Veget Hist Archaeobot (2016) 25:323–337

DOI 10.1007/s00334-015-0553-8

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Plant uses and storage in the 5th century BC Etruscan quarter

of the city of Lattara, France
Natàlia Alonso1 • Núria Rovira2

Received: 9 June 2015 / Accepted: 28 December 2015 / Published online: 23 January 2016
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Abstract An area between land and water was chosen in dating from periods either older, contemporary with or
the 7th century BC by native Gauls and foreign Etruscan younger than Lattara, as well as research undertaken at
and Greek merchants to establish a commercial enclave. sites in the Etruscan area of Italy.
Then, in the early 5th century BC, this initial settlement at
La Cougourlude with post-built houses on the banks of the Keywords Plant uses
Storage
Etruscans
Iron age

small coastal river Lironde was relocated to the margins of Southern France
Archaeobotany
a nearby lagoon along the Mediterranean coast, giving rise
to the walled port city of Lattara. Archaeological excava-
tions undertaken in the 2000s along the southern wall of Introduction
Lattara in Quarter 27 revealed three houses which con-
tained almost exclusively Etruscan pottery. The objective Lattara was a port city founded around 500 BC (Lebeaupin
of this study is to analyse the archaeobotanical remains and Séjalon 2014, p. 323; Daveau and Py 2015) in southern
from these dwellings so as to identify the plant foods which France at Lattes, Hérault, with a history spanning more than
were consumed and used by their inhabitants, as well as the seven centuries (Py 2009). It was established directly along
methods of storage. The question arises whether anything the stagnum latera lagoon, today the étang du Méjean,
particularly relating to Etruscan origins can be detected between the two branches of the river Lez. This fluvial-
from the diet of the inhabitants. To study this aspect we lagoon environment characterised by both fresh and salt
have compared the data collected during the excavation water, as well as wet and dry land, dictated the types of fauna
with research undertaken at neighbouring settlements and flora the city exploited throughout its history (Fig. 1).
Before the foundation of Lattara at the beginning of the
5th century BC, the area had already been occupied since
Communicated by C. C. Bakels.
the Final Bronze Age and during the First Iron Age, as
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this shown by the sites of La Cougourlude (Daveau and Py
article (doi:10.1007/s00334-015-0553-8) contains supplementary 2015), Port Ariane (Daveau 2007) and Mas de Causse
material, which is available to authorized users.
(Newman and Silveréano 2010; Daveau and Py 2015). The
& Natàlia Alonso 7th–6th century levels of these sites, especially those of La
nalonso@historia.udl.cat Cougourlude, reveal the importance of exchanges with first
Núria Rovira Etruscan and then Greek traders in particular, through the
nuria.rovira-buendia@univ-montp3.fr abundance of pottery. Ditches surrounded the village and
1
semi underground huts were built of wooden posts and
Grup d’Investigació Prehistòrica, Departament d’Història,
wattle and daub; pits and hearths were also found. Around
Universitat de Lleida, Pl. Vı́ctor Siurana, 1, 25430 Lleida,
Catalonia, Spain 475 BC the residents of La Cougourlude progressively
2 abandoned the village for the nearby fortified city of Lat-
ASM, Archéologie des Sociétés Méditerranéennes,
UMR5140, Univ Paul-Valéry Montpellier, CNRS, MCC, tara. Mediterranean merchants, Etruscans, Greeks, possibly
34000 Montpellier, France even Iberians and local groups of people would have

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324 Veget Hist Archaeobot (2016) 25:323–337

b Fig. 1 Location of Lattara and reconstruction of the coastline and

lagoons of eastern Languedoc, France, during the Iron Age and
Roman period (Jorda et al. 2008). Positions of other Iron Age sites in
the area and the Etruscan quarter, in a photo at the bottom

founded this new city. Lattara was therefore, at the

beginning of 5th century BC, the hub of a protected and
regulated place of exchange where Etruscan traders seem
to have occupied a privileged position. The function of this
commercial enclave, most probably under the authority of
the Sextantio Oppidum, at Castelnau-le-Lez, 7 km to the
north-east, seems to have been to open or expand a bridge
between the Mediterranean sea and the inland hinterland
(Daveau and Py 2015, p. 33). The extent of the hinterland
of Lattara, however, is little known and has yet to be
confirmed by research (Lebeaupin and Séjalon 2014,
pp. 321–329).
Archaeological excavations in an area of the rampart,
near the city’s south gate leading to the harbour (at least in
the 4th–3rd centuries BC), brought to light three houses
dating from the early phases of the fortified settlement
(Quarter 27). There were several indicators suggesting that
Etruscans inhabited these houses. In fact, everything about
these houses differed from the traditional regional dwell-
ings. The building types, for example, were innovative,
revealing a complex and uniform architecture. Likewise, in
this sector the pottery was almost exclusively Etruscan,
often bearing inscriptions (Py 2009, pp. 39–53; Lebeaupin
and Séjalon 2014).
The construction and furnishings of these houses sug-
gested that they were designed to last. However, they had
only stood for a few months or years when, toward 475 BC,
they were destroyed by a great fire. Although there is no
indication of how the fire began and why, it was probably a
deliberate and general event, because contemporary levels
of Quarter 1, situated in the north-east of the city, also
show signs of destruction by fire (unpublished data from
2015 excavations). Furthermore, the archaeological record
reveals a dominance of local elements from this moment,
and throughout the rest of the 5th century, as well as a
decline or ‘‘disappearance’’ of Etruscans in favour of
Greeks from Marseilles (Py 2009, p. 69; Lebeaupin and
Séjalon 2014, pp. 326–328).
This article therefore aims to characterise the use of plant
products by these Etruscan residents based on the analyses
of seeds and fruits collected during the archaeological work.
Although this study only represents a snapshot of the brief
Etruscan occupation, we do consider it interesting, espe-
cially due to the unique foreign quality of both the features
and the residents. In addition, to date, few Etruscan contexts
have been examined from the archaeobotanical viewpoint. It
is also interesting to compare these results with those of the

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Veget Hist Archaeobot (2016) 25:323–337 325

subsequent periods, when Lattara tended toward an indige- were dispersed (5 samples). Only one was collected as a
nous character with Greek and later Roman influences. group and one isolated (ESM 1 Table 2).
The samples correspond, for the most part, to concen-
trations of cereals found in crushed amphorae, especially in
Materials and methods House 2713. Most archaeobotanical elements associated
with the other two houses (2714 and 2715) were scattered
Sampling and archaeobotanical analyses of fruit and seeds in the different destruction layers. Certain small concen-
have been undertaken systematically at Lattara for the last trations have, nonetheless, been found. A concentration is
30 years. Most of these analyses are published either in the defined by the presence of more than 1,000 individuals,
Lattara series (Buxó 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996a, 1999, 2003, representing at least 80 % of the sample individuals in the
2005; Py 1997; Alonso and Rovira 2010, 2014) or in sci- sample. These individuals can consist either of whole or
entific journals (Buxó 1996b, 1997; Py 1997; Py and Buxó fragmented remains that retain a unique morphological
2001; Alonso et al. 2008). Data regarding the immediate feature permitting their identification—for cereals cary-
surroundings of the ancient city both before and contem- opses, the area of the embryo (Jones 1990); for grape pips,
porary with its occupations were obtained from the studies the beak; for pulses and fruits, the number of whole
of the neighbouring sites of Port Ariane (Alonso et al. cotyledons or the number of halves of endocarps of the
2007, 2011), Mas de Causse (Rovira 2010) and La Cou- same taxon in a single sample, divided by two.
gourlude (Figueiral and Bouby 2014). The Index of Relative Abundance (IRA, % of individ-
Sampling strategies were based on test samples of 20 l of uals ? % of ubiquity) is a second factor applied in this
sediment, which were used to evaluate the presence and study (Hastorf et al. 2005). It is used to calibrate in a single
richness of bioarchaeological remains such as seeds and figure the number of individuals. Finally, other units of
fruits, charcoal, fish bones etc. and to calculate thereafter measurement are the number of remains (NR) and the
the volume of the total sample and the remains recovered by number of individuals (NI). These are relevant to the
water-sieving techniques using flotation or other methods. absolute quantification of the seed remains either per
Systematic sampling concentrated upon both plant treat- sample or per stratigraphic unit.
ment activities such as storage, culinary preparation etc. and
on waste management features such as hearths, containers,
silos, other pits, areas such as houses, courtyards, streets etc. Results
and all sorts of fills containing organic matter. At present
there are around 3,400 samples available, representing Six samples from phase 27I2 were considered as
73,340 l of sieved sediments from the total occupation concentrations:
levels which were excavated on the settlement and dated
– Triticum aestivum/durum (naked wheat): SU 28111
from the 5th century BC to the 2nd century AD.
(83.7 %) and SU 28112 (79.4 %) in House 2713;
Although the number of samples containing seed and
– Hordeum vulgare (hulled barley): SU 28166 (99.05 %)
fruit remains from Etruscan contexts in Quarter 27 is not
in House 2713, SU 27674 (94.4 %) in House 2714 and
very high, a total of 28, most of the excavated areas are
SU 27565 (92.2 %) in House 2715;
represented. The majority of the samples (21) were col-
– Juncus sp. (rush) in the Southern Alley, a single layer
lected from the level of fire destruction (27I2) (ESM 1
[SU 27665] where rush seeds and capsules represent
Table 1), whereas only a few are associated with the
99.6 % of those identified.
abandonment level (ESM 1 Table 2).
The stratigraphic units (SU) comprise layers of fire The volume of sediment sieved during the excavation
destruction remains of features constructed with earth or was high when compared to that of other phases of the 5th
perishable materials, or deposits associated with the con- century BC in this zone (Alonso and Rovira 2010). Of the
tents of amphorae. Some floor levels were also sampled. 839.5 l of sieved sediment, 100,634 seed and fruit remains
Most samples from the destruction phase were collected in were collected, for the most part in the concentrations
groups where there was a concentration of organic matter described above. For this reason, the density of the
such as charcoal, ash, seed and fruit remains etc., and these archaeobotanical remains is quite high, between 48.35/l in
were differentiated according to the stratigraphic units the Southern Alley and 394.98/l in House 2714. The
(SU) and collected or sampled separately from other sed- stratigraphic units with the highest densities also corre-
iments of the unit (8 samples), while a few of these units spond to the concentrations in the destruction phase, with
were collected either in a dispersed or isolated manner (4 up to 1,655 remains/l in SU 27674, while the densest
samples respectively) (ESM 1 Table 1). In contrast, most sample of the abandonment phase has 21/l. All of the
of the samples associated with the abandonment phase archaeobotanical remains were preserved by charring.

