Lijnzaadpap na het hooien:vegetatie, landgebruik en plantgebruik tijdens de late middeleeuwen en Nieuwe tijd

This chapter describes the results from the analysis of plant macro remains from a total of 112 samples in four ‘sample type’ groups. The first and largest group, of 74 samples ranging in volume from 12 to 24 litres, were wet-sieved in the field with 5- and 2-mm square-hole mesh sizes. The residues of these samples were dried prior to the analysis. In addition to the remains of relatively large-seeded wild plants, including obvious food plants such as blackberries and hazelnuts, these samples typically contain cereals and other crop plants. Groups 2 and 3 both comprise relatively low-volume samples, generally between 0.5 and 2 litres, wet-sieved in the lab with a minimum mesh size of 0.2 mm, thus allowing the recovery of the remains of the vast majority of plant species. The 28 samples from group 2 were bagged in the field, whereas the 5 samples from group 3 were subsampled from monoliths taken from the trench sections. The analyses of these samples allow a detailed reconstruction of the local vegetation and land use. Group 4, comprising just five samples, consists of plant remains attached as residues to potsherds.The vegetation analyses unmistakably identify the major kinds of land use practised in the Matsloot-Roderwolde peatlands. Two dominant field types emerged: pasture and meadowland, thus testifying to animal husbandry as the major economic activity. It is notable that this appears to be true for all phases of habitation, and throughout the area. All identified grassland communitiestypically occur in moist to wet areas, periodically flooded in the winter season. Marine influences were incidental, and at no point resulted in lasting salinization of the environment. Woodland was restricted to the margins of the peat area, but solitary alder trees and bramble thickets occurred throughout the polder.Cereal cultivation was practised, if at all, on a very limited scale. This is in contrast to the results from seemingly comparable peat and clay-on-peat landscapes in other parts of the Netherlands. Various cereals were identified, including oat, rye and bread wheat, but mostly in small numbers;arable weed vegetation is virtually absent. Large numbers of cereal grains occur only at farmstead site 9, dominated by oat. Rather unexpectedly, various sites yielded hemp remains. It is concluded that some of the ditches from which these were recovered must have been hemp retting ditches, and that the hemp industry in the area was a major economic activity. The ‘brewing hypothesis’,formulated in the 1990s, can be rejected. While some beer production may well have taken place, the results show that this cannot have been a widespread and dominant activity.The study of residues on sherds resulted in some remarkable findings. Relatively large cereal fragments could be identified on various sherds, pointing to a dish prepared with coarsely fragmented grain, rather than fully ground meal. Even more surprising was the find of charred, complete flax seeds as a food crust, the remains of a medieval linseed gruel. This is a new finding, since flax is classically associated with pressing for oil or processing for fibres, and hardly considered as a major foodstuff.