Soultana-Maria Valamoti
Biographic Data
| ID | 3584896 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Soultana-Maria Valamoti |
| GIVEN NAMES | Soultana-Maria |
| FAMILY NAME | Valamoti |
| SIGNATURE | VALAMOTI S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5157-8062 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 47 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 451 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 47 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 14 |
From wild stands to orchards: An archaeobotanical investigation of the olive tree in prehistoric Aegean vegetation
Triticum timopheevii s.l. (‘new glume wheat’) finds in regions of southern and eastern Europe across space and time
Triticum timopheevii sensu lato (‘new glume wheat’, NGW) was first recognised as a distinct prehistoric cereal crop through work on archaeobotanical finds from Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in northern Greece. This was later followed by its identification in archaeobotanical assemblages from other parts of Europe. This paper provides an overview of the currently known archaeobotanical finds of Timopheev’s wheat in southeastern and eastern Europe…
Leave no stone unturned: Exploring the metaproteome of beerstone for the identification of archaeological beer production
In archaeological contexts, identifying processes of beer production and consumption has contributed to our understanding of agriculture, labor mobilization, economic surplus, feasting, gender dynamics, social structure, tribute, community, identity and politics. Nevertheless, in the absence of pictorial representations and characteristic objects, beer brewing is difficult to identify in the archaeological record, and molecular methods are often …
A Taste for Sweet: Ethnoarchaeological Insights on Plant-Based Sweeteners of Prehistoric Southeastern Europe with Special Emphasis on Wild Pear Syrup
Little is known about food sweeteners of prehistoric Europe other than honey. In this study, archaeobotanical evidence of wild pears is combined with an ethnographic study of wild pear syrup preparation in Greece to better understand potential sources of natural plant-based sweeteners used in prehistoric times in southeastern Europe. Participant observation and interviews were conducted in Kosmati, a village in the western Macedonia region of nor…
Brewing Beer and Breaking Bread: Integrating Ethnoarchaeological and Archaeological Research on Food and Culinary Practices, Thematic Section, Part II
Fusion cuisine in the shadow of Mount Olympus: An integrated study of Middle and Late Bronze Age cooking pots
This paper explores the relations developed between Mycenaeans and their northern neighbours through the study of cooking assemblages from four sites in the region of Pieria, in present-day Greek Central Macedonia. A strong connection with the Mycenaean sphere in the 13th -12th century BC has already been indicated through archaeological evidence from graves, but it is the first time that this connection is explored through domestic utensils. Mor…
Ceramic Cooking Dishes in the Prehistoric Aegean: Variability and Uses
Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens - Volume 91, Number 1, January-March 2022
Exploring Diversity in Neolithic Agropastoral Management in Mainland Greece Using Stable Isotope Analysis
New stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values of charred plant and bone collagen remains from 6th mill. BCE Halai, central Greece, together with datasets from 6th mill. BCE Kouphovouno, southern Greece, and later 6th/early 5th mill. BCE Makriyalos, northern Greece, demonstrate how early farming communities in mainland Greece adapted mixed farming strategies to distinct local environmental and cultural settings. Intra-site similariti…
Deciphering ancient ‘recipes’ from charred cereal fragments: An integrated methodological approach using experimental, ethnographic and archaeological evidence
This paper assesses a series of experimentally generated cereal fragments with the aim to develop criteria for interpreting archaeological remains of ground cereals. Modern grain of einkorn and barley was subjected to processing by means of grinding, boiling and malting and then charred under controlled laboratory conditions. Neolithic replica grinding stones, cooking pots and hearths were used for the production of modern reference material, inf…
Food-processing ground stone tools in the Greek Neolithic and Bronze Age. A synthesis of the published data
Ever since the Paleolithic, the use of stone tools comprises one of the fundamental methods for the processing of plants (domesticated or not) and their transformation into edible substances. After many years of neglect, food-processing stone tools, such as grinding slabs and grinders (henceforth grinding tools), mortars and pestles (henceforth pounding tools), usually attributed to the wider technological categories of ‘ground stones’ or ‘macrol…