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Overall, 16 cultivated and 28 wild plant taxa were of the room. This layer extended into the adjacent Room 15
identified. over the threshold of the door.
The grain concentration consisted almost exclusively of
Hordeum vulgare (NI = 3,550, plus the fragments), rep-
Fire destruction level (Phase 27I2) resenting 99.05 % of the individuals. The diversity of crops
is therefore negligible. The other taxa in the assemblage
House 2713 were Triticum aestivum/durum, T. dicoccum (emmer) and a
fragment of Olea europaea (olive). Wild plants, Avena sp.
Several positive samples were collected in Rooms 15 and (oats), Lolium sp. (rye-grass), L. temulentum (darnel) and
20 of House 2713. ‘‘Positive’’ means the sample contained Plantago sp. (plantain) represent only 1 % of the total and
more than 20 seed and fruit remains; negative, less than 20 were probably weeds associated with the cultivation of
remains, null—no remains (Fig. 2; ESM 1 Table 1, ESM 2 Hordeum. This assemblage represents grain stored in the
Table 1). Room 20 was probably a vestibule. It contained amphora. In general, all these elements are indicative of
two archaeobotanical assemblages. The first was a con- domestic activities.
centration of seeds inside the fragmented base of an Etr- Room 15 was a storage area characterised for the most
uscan amphora. The second was a layer of ash on the floor part by a large number of Etruscan amphorae, as well as

Fig. 2 Distribution and importance of key taxa or groups of plants stratigraphic units (SU) correspond to concentrations. The graphs
identified in the three houses and the Southern Alley according to the without numbers correspond to the addition of the other stratigraphic
density of remains/l (phase 27I2). The pie charts numbered with units explored in each sector

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Veget Hist Archaeobot (2016) 25:323–337 327

pottery for both the kitchen and table. The western part of container [SU 28095]. In addition, the results obtained
the room appears to have been used to store cereals and from the sampling of the sediment around the amphora and
other food products, while the eastern part had mixed use. in the rest of the room do not reveal any evidence that
The centre of the room was practically devoid of archae- might contradict this observation, because no evidence of
ological material and consumption residues such as animal waste related to consumption such as animal remains, for
remains. It therefore does not give the impression of an instance, has been found.
occupied room. The samples comprised mainly charred
grains associated directly with the bases of amphorae or House 2714
amphorae crushed in situ. A sample was also taken from
the fire destruction layer at floor level. Sampling in House 2714 took place in the two northern
The results thus show that the grains stored in several rooms (1E and 1F), although unfortunately these were not
amphorae in the room were mostly Triticum aestivum/du- totally excavated (Fig. 2; ESM 1 Table 1, ESM 2 Table 3).
rum. The proportions of this variety of wheat in the three These rooms were domestic spaces that indicated many
concentrations [SU 28111, 28112, 28117] are respectively activities. The large room to the south (1B) is interpreted as
83.7, 79.4 and 86.5 % of the total of individuals and 98.9, a storage space, as in the case in the previous house.
86.7 and 95.5 % of the total number of individuals in crop A single sample with very few remains was taken from
plants. Regarding the latter, the diversity of these samples Room 1F, a vestibule in which there were few plant han-
is, once again, very low. The taxa that accompanied dling activities. Room 1E is interpreted as a kitchen.
T. aestivum/durum were Hordeum vulgare (hulled), Samples gathered from its floor level [SU 27589] and other
T. dicoccum, undetermined pulse, Olea and Vitis vinifera floor level concentrations with charcoal and ash [SU
(grape). These last three were only represented by one 28074] yielded plant remains. Both assemblages bear
individual each. A few remains of emmer chaff, spikelet similar elements that show that this room differed from
bases and glumes were also identified. These were proba- others, as the taxon best represented there is Setaria italica
bly contaminants in the stored T. aestivum/durum, how- (Italian millet) accompanied by remains of Bolboschoenus
ever, no naked wheat chaff was observed. maritimus (sea club-rush).
A total of 14 wild, probably weed taxa were identified. Two other samples appear to reflect the same type of
The best represented weeds are those associated with winter varied activity. This is shown by the presence of 11 taxa. It
cereals, especially when they are compared with the large is also noteworthy that the highest diversity of crop plants
number of Lolium sp., followed by Poaceae, Phalaris sp. occurred here, despite the modest number of remains. Se-
(canary grass), Avena fatua (wild oat), Agrostemma githago taria italica was accompanied by some Hordeum vulgare
(corn cockle), Anthemis cotula (stinking chamomile), Gal- and Triticum aestivum/durum caryopses, an olive stone and
ium sp. (bedstraw), Silene vulgaris (bladder campion) and a mineralised grape seed. The seeds of wild plants indicate
Asperula sp. (woodruff). Furthermore, the scarce presence the occasional presence of Galium, Lolium, Medicago sp.
of Malva sylvestris (common mallow), Bromus sp. (brome (medick), Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Chenopodiaceae.
grasses), Polygonum aviculare (knotgrass) and Rumex sp. The relatively large amount of S. italica is not surprising
(docks) among the ruderal or spring weeds is noteworthy. in itself, given the large number of caryopses in each
Finally, a few Juncus capsules, characteristic of wetlands, panicle. What is more interesting is its occurrence in
were also identified. The significant amount of weed seeds combination with numerous seeds of Cyperus (galingale)
in the stored Triticum suggests that the wheat was not or Bolboschoenus maritimus. There are two possible
properly cleaned and thus not yet fit for consumption. interpretations for the occurrence. Firstly, B. maritimus
Sorting out these contaminants would have been necessary could have been a companion weed to S. italica cultivated
before preparation as food. in damp conditions. Today, for example, this weed is
Stratigraphic unit 28117 also contained five seeds of characteristic of Camargue rice fields (Audebert et al.
Linum sp. (linseed) that could not be identified as Linum 2013). On the other hand, its presence could be linked to
usitatissimum (domesticated flax), a taxon which was the consumption of its roots and tubers (Wollstonecroft
found, however, in the current destruction phase in the et al. 2008), or the use of its stalks for wickerwork or
same house (ESM 2 Table 2, SU 28150). This plant, the construction materials such as for roofing, as mentioned
fibres of which were used for textiles and the seeds for oil above (Claret de la Tourrette 1796, p 168). The fact that no
and as food, has been recorded in other contexts from the other plant parts except seeds were found with the S. italica
5th century BC (Alonso and Rovira 2010). allows us to tend towards the first hypothesis.
In sum, the archaeological remains from Room 15 serve In the case of Room 1B, three of the four samples
as evidence of the storage of Triticum aestivum/durum. analysed in this sector, including two from sandy soils and
Only one amphora appears not to have served as a cereal the remains of the destruction of an unidentified earthen

