Principal Christine Shaw
The archaeological record abounds with carbonised material and seeds of both food plants and weeds form part of this record. The nature of the record means that the greatest part of the data come from settlement sites and so can only give a partial story, which is open to debate. Hence the availability of experimental results may be invaluable in resolving elements of the range of hypotheses advanced by various commentators.
An understanding of the many agricultural and construction processes likely to be involved in both the growth, harvesting, transfer and preparation for storage of both grain and straw is crucial to a proper understanding of how carbonised material may be generated in a particular location and how losses and changes in the community of seeds present at a given stage, place or time may be reflected in the final record.
Several elements of the work relating to this project have been touched on in the study of the Arable Plant Communities. The unavoidable interaction of some crop and field weed factors have been drawn out therein.
Some of the work carried out at the Farm has involved studies of the effects of different harvesting approaches on the transfer of field weed seeds through the agricultural production chain. Other work has incorporated features such as stubble burning and the burning of construction waste, such as straw found to be unsuitable for thatching.
There is an interim report of results, abstracted from a published paper, and given in the Impacts section. The published paper is in German and it was hoped to re-issue it in an updated version, in English. Whilst Peter had largely completed the rewrite before he died, it is not yet in a form for final publication and may never be.
With the death of Peter Reynolds such work is in abeyance at the Ancient Farm.
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Created 01 August 2001 - Updated 10 December 2004