Restitutio Ab Initio

Direct Dating and Isotopic Evidence to Evaluate the Proxy Reliability of Intrusive Archaeobotanical Remains

Datos Bibliográficos

ID19465880
AutoresAna García-Vázquez (0000-0002-9041-4148, University of Bucharest, autor de correspondencia), Mihaela Golea (0009-0008-4264-9779, Romanian Academy), Gabriela Sava (Horia Hulubei National Institute for R and D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering), Tiberiu Sava (0000-0002-5136-0749, University of Bern), Catalin Lazar (0000-0001-7559-1843, University of Bucharest, autor de correspondencia)
Año2026
Volumen33
Número3
Fecha de publicación2026-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Archaeological Method and Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1072-5369 • E-ISSN: 1573-7764
EditorialSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s10816-026-09791-3
OpenAlexW4416980228
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas45

Recovering archaeobotanical remains from archaeological contexts often entails substantial methodological challenges. Flotation and environmental sampling routinely yield charred seeds whose cultural attribution does not necessarily correspond to the stratigraphic position or inferred chronology of the deposits in which they occur. Direct radiocarbon dating frequently exposes marked discrepancies, demonstrating that intrusive seeds may derive from much later occupations than the layers that contain them. Such materials are commonly excluded from analysis, either because they are deemed intrusive or because their taxa are not otherwise attested in the archaeological period represented by the context. We argue, however, that within multi-stratified and multi-period sites, intrusive carpological remains may, in specific cases, provide limited and context-dependent evidence for later episodes of site use, provided that their chronology and taphonomic status are independently verified by direct radiocarbon dating and, where feasible, complementary isotopic analysis. This study presents new radiocarbon and stable isotope data for charred millet grains recovered from the Gumelnița site in southeastern Romania. Two broomcorn millet ( Panicum miliaceum ) grains and one foxtail millet ( Setaria italica ) grain were directly dated, placing their presence in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC and the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The directly dated Setaria italica grain is, to our knowledge, the earliest securely dated occurrence of foxtail millet in Europe; an earlier occurrence is known from Pichori in Transcaucasia, outside Europe, which remains the earliest directly dated record of foxtail millet currently known from the Caucasus. These results demonstrate that intrusive grains may provide limited chronological evidence for documenting later occupational or depositional events superimposed upon earlier archaeological layers

Before Present · Chronology · Foxtail · Holocene · Isotope analysis · Radiocarbon dating · Stable isotope ratio · Taphonomy · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies