Rośliny spożywane w średniowiecznym Krakowie na podstawie danych archeobotanicznych

Abstrakt

PLANTS CONSUMED IN KRAKOW IN THE MIDDLE AGES ACCORDING TO ARCHAEOBOTANICAL DATA

Archaeobotanical survey reveals much information related in particular to everyday aspects of the past. An occurrence of plant diaspores as well as their varying numbers and proportions in the successive chronological periods may, for instance, point to food tendencies at the times of the formation of archaeological layers. The data obtained to date from the 265 samples that have been processed in a uniform way at the Botanical Institute of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (Polska Akademia Umiejętności, PAU) in Kraków in the 20th and 21st centuries constitute a substantial contribution to what has been known of plants utilized in medieval Kraków. Dating back to the three periods of the Middle Ages, the samples come from 28 locations in today’s Kraków (Table 1). Scientific publications as well as unpublished reports have been used as references for the purposes of this study. One of the observations has been that, compared to other plants, the signifi cance of millet as food crop decreased gradually between the tribal period, when millet was evidently among the crucial nutrients, and the Late Middle Ages, when its occurrence in the analyzed archaeobotanical material was much less frequent. Also, a change in the method of distributing the crop and having it delivered to the city in the form of ready-made millet groats cannot be ruled out. A smaller amount of wheat and rye caryopses found in the samples from the period of the Late Middle Ages probably points to specialization in the works connected to these crops and transfer of their related initial processing and trade outside the city walls. Apparently mostly flour and ready-made baking were handled in the territory of post-charter Kraków. A gradually growing occurrence of barley may reflect the development of brewing in the city in the Late Middle Ages. More traces of oats have also been observed in later periods. Leguminous plants have been very rare in the studied material; lentils, peas and common vetch have occurred occasionally, even though according to historical sources peas were defi nitely consumed in large quantities in the period. In the Late Middle Ages the use of oleaginous plants gained ground as well, with an increased importance of linseed, hemp, poppy seed and black mustard. Seeds of oilseed rape (or turnip) have been observed frequently throughout the chronological periods. Figs and grapevine have been more frequent in the samples dated back to the Late Middle Ages. Among the leaf vegetables in the studied material, the most frequent one has been purple amaranth, observed in the material dating to the Early Middle Ages. However, the plant could have also grown in ruderal habitats, by the walls, in rubbish damps etc. Individual seeds of cabbage, onions, and probably also planted common purslane have been found as well. Diaspores of the root vegetables rarely evidence beyond question that the plants were actually grown; still, dry fruits of carrots, parsnips and turnips (or rapes) have occurred in the material. Additionally, throughout all the chronological periods there have been found numerous seeds of wild strawberries and raspberries or blackberries, while apple and pear pips were somewhat less frequent. Starting from the material dating back to the Early Middle Ages, cherry or sour cherry stones have been found in large numbers, and plum and peach stones have occurred as well, although not as numerous as the first. Hazelnuts were also eaten in the period, and so were walnuts, discovered in the material from the Late Middle Ages and either grown locally or imported from the South. An accumulation of manna grass seeds has been discovered in one of the samples; a popular foodstuff in the past, the manna grass was usually harvested in the wild. Apart from that, diaspores of various seasonings have been observed as well, including dill, fennel, caraway seeds, hops, oregano, and abovementioned black mustard. The study has not covered the wild plants, especially such that grew closest to human environment, in synanthropic communities, since the accumulation of their diaspores need not evidence their function as crop plants.