Plant foods, stone tools and food preparation in prehistoric Europe: An integrative approach in the context of ERC funded project PLANTCULT
The transformation of food ingredients into meals corresponds to complex choices resulting from the interplay of environmental and cultural factors: available ingredients, technologies of transformation, cultural perceptions of food, as well as taste and food taboos. Project PLANTCULT (ERC Consolidator Grant, GA 682529) aims to investigate prehistoric culinary cultures from the Aegean to Central Europe by focusing on plant foods and associated fo…
Ethnogrinding Database: A tool to collect and connect worldwide information on ethnological and ethnoarchaeological hand-milling systems
This study advances research carried out during the creation of a bibliographic database of ethnological information regarding hand milling systems in the framework of the ERC-Project PLANTCULT Identifying the Food Cultures of Ancient Europe: an interdisciplinary investigation of plant ingredients, culinary transformation and evolution through time led by S.M. Valamoti. The main aims of the database are to collect information linked to the proces…
Distinguishing ripe spelt from processed green spelt (Grünkern) grains: Methodological aspects and the case of early La Tène Hochdorf (Vaihingen a.d. Enz, Germany)
The practice of harvesting green grains is known worldwide and, although it implies a higher investment of labour than collecting them ripe, it presents some advantages such as the possibility to extend the harvest time or to secure one year's crop yield in case of, for instance, bad weather close to ripening. However, the presence of green-harvested cereals in archaeobotanical assemblages has so far never been studied. No previous work has been …
Local domestication or diffusion? Insights into viticulture in Greece from Neolithic to Archaic times, using geometric morphometric analyses of archaeological grape seeds
Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is one of the emblematic crops of Greece. Despite evidence of early wine making in the Aegean since the Late Neolithic (ca 4500–4000 BC), the hypothesis of a local domestication of the grapevine in this area hasn't be thoroughly investigated. In order to date the first appearance of the domesticated grapevine and to explore the past cultivated diversity in the Aegean, morphometric analyses were performed on a large d…
Experimental investigation of ceramic technology and plant food cooking in Neolithic northern Greece
International audience
Fresh from the Oven”: Experiments on Triticum spelta and a protocol for carbonising specimens for archaeobotanical comparison collections
Charring is the most common preservation state of plant remains retrieved at archaeological sites. Therefore, archaeobotanists have often performed charring experiments mainly aimed to produce comparative materials and to better understand the various processes affecting the morphology and composition of archaeobotanical assemblages. In this paper, and based on previous works, we develop a laboratory protocol which standardizes the charring proce…
More than meets the eye: New archaeobotanical evidence on Bronze Age viticulture and wine making in the Peloponnese, Greece
Prehistoric cereal foods of southeastern Europe: An archaeobotanical exploration
This paper addresses for the first time a large body of archaeobotanical data from prehistoric Southeastern Europe, mostly published for the first time, that correspond to cereal food preparations. The evidence presented here comes from 20 sites situated in Greece and Bulgaria, spanning the Early Neolithic through to the Iron Age (7th millennium B.C.-1st millennium B.C.). The remains correspond to cereal fragments or agglomerations of fragments t…
Iron Age Cultural Interactions, Plant Subsistence and Land Use in Southeastern Europe Inferred from Archaeobotanical Evidence of Greece and Bulgaria
status: Published
Subsistence strategies in change: The integration of environmental and archaeological evidence on prehistoric land-use
Did Greek colonisation bring olive growing to the north? An integrated archaeobotanical investigation of the spread of Olea europaea in Greece from the 7th to the 1st millennium bc
Brewing beer in wine country? First archaeobotanical indications for beer making in Early and Middle Bronze Age Greece
The PLANTCULT Project: Identifying the plant food cultures of ancient Europe