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feature, show a minimal density between 0.1 and 12 noteworthy, nonetheless, that A. sativum is unique at the
remains/l. This indicates, as its ‘‘twin’’ in House 2713, that site and this is the second oldest occurrence in France after
domestic activity is this space was very limited. A single that from Coudouneu, Provence, also dated to the 5th
concentration of Hordeum vulgare was found in the century BC (Marinval 1996–1997). Furthermore, cultivated
northwestern corner of Room 1B [SU 27674] perhaps garlic is only known to have become widespread in western
corresponding to grains stored in an undetermined wooden Europe in the 1st century BC, as shown in France, at
box or placed on a wooden shelf (Fig. 2; ESM 2 Table 3; Entrains-sur-Nohain (Wiethold 2009) and Oedenburg
Cammas 2014, p. 100). The concentration comprised (Vandorpe and Jacomet 2011), or in the United Kingdom at
66,200 remains, including 41,029 individuals and 22,504 Beverley (McKenna 1992).
fragments of Hordeum representing 95.97 % of the con- The other samples from this house were collected from
centration. Although four other cultivated taxa were pre- the destruction layer of an earthen feature and from a small
sent in the concentration, Triticum aestivum/durum, T. isolated concentration near the door leading to the Southern
dicoccum, Lens culinaris (lentil) and Pisum sativum (pea), Alley. Hordeum in both cases was the most abundant
only the first is represented by a somewhat larger quantity taxon. A few caryopses of T. aestivum/durum, a single one
(NR = 168). of emmer, a number of legume seeds and a few weeds,
Wild plants are well represented by 14 taxa and a fairly Poaceae, Lolium and Rubiaceae, complete the sample.
large number of remains. Weeds of winter cereals are The sample with the greatest concentration of Hordeum
predominant, especially Poaceae including a large number (92.2 %) also contained the highest diversity of crop plants
of undetermined caryopses and many seeds and glumes of for the entire room. Along with Hordeum were Lens, Pisum,
Avena sp., followed by Lolium temulentum and Bromus Vicia faba (broad bean), Vicia sp. (vetch), Vicia/Lathyrus
sterilis (sterile brome). Silene sp. and Anthemis cotula were (vetch/grass pea), undetermined pulses and Vitis. However,
also quite abundant, while Papaver dubium/rhoeas (poppy) since the excavated area was small, it is not possible to offer
and Phalaris were occasional. Of note among the ruderal a precise interpretation of these seed assemblages. We do
plants are Rumex, Malva sylvestris and M. nicaeensis not know, for example, if they correspond to other activities
(mallows), Carex hirta/distans (sedges), Chenopodium related to storage or consumption.
album (goosefoot) and Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary).
Also noteworthy are chaff remains of several taxa, espe- Southern alley
cially Triticum spikelet bases and glumes, several rachis
segments of Hordeum, and glume bases and awns of Avena Archaeobotanical data obtained from the excavated areas
fatua. This assemblage could correspond to a biocoenosis of the Southern Alley differ very much from those obtained
(the original combination of a growing plant community) in the dwellings (Fig. 4; ESM 1 Table 1, ESM 2 Table 5).
because (a) it was deposited in a container, (b) there was This alley, which ran between the houses and the rampart,
almost no sediment among the seeds and (c) the density of was only accessible from House 2715.
the remains was very high, with 1,655 remains/l sieved Almost all of the seed and fruit assemblages from the
from 40 l of sediment. In this case, these plants would have western sector of the alley [SU 27665] are characterised by
grown together in the same field, rendering the conclusions a large amount of capsules (NR = 6,857) and seeds
about the environment much more relevant. (NR = 3,625) of Juncus accompanied by stems of
A final observation is that the amphorae stored in this Phragmites australis (common reed) (Fig. 5, 1–3). These
room were devoid of plant remains, unlike those of House plants were initially interpreted during the excavation as
2713. They therefore must have contained other products, roofing material. Careful analysis, however, refutes this
possibly wine or oil. idea because of their orderly position (Meyer et al. 2014,
p. 48). They might, in fact, be the remains of either matting
House 2715 placed on the floor of the alley or sheaves or bundles which
were scattered during the fire. The spread of Phragmites
House 2715 was only partially excavated. Its features remains in the western part of the alley reveals that most
consisted of two rooms connected by a door. seeds and capsules were concentrated to the south in
Archaeobotanical sampling was therefore restricted to one sample areas 7, 3 and 1, near the wall, whereas to the north,
of the two rooms (1A) (Fig. 2; ESM 1 Table 1, ESM 2 in squares 8, 6 and 4, there were fewer remains (Fig. 4).
Table 4). An isolated sample comprising 13 cloves of Al- The charcoal analyses did not identify Juncus stems
lium sativum (garlic) was collected by hand from a sandy (Chabal 2014). However, given the fragility of these plant
level [SU 27541] in Room 1D (Fig. 3, 9). Because of parts because of their herbaceous structures free of lignin,
limited excavation in this area, there is no information it is possible that they were totally fragmented, or that they
regarding the find’s archaeological context. It is disappeared completely in the fire. In any case, the specific

