.

Sexton R (1998) Porridges, gruels and breads: the cereal foodstuffs of Early Medieval Ireland. In: MA Monk, J Sheehan (eds), Early Medieval Munster: archaeology, history and society. Cork, Cork University Press, pp 76–86.

Reconstruction of Viking house and garden, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin

Background

Construction of Viking house (image from National Botanic Gardens)

I am a member of the team who is currently reconstructing a Viking house and garden at the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin. Our project involves archaeology and botany experts from the Botanic Gardens, UCD School of Archaeology and Dublin City Council. To mark the millennial anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf – which took place nearby in 1014 – a reconstruction of a Viking house is being built at the Botanic Gardens, modelled on excavated examples from the Hiberno-Norse settlement at Fishamble Street, Dublin. An adjacent garden will showcase the many plants of Viking Dublin, based upon evidence from archaeobotanical studies. 

House 
The house will be built from oak, ash and hazel. Construction of the building is now underway, led by Eoin Donnelly, an experienced craftsperson who is using traditional skills and tools. Eoin’s preparations for the project were recently filmed in his workshop in Co. Wexford.

The building will act as a classroom for the Botanic Gardens’ education programme, introducing people to life in Viking Dublin, how archaeological evidence is gathered and understood, and the sustainability of organic-built structures. 

Garden

Archaeological excavations at Fishamble Street revealed a rich record of plant remains, most of which were preserved by waterlogging. Based upon this evidence, I am providing expertise on appropriate plants for the reconstruction garden. The garden will highlight the variety of flora that could have been observed by a visitor to Viking Dublin, including cereals, legumes, fruits, nuts, other wild plant foods and urban weeds.

Further information on archaeobotanical analyses from Fishamble Street can be found in Dr Siobhan Geraghty’s excellent study, which can be purchased via the National Museum of Ireland. 

Lecture series

Members of the project team will be presenting lectures during April to June 2014 at the Visitor Centre in the Botanic Gardens. The lectures will examine archaeological evidence for the Viking town, houses, living conditions and foods.

I will be presenting a lecture on Wednesday 23^rd April at 3pm entitled “Food in Viking Dublin”, where I will examine evidence from archaeological excavations for the wide variety of wild and cultivated plant foods in Viking Dublin.