Pollen analysis of the contents of excavated vessels—direct archaeobotanical evidence of beverages

Abstract

Direct evidence of mead and wine by pollen analysis is possible under certain circumstances which have prevented the decomposition of the original pollen content of vessels from archaeological contexts. This is shown here by two examples. The first, which concerns a Bronze bowl from a rich woman's grave of the late Hallstatt Period at Niedererlbach, Bavaria, must have contained mead as is indicated by the pollen, preserved by copper salts. The results are similar to those from Glauberg, Hochdorf and Heuneburg. The second example comes from Coptic wine amphorae of the early medieval period from Šaruna, Middle Egypt. Pollen, as remains of the former contents, had been preserved by the absolute dryness of the climate. Vitis pollen persists on the grape's surface and it is also detectable in the finished wine when it has been prepared without using modern vinification technology, as shown by experiments. In some samples a sweetening of the wine or an enrichment of the must by honey is evident. These honeys were not mixed like the Celtic honeys in central Europe were but were well-made Brassicaceae yield honeys which indicate a highly developed bee-keeping culture; since they were collected by wild bees they represent the bees' activity over a complete growing season.