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Fig. 3 1 Hordeum vulgare, caryopses [SU 28112], 2 H. vulgare, 6 Vicia faba, seed [SU 27665], 7 Lathyrus sativus, seed [SU 27491],
caryopses with glumes [SU 28166], 3 Six-row H. vulgare, detail of a 8 Olea europaea, stone [SU 28112], 9 Vitis vinifera, pips [SU 28146],
modern spikelet base (left) and an archaeological one (right) [SU 10 Prunus dulcis, fruitstone fragment [SU 27665], 11 Allium sativum,
27674], 4 Triticum aestivum/durum, caryopses [SU 28117], garlic cloves [SU 27541]; photographs by SRI University of Lleida
5 T. dicoccum, caryopsis [SU 28139] and spikelet fork [SU 28090],

spread of these remains in the alley is noteworthy. Could it of remains (NR = 161), the proportions of cultivated crops
be indicative of an ordered arrangement of bundles of and wild plants are about 50 % each. The taxonomic
Juncus, mixed with Phragmites with their heads facing diversity among the first is quite high. Hulled barley and
south? Or does this spread simply represent the storage of naked wheat are the predominant taxa, followed by one or
Juncus leaning against the rampart? In the latter case, two remains of Setaria italica, Vicia/Lathyrus, Olea, Pru-
Phragmites and Juncus were not mixed, but were two nus dulcis (almond) and a few Vitis pips.
separate products destined for different purposes. The Wild plants, for the most part, are poorly represented. Here
possibility that Phragmites was stored in the alley for other they are once again associated with self-propagating weeds of
uses will be addressed in the discussion of the results. winter cereals, ruderals and spring weeds. Bolboschoenus
Another remarkable fact is the increase in the variety of maritimus stands out in the first group (Fig. 5.13). There are
taxa and decrease in Juncus in the northwest corner in also undetermined Poaceae, as well as Galium aparine
Square 2. While Phragmites remains can be excluded as (cleavers), Phalaris, Lolium, Avena fatua, Asperula and
they were either part of mudbrick preparation or stored Bromus secalinus (rye brome). Noteworthy in the last two
there for a particular purpose, and despite the low number groups is the presence of Sisymbrium sp. (rocket), Carex sp.,

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heterogeneous levels of destruction and structures built with

mudbrick. Only in one case [SU 28139] the number of the
remains reached 50 fruits, although most were fragments.
Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aestivum/durum and T. dicoccum
were present, as was Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet),
Linum and Vitis. The number and the diversity of the wild
plant remains are also very low. Noteworthy is the presence
of undetermined Poaceae, Lolium, Cyperaceae, Apiaceae,
Malva and Cistus sp. (rock rose).

House 2715

The archaeobotanical remains from this house, in contrast

to those from House 2713, are associated in part with an
accidental deposit of charred seeds and fibres under a
collapsed wall [SU 27491] and in part with a small con-
centration of bio-archaeological remains, notably fish
scales [SU 27560]. The first assemblage is practically
Fig. 4 Distribution and importance of key taxa or groups of plants monospecific (NR = 47) with Triticum dicoccum cary-
within the grid established to sample the Southern Alley (phase 27I2) opses and some fragments of undetermined Triticum, one
Lathyrus sativus and a number of wild Poaceae and Lolium
Medicago, Melilotus sp. (melilot), Amaranthus sp. (ama- sp. It is difficult to establish whether this small assemblage
ranth), Atriplex sp. (orache) and Malva. Most of these wild formed part of a larger T. dicoccum concentration stored in
plant seeds were collected in Square 2 (east and west) of a wicker basket hung on the wall or placed on a shelf. The
Stratigraphic Unit 27665 and would have accompanied the second sample consisted predominantly of cereal grains, H.
identified cereals. The remains from this square could rep- vulgare, T. aestivum/durum and T. dicoccum.
resent the disposal of consumer waste in the alley.
The samples from the easternmost area of the alley are
highlighted, in particular by fruit, notably Ficus carica (fig) Discussion
and Vitis. The presence of Bolboschoenus maritimus fruits
is indicative, once again, of the potential economic sig- The archaeobotanical remains recovered in the Etruscan
nificance of this plant. Some of the caryopses of hulled dwellings comprise, for the most part, cereals, pulses and
barley, naked wheat, Lolium and Poaceae complete this fruit. Certain assemblages were accompanied by a large
assemblage, which is marked by a very low density of number of wild plant seeds, essentially weeds of winter
remains (2.13/l). Its interpretation as general consumer cereals and ruderals (ESM 2 Tables 1–5). The abundance
waste is the most plausible. of Juncus seeds and capsules in the Southern Alley asso-
ciated with Phragmites stems is also noteworthy. The main
Phase 27I1 activities identified with these plants are storage and, in
certain cases, consumption.
Phase 27I1 is characterised mainly by levels of destruction
and backfill. Here, generally fewer samples were collected,
thus resulting in less archaeobotanical data. The majority Cereal storage and processing
were collected randomly, with the exception of those from
two layers of House 2715. The density of the plant remains The first conclusion that emerges from the study of the
there was very low. The highest corresponded to 21/l, a different archaeobotanical assemblages retrieved from the
small assemblage of emmer and the average was 1.11/l Etruscan houses of Lattara is the prevalence of grains, in
(ESM 1 Table 2, ESM 2 Table 2). Archaeobotanical particular hulled H. vulgare and T. aestivum/durum, over
interpretations of this phase are therefore insecure. other crops known to have been cultivated in the 5th cen-
tury BC (Table 1; Alonso and Rovira 2010). These assem-
House 2713 blages also reveal a system of storage mainly in amphorae,
but possibly also in other containers made of wood, such as
Differences between the rooms of House 2713 were not chests, or wicker, as in bags or baskets, such as some
observed. All the samples were collected from backfills, charred fragments of the latter, of a woody undetermined