Plant foods are closely connected to cultural, social and economic aspects of human societies, both past and present. Food-preparation techniques and the etiquette of consumption involve complex interactions of natural resources and human cultures. During European prehistory, these changes included the shift to sedentism, the cultivation and domestication of plants, food storage, the production and exchange of alcoholic beverages and luxury foods…
A bottom-up view of food surplus: Using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to investigate agricultural strategies and diet at Bronze Age Archontiko and Thessaloniki Toumba, northern Greece
We use stable isotope analysis of crop, faunal and human remains to investigate agricultural strategies and diet at EBA-LBA Archontiko and MBA-LBA Thessaloniki Toumba. Crop production strategies varied between settlements, phases and species; flexibility is also apparent within the crop storesof individual houses. Escalating manuring intensity at LBA Thessaloniki Toumba coincides with large co-residential ‘blocks’ geared towards hoarding of agric…
Prehistoric wine-making at Dikili Tash (Northern Greece): Integrating residue analysis and archaeobotany
Prehistoric wine-making at Dikili Tash (Northern Greece): Integrating residue analysis and archaeobotany
Early crop diversity: A ?new? glume wheat from northern Greece
Millet, the late comer: On the tracks of Panicum miliaceum in prehistoric Greece
A bottom-up view of food surplus: Using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to investigate agricultural strategies and diet at Bronze Age Archontiko and Thessaloniki Toumba, northern Greece
We use stable isotope analysis of crop, faunal and human remains to investigate agricultural strategies and diet at EBA-LBA Archontiko and MBA-LBA Thessaloniki Toumba. Crop production strategies varied between settlements, phases and species; flexibility is also apparent within the crop storesof individual houses. Escalating manuring intensity at LBA Thessaloniki Toumba coincides with large co-residential ‘blocks’ geared towards hoarding of agric…
Distinguishing food from fodder through the study of charred plant remains: An experimental approach to dung-derived chaff
Ground cereal food preparations from Greece: The prehistory and modern survival of traditional Mediterranean 'fast foods
Prehistoric cereal foods from Greece and Bulgaria: Investigation of starch microstructure in experimental and archaeological charred remains
Refining human palaeodietary reconstruction using amino acid δ15N values of plants, animals and humans
An established method of estimating the trophic level of an organism is through stable isotope analysis of its tissues and those of its diet. This method has been used in archaeology to reconstruct past human diet from the stable nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values of human and herbivore bone collagen. However, this approach, using the 15N-enrichment of human bone collagen δ15N values over associated herbivore bone collagen δ15N values to predict the …
Prehistoric cereal foods of southeastern Europe: An archaeobotanical exploration
This paper addresses for the first time a large body of archaeobotanical data from prehistoric Southeastern Europe, mostly published for the first time, that correspond to cereal food preparations. The evidence presented here comes from 20 sites situated in Greece and Bulgaria, spanning the Early Neolithic through to the Iron Age (7th millennium B.C.-1st millennium B.C.). The remains correspond to cereal fragments or agglomerations of fragments t…
An investigation of processing and consumption of pulses among prehistoric societies: Archaeobotanical, experimental and ethnographic evidence from Greece
Deciphering ancient ‘recipes’ from charred cereal fragments: An integrated methodological approach using experimental, ethnographic and archaeological evidence
This paper assesses a series of experimentally generated cereal fragments with the aim to develop criteria for interpreting archaeological remains of ground cereals. Modern grain of einkorn and barley was subjected to processing by means of grinding, boiling and malting and then charred under controlled laboratory conditions. Neolithic replica grinding stones, cooking pots and hearths were used for the production of modern reference material, inf…
Local domestication or diffusion? Insights into viticulture in Greece from Neolithic to Archaic times, using geometric morphometric analyses of archaeological grape seeds
Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is one of the emblematic crops of Greece. Despite evidence of early wine making in the Aegean since the Late Neolithic (ca 4500–4000 BC), the hypothesis of a local domestication of the grapevine in this area hasn't be thoroughly investigated. In order to date the first appearance of the domesticated grapevine and to explore the past cultivated diversity in the Aegean, morphometric analyses were performed on a large d…
