J Archaeol Sci 32 (4)

The evidence for dairying in antiquity has, until recently, primarily been restricted to the reconstruction of herd structures through the analysis of faunal remains. Using this method alone cannot provide definitive evidence for the presence of dairy herds, due to differences in the recovery of animal bones at sites and the many different farming strategies that can affect herd structures (e.g. dairying, meat production, traction etc.). Absorbed lipid residues have been extracted from 237 pottery vessels from the British Iron Age sites of Maiden Castle, Danebury Hillfort, Yarnton Cresswell Field and Stanwick. The compound-specific stable carbon isotope (13C values) of the principal fatty acids found in animal fats (C16:0 and C18:0) have allowed the direct detection of dairy fats, thus providing evidence that dairying was an important component of farming practices in the British Iron Age. The results are compared to assessments of the faunal remains at each of the sites, and correlations between morphological characteristics of the vessels (e.g. type, form, use wear and rim diameter) and lipid residue discussed.

Absorbed lipid residue analysis has previously demonstrated that dairying was a major component of animal husbandry in Britain during both the Iron Age and Bronze Age. As a continuation of this research into the antiquity of dairying, the incidence of dairy fats associated with pottery vessels from six Neolithic sites from Southern Britain is presented herein. A total of 438 potsherds from Windmill Hill, Abingdon Causewayed Enclosure, Hambledon Hill, Eton Rowing Lake, Runnymede Bridge and Yarnton Floodplain were submitted for organic residue analysis. To date, this constitutes the largest number of sherds investigated from one particular archaeological period. The compound-specific stable isotope values of the major fatty acid components in animal fats, namely C16:0 and C18:0, enable absorbed lipids in pottery vessels to be classified to commodity group, i.e. ruminant adipose, dairy and non-ruminant adipose fats can be distinguished. The lipid extracts were relatively well preserved, and dairy fats were observed in approximately 25% of all of the sherds, demonstrating that milk was a valued commodity in the British Neolithic. These results confirm that dairying was an established component of the agricultural practices that reached Britain in the fifth Millennium BC.

Pollen, charcoal and sedimentological analyses of a radiocarbon