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Veget Hist Archaeobot (2016) 25:323–337 331

Fig. 5 1, 2 Juncus sp., cluster of capsules [SU 27665], 3 Juncus sp., [SU 27665], 10 Anthemis cotula, achene [SU 27674], 11 Malva
capsules [SU 27665] 4 Avena fatua [SU 28112], caryopsis (left) and sylvestris, seed (left) and fruit (right) [SU 27674], 12 Bolboschoenus
glume base (right), 5 Bromus cf. arvensis, caryopsis [SU 27665], 6 B. maritimus, achene [SU 27589], 13 Lolium temulentum, caryopsis [SU
cf. sterilis, caryopsis [SU 27674], 7 B. secalinus, caryopsis [SU 27665], 14 L. perenne/rigidum, caryopses [SU 27491]. Photographs
27665], 8 Galium aparine, fruit [SU 27665], 9 Sisymbrium sp., seed by SRI, University of Lleida

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332 Veget Hist Archaeobot (2016) 25:323–337

Table 1 Cultivated plants at Lattara, occurrence by century and The reasons for the predominance of T. aestivum/durum in
related to the Etruscan houses House 2713 and of H. vulgare in Houses 2714 and 2715,
although in smaller quantity and with fewer food containers,
are difficult to discern. Did the residents of these houses have
more time than their neighbours from House 2713 to salvage
goods before the fire? In any case, based solely on the present
data which are restricted in space and time, we cannot draw
general conclusions about the existence of foodstuff tradi-
tions or specific dietary tendencies. Nevertheless, it is
remarkable that H. vulgare has an Index of Relative Abun-
dance greater than 150 in all the houses, whereas T. aes-
tivum/durum and T. dicoccum only have a high IRA in House
2713 (Fig. 6). Although T. aestivum/durum and H. vulgare in
the Southern Alley display the same index, both the number
of the samples, as well as the remains, are too meagre to draw
conclusions. Do these results ultimately reflect the variety of
food choices among the residents of this quarter? Or are they
simply a snapshot as a consequence of random preservation
of the archaeobotanical remains after the houses were
engulfed in fire?
What seems certain in almost all of these cases is that grains
were stored clean, almost completely processed and prepared
for cooking. They only required a final manual cleaning, as in
the case of the barley concentration of House 2714, an
assemblage that had the largest numbers of chaff fragments
and grains of weeds, even if their percentages are very low
compared to those of the proportion of the grain
(grain = 96.08 %; chaff = 0.74 %; weed seeds = 3.18 %).
In all of these concentrations, the percentages of weeds com-
pared to those of cereal grains reach a maximum of 6.6 %,
whereas among weeds the larger seeds attain a maximum of
17 %. This indicates that all stages of the agricultural opera-
tional sequence following the harvest were completed and
conducted elsewhere, with the exception, as we have pointed
out, of the final manual cleaning that must be carried out before
food preparation. The question also arises as to the form of the
monocotyledon found in Room 1F of House 2714 (Chabal last phase of cereal processing. It is of note that no querns were
2014, p. 151). In fact, the use of amphorae to store grain found in the Etruscan houses. But since the area occupied by
was only found in House 2713. This is the case of T. these houses was not totally excavated, it is possible that
aestivum/durum in the storage area of Room 15 and hulled specific outdoor or indoor spaces assigned to cereal milling
H. vulgare in Room 20. Additional amphorae stored in were not identified. However, a few hearths have been found,
these rooms could have contained other products, such as as well as Etruscan tableware pottery (Lebeaupin 2014).
wine (McGovern et al. 2013, 2014). In spite of the impression of abundance offered by the
The warehouse of House 2714 was equipped with charred grains in the houses, the quantity recovered, in fact,
another storage system. Hordeum was stored here in a corresponds to a modest amount of stored plant products. A
wooden chest. Finally, the use of a basket or a bag hanging first option is that the residents may have had time to sal-
on the wall, or placed on a shelf, was suggested to explain vage some of the grain before the fire. A second option is
the presence of a small T. dicoccum assemblage trapped that the grain reserves were not copious at that moment in
under a collapsed wall of House 2715. The storage of these time. We know that Etruscan amphorae were used for
types of foodstuffs seems confined to the domestic realm. storing grain. Some of these containers were actually re-
Although we cannot determine the original quantities, we used for grain storage, because chemical analysis of their
suppose that they were not very high. These assemblages residues shows that they had previously held wine
also reflect a wide variety of stored plant products. (McGovern et al. 2014).

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Veget Hist Archaeobot (2016) 25:323–337 333