After the harvest: Investigating the Role of Food Processing in Past Human Societies
Food remains from Bronze Age-Archondiko and Mesimeriani Toumba in northern Greece
Grain versus chaff: Identifying a contrast between grain-rich and chaff-rich sites in the Neolithic of northern Greece
Did Greek colonisation bring olive growing to the north? An integrated archaeobotanical investigation of the spread of Olea europaea in Greece from the 7th to the 1st millennium bc
Grape-pressings from northern Greece: The earliest wine in the Aegean
Houses burnt down at the Neolithic site of Dikili Tash in northern Greece preserved the remains of wild grapes and figs. The charred shapes showed that there was a pile of grape pips with skins - clear evidence for the extraction of juice. The authors argue that the juice was probably used to make wine - towards the end of the fifth millennium BC the earliest so far from the Aegean. The occupants of the houses also had two-handled cups, providing…
Harvesting the ‘wild’? Exploring the context of fruit and nut exploitation at Neolithic Dikili Tash, with special reference to wine
Towards a distinction between digested and undigested glume bases in the archaeobotanical record from Neolithic northern Greece: A preliminary experimental investigation
This study investigates the possibility of distinguishing digested from undigested glume wheat chaff in the archaeobotanical record. To this end the contents of dung pellets collected from a goat fed on einkorn spikelet forks and glume bases are analysed and the derived einkorn chaff examined macroscopically with the aid of scanning electron microscopy. The modern dung pellets contained recognisable glume bases which, compared with undigested one…
Lallemantia, an imported or introduced oil plant in Bronze Age northern Greece
Plant diversity and storage at Mandalo, Macedonia, Greece: Archaeobotanical evidence from the Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
The charred plant remains from Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age levels at Mandalo, Macedonia, Greece provide evidence for a broad range of crops and wild plant resources. There is clear evidence for the storage of some of these, in particular emmer, lentils and bitter vetch, but also barley, einkorn, Celtic bean, grass pea and acorns. There is also evidence for the possible storage and use of animal dung fuel, which has not previously been re…
Flax in Neolithic and Bronze Age Greece: Archaeobotanical evidence
An experimental approach for tracing olive processing residues in the archaeobotanical record, with preliminary examples from Tell Tweini, Syria
Exploring Diversity in Neolithic Agropastoral Management in Mainland Greece Using Stable Isotope Analysis
New stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values of charred plant and bone collagen remains from 6th mill. BCE Halai, central Greece, together with datasets from 6th mill. BCE Kouphovouno, southern Greece, and later 6th/early 5th mill. BCE Makriyalos, northern Greece, demonstrate how early farming communities in mainland Greece adapted mixed farming strategies to distinct local environmental and cultural settings. Intra-site similariti…
Brewing beer in wine country? First archaeobotanical indications for beer making in Early and Middle Bronze Age Greece
Early crop diversity: A ?new? glume wheat from northern Greece
Food remains from Bronze Age-Archondiko and Mesimeriani Toumba in northern Greece
Investigating the Prehistoric Bread of Northern Greece: The archaeobotanical evidence for the Neolithic and the Bronze Age
Prehistoric « bread » in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace in northern Greece is investigated through the study of charred plant remains retrieved from thirteen sites in the area dated from the Early Neolithic (7th millenium B.C.) to the Late Bronze Age (2nd millenium B.C.) : Servia, Makriyialos, N. Nikomedeia, Mandalo, Giannitsa B, Kastanas, Assiros, Thermi B, Olynthos, Sitagroi, Arkadikos, Dikili Tash and Makri. « Bread » is examined in the b…
Plant diversity and storage at Mandalo, Macedonia, Greece: Archaeobotanical evidence from the Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
The charred plant remains from Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age levels at Mandalo, Macedonia, Greece provide evidence for a broad range of crops and wild plant resources. There is clear evidence for the storage of some of these, in particular emmer, lentils and bitter vetch, but also barley, einkorn, Celtic bean, grass pea and acorns. There is also evidence for the possible storage and use of animal dung fuel, which has not previously been re…
Grain versus chaff: Identifying a contrast between grain-rich and chaff-rich sites in the Neolithic of northern Greece
Distinguishing food from fodder through the study of charred plant remains: An experimental approach to dung-derived chaff
