cerealsremains

Cereals remains are the preserved parts of cereal crops recovered from archaeological sites and used to study past agriculture, diet, and environment. The category includes macroscopic components such as charred or desiccated kernels, husks, and chaff, as well as microscopic traces like starch grains and phytoliths linked to cereal plants. The most frequently recovered cereals globally include wheat (Triticum species), barley (Hordeum vulgare), rye (Secale cereale), oats (Avena sativa), millet (Pennisetum glaucum and Panicum miliaceum in some regions), and rice (Oryza sativa). Maize (corn) is prominent in the Americas, reflecting regional cropping systems.

Recovery and identification rely on standard archaeobotanical methods. Flotation and sieving of soil residues separate charred macro-remains from surrounding sediment. Macroscopic remains are identified by morphology against modern reference collections, supported by measurements of grain size and features such as grain shape, aleurone layers, and husk remnants. Micro-remains, especially starch grains, provide species-level signals when seeds are missing or degraded.

Cereal remains inform several research questions: when and where crops were cultivated, patterns of crop domestication and selection, dietary reliance, crop diversity, and trade. Dating is usually achieved via radiocarbon analysis of the seeds or associated charred material, providing chronological context within broader site sequences.

Limitations include preservation bias, with charred seeds more likely to survive than delicate tissues, and taxonomic ambiguity among closely related cereals. Despite these challenges, cereals remains are a central component of archaeobotany and paleodiet studies.