Fig. 6 Histogram of the Index

of Relative Abundance (IRA)
per taxon for the phase 27I2

Finally, it is noteworthy that only one other cereal, Se- It is noteworthy that their Index of Relative Abundance is
taria italica, was identified in the form of a small con- higher than T. dicoccum or any fruit, especially in House
centration in Room 1E of House 2714. In this case, the 2715. They are well represented in House 2715, as well as
scattered remains do not reflect a stored commodity, but throughout the Etruscan quarter, and seem to correspond
are residues of consumption or waste. This is also the case more to food waste than stored products.
with other mixed assemblages comprising cereals, pulses, Fruit remains are a minority and have a fairly low IRA
fruits and agricultural by-products. (34 at most). Only Vitis appeared in the three houses along
The diverse taxa of wild plants that accompany the the alley, while other taxa were distributed more randomly.
cereal concentrations mainly reflect autumn-sown crops. These include olives in Houses 2713 and 2714, as well as
Indeed, these winter weeds are among the largest vegeta- in the Southern Alley. Figs and almonds were also present
tion group according to both the number of remains and in the Southern Alley and Prunus sp. (possibly a plum) was
Index of Relative Abundance (Fig. 7a). Ruderal plants and only found in House 2713. These assemblages are also
spring weeds are much less abundant and less diverse. Each interpreted as dispersed remnants of consumption.
concentration of wheat or barley presents no major dif- The very limited presence of Vitis remains, always in the
ferences, as 71–100 % of the wild taxa can be associated form of grape pips, does not provide specific information as
with weeds of winter cereals. Only three samples show a to the role of local viticulture or if the grapes were destined
high percentage of weeds linked with spring-sown crops, for the table or the vat. The import of wine can be inferred
whereas three samples seem to show evidence of ruderals by the many Etruscan wine amphorae in these houses
(Fig. 7b). All these wild plants reflect open environments (McGovern et al. 2013, 2014). The slight presence of
affected by human activities. The absence of plants asso- grapes, in contrast to that of subsequent periods, might
ciated with wetlands except for Phragmites and Bol- indicate that there was little viticulture. However, the
boschoenus maritimus, which were more abundant in more evidence of these early phases of occupation at Lattara is
recent chronological phases (Alonso and Rovira 2010; too limited to formulate hypotheses, especially regarding
Rovira and Alonso 2010), offers indirect information as to the early state of viticulture. A similar situation can be
the location of the fields, mainly in dry environments, applied to other fruit. What was the real condition of olives,
except for the S. italica. All these wild plants are endemic figs and almonds during this early phase of Lattara? Were
in the natural environments around Lattara, so grain does they imports, in brine in the case of olives and dried in all
not appear to have been imported from the Etruscan area of the cases, or grown locally?
Italy. However, we cannot be definitively sure, because we The question regarding olive cultivation at Lattara has
actually do not know the place of origin and thus the been the object of a number of studies (Puertas 1998; Py
environment of these traders. 2009; Alonso and Rovira 2010). The absence of Olea
pollen around the site, as well as the absence of Olea
charcoal as fuel for the city’s domestic fireplaces in all
Remains of edible pulses, fruits and other taxa chronological periods, is a strong argument to dismiss the
idea of local olive cultivation. Moreover, in the Etruscan
Pulses are represented for the most part by four taxa: Lens, contexts, there were only two objects carved from Olea
Pisum, Lathyrus and Vicia and a few other specimens wood (Chabal 2014) leaving open the option that they had
which proved difficult to identify due to their low numbers. been made elsewhere.

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334 Veget Hist Archaeobot (2016) 25:323–337

Fig. 7 Classification of plant groups and importance of wild plants (spring weeds and ruderals) identified in the cereal concentrations.
a histogram according to the Index of Relative Abundance; b stacked column chart according to the number of taxa by group

Ficus carica and Prunus dulcis are not present in The use of Juncus and Phragmites
palynological data (Puertas 1998). So far, from charcoal
and wood remains, only the fig tree is known to have been The presence of reed bundles in the Southern Alley of the
present at the site. It is nonetheless only found in small Etruscan quarter was first interpreted as matting for sani-
quantities around 375 BC (Chabal 2005, 2014). All the tation purposes. It has been shown that these were not
olives, figs and almonds in Lattara were almost exclusively bundles of reeds that fell from the roof during the fire and
in the form of fruit remains, indicating consumption. Their ended up in a horizontal position on the ground (Meyer
remains cannot in any case be taken as evidence that these et al. 2014). Another option is that they were stacked
trees grew in the urban context. Their origin, therefore, has vertically against a wall that slipped to the ground. In any
to be sought either in the surroundings of Lattara or as case, archaeobotanical analyses indicate Juncus among the
long-distance imports. reeds, in spite of the fact that their stems were not pre-
Finally, the first find of garlic at Lattara is significant. served after the fire. It has also been hypothesised that the
This served as a food condiment and a medicinal plant. All Juncus bundles, not mixed with Phragmites, were in stor-
species of the genus Allium contain sulphur compounds age, ready for some other uses.
derived from allyl sulphides that have medicinal properties In antiquity, many Juncus species were used for light-
(Block 1985). ing. The stems were soaked in animal or vegetable fat and

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Veget Hist Archaeobot (2016) 25:323–337 335