Lallemantia, an imported or introduced oil plant in Bronze Age northern Greece
Lallemantia, an imported or introduced oil plant in Bronze Age northern Greece
Grape-pressings from northern Greece: The earliest wine in the Aegean
Houses burnt down at the Neolithic site of Dikili Tash in northern Greece preserved the remains of wild grapes and figs. The charred shapes showed that there was a pile of grape pips with skins - clear evidence for the extraction of juice. The authors argue that the juice was probably used to make wine - towards the end of the fifth millennium BC the earliest so far from the Aegean. The occupants of the houses also had two-handled cups, providing…
Detecting seasonal movement from animal dung: An investigation in Neolithic northern Greece
Neolithic northern Greece has both tell sites and extended 'flat' sites, with an implication that people lived differently and may have managed their animals differently on each type of site. The author investigates these differences using characteristic plant assemblages deriving from animal dung. She finds that samples from tells are rich in processed crops and wild seeds, indicating grazing on and off the fields near home. But those from the f…
Prehistoric cereal foods from Greece and Bulgaria: Investigation of starch microstructure in experimental and archaeological charred remains
Bronze and Oil: A Possible Link between the Introduction of Tin and Lallemantia to Northern Greece
Lallemantia , an exotic oil plant, recently identified at Bronze Age sites in the Macedonia region of northern Greece, has a natural distribution lying outside Europe, in regions ranging from Iran to Anatolia, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. The possible routes through which Lallemantia arrived in northern Greece are considered in relation to evidence for Bronze Age trade in metals, in particular tin. The overlap of Bronze Age tin sources proposed…
An investigation of processing and consumption of pulses among prehistoric societies: Archaeobotanical, experimental and ethnographic evidence from Greece
Flax in Neolithic and Bronze Age Greece: Archaeobotanical evidence
An experimental approach for tracing olive processing residues in the archaeobotanical record, with preliminary examples from Tell Tweini, Syria
Ground cereal food preparations from Greece: The prehistory and modern survival of traditional Mediterranean 'fast foods
After the harvest: Investigating the Role of Food Processing in Past Human Societies
Towards a distinction between digested and undigested glume bases in the archaeobotanical record from Neolithic northern Greece: A preliminary experimental investigation
This study investigates the possibility of distinguishing digested from undigested glume wheat chaff in the archaeobotanical record. To this end the contents of dung pellets collected from a goat fed on einkorn spikelet forks and glume bases are analysed and the derived einkorn chaff examined macroscopically with the aid of scanning electron microscopy. The modern dung pellets contained recognisable glume bases which, compared with undigested one…
Harvesting the ‘wild’? Exploring the context of fruit and nut exploitation at Neolithic Dikili Tash, with special reference to wine
Refining human palaeodietary reconstruction using amino acid δ15N values of plants, animals and humans
An established method of estimating the trophic level of an organism is through stable isotope analysis of its tissues and those of its diet. This method has been used in archaeology to reconstruct past human diet from the stable nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values of human and herbivore bone collagen. However, this approach, using the 15N-enrichment of human bone collagen δ15N values over associated herbivore bone collagen δ15N values to predict the …
Inferring the agrobiodiversity of Vitis vinifera L. (grapevine) in ancient Greece by comparative shape analysis of archaeological and modern seeds
Prehistoric wine-making at Dikili Tash (Northern Greece): Integrating residue analysis and archaeobotany
Millet, the late comer: On the tracks of Panicum miliaceum in prehistoric Greece
Subsistence strategies in change: The integration of environmental and archaeological evidence on prehistoric land-use
Did Greek colonisation bring olive growing to the north? An integrated archaeobotanical investigation of the spread of Olea europaea in Greece from the 7th to the 1st millennium bc
Archaeology (42 works) · Geography (42 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (37 works) · Biology (32 works) · Agriculture (20 works) · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History (19 works) · Bronze Age (18 works) · History (18 works) · Prehistory (18 works) · Ecology (15 works)