left to harden to form sorts of candles. Pliny the Elder lists century BC, contemporary with the Etruscan quarter of
different types of utilitarian objects made with reeds in his Lattara. These remains are characterised by Vitis pips, T.
Natural History, Books 21, 69 (Zehnacker 1999). These dicoccum (in the form of chaff) and Olea fruit stones,
included wicker baskets, fish traps, mats made of interlaced together with a large quantity of weed seeds (Perkins and
wisps of straw and rush and cords to make ties for con- Attolini 1992, pp. 108–109, 126–130).
struction, vine working and wells. Several plants are Archaeological work at Tarquinia has provided informa-
grouped under the common name ‘‘rushes’’, including tion on ritual deposits from the 6th century BC and identified
those that belong specifically to the genus Juncus, as well various cereals, H. vulgare, T. aestivum/durum, T. dicoccum,
as others belonging to the Cyperaceae family (sea club- T. monococcum and T. spelta, the pulses Lens culinaris and
rush or galingale, for example). In all cases, the production Vicia/Lathyrus, cultivated fruit Ficus carica and Vitis vini-
technique is identical. These flexible but robust stem-leaves fera, gathered wild fruit Sambucus, and Papaver somniferum
could be used to weave objects, including mats and carpets. (Bonghi Jovino 2010, pp. 172–173). At Blera in the 4th–3rd
Due to the absence of stem-leaves, it is difficult to centuries BC, in the rural hinterland of Tarquinia, a sample
comment on the possibility that they were woven. It also recovered from a Hellenistic well revealed mostly grape pips,
seems unlikely that they were used as ties to fasten bundles as well as small quantities of Hordeum, Olea, Ficus, Cornus
of reeds since the seeds and capsules were dispersed, not mas, Corylus and Quercus sp. (acorns) (Costantini and Giorgi
concentrated in one area. We therefore suggest that the 1987). More recently, a preliminary archaeobotanical study
reeds were being stored, rather than having been finished at the settlement of Col di Marzo, Perugia, revealed the
materials. It is also possible, however, that the locals used dominance of Triticum, probably T. aestivum/durum and Vitis
these different materials simply as a crude method of in a late Etruscan phase (4th–3rd century BC). Other grains at
covering the ground when moist. this site such as Hordeum and Setaria italica, as well as Olea,
Pisum, Lens and Vicia faba, are secondary (Malone et al.
2014, pp. 261–262).
Conclusions The diversity of the cultivated plants at the Etruscan
sites is equivalent to that of Lattara, with the exception of
From the results obtained from the seed analyses, the diet of Papaver somniferum. Furthermore, this wide spectrum of
the inhabitants of the Etruscan houses of Lattara in the early plant products is also known elsewhere in the south of
5th century BC was based on cereals such as hulled Hordeum France from at least the early Iron Age and possibly even
vulgare, Triticum aestivum/durum, T. dicoccum and Setaria earlier (Marinval 1988; Ruas and Marinval 1991; Buxó
italica and at times certain pulses such as Lens, Pisum, 1997; Bouby 2014). In the surroundings of Lattara, all the
Lathyrus and Vicia, fruits including grapes, olives, figs, different cereals, as well as Lens, Vitis and wild Olea, were
almonds and possibly plums and other items such as garlic. found at the nearby site of Port Ariane in levels dating to
There is little archaeobotanical data available from the 7th century BC (Alonso et al. 2007, pp. 236–240).
Etruscan sites in Italy to compare with those from Lattara. Regarding Vitis, we note the presence in these old levels of
In fact, except for a few cases, research on the Etruscans to occupation of pips of which the majority are morphologi-
date has focused primarily on cultural and artistic aspects, cally similar to the wild form, together with cultivated
as well as information from old written sources. Very few forms, evidence of the early phases of the development of
excavations to date of Etruscan sites have benefited from local viticulture (Bouby 2014).
systematic archaeobotanical sampling (Mercuri et al. 2015) All the cereals recorded in the Etruscan houses of Lat-
and in the cases where sampling was carried out, the sed- tara, as well as Vitis, Ficus and Prunus sp. were also present
iments were not favourable for analysis (Malone et al. at La Cougourlude (Figueiral and Bouby 2014). There is,
2014, p. 259). nonetheless, no evidence from La Cougourlude of pulses or
An exception is the settlement of Gran Carro, on the olives. Furthermore, the wild plants and the environment
eastern bank of Lago Bolsena (Costantini and Costantini- around La Cougourlude are also very similar to those of
Biasini 1987). This site, dating from the earlier Villanovan Quarter 27 at Lattara. This settlement, located 1 km to the
Culture in the 9th century BC, included mostly grape pips, northeast of Lattara, was founded in the 7th century BC by
Cornus mas (cornelian cherry) and Prunus spinosa (sloe). an indigenous population (Daveau and Py 2015).
Also identified were remains of T. dicoccum, Vicia faba, Throughout the 6th century BC, imports of Mediterranean
Corylus avellana (hazel) and Prunus insititia (bullace). pottery were very common. Originally, these imports were
Another exception is the site of Podere Tatuchino with an almost exclusively Etruscan, mainly amphorae, followed by
occupation from the late 6th to the late 4th century BC Greek vases, notably from Marseilles. The abandonment of
(Perkins and Attolini 1992). The main archaeobotanical La Cougourlude in about 475 BC is associated with the
remains here belong to Phase II in the first half of the 5th foundation a few years earlier of the fortified city of Lattara.

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336 Veget Hist Archaeobot (2016) 25:323–337

Finally, the religious and domestic area of Mas de HAR2012-36877 (‘‘Production, Consumption and Power in Segre
Causse, contemporary and associated with the settlement of Valley and Northwestern Mediterranean between the 3rd and the 1st
millennium BC’’, Ministerio de Economı́a y Competitividad, Spain)
La Cougourlude (Newman and Silveréano 2010; Daveau and SGR2014-273 (Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalonia). We wish to
and Py 2015), shows a similar combination of plants. These thank Stefanie Jacomet (University of Basel, Switzerland) for her help
comprise, for the most part, H. vulgare, T. aestivum/durum, in identifying the garlic cloves, as well as Isabel Figueiral (INRAP,
T. dicoccum, Vicia faba, Pisum, Vitis and Ficus. Notable is ISEM, France) and Laurent Bouby (CNRS, ISEM, France) for their
unpublished data about La Cougourlude. We also thank Timothy
the absence of olives, as in the case of La Cougourlude Anderson for the translation into English and his remarks. Finally, we
(Rovira 2010). are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their comments and
The plants consumed by the inhabitants of the Etruscan suggestions to improve the article.
quarter of Lattara were the same as those from subsequent
levels, toward 475 BC, after the fire, when the quarter was
redeveloped (Table 1; Alonso and Rovira 2010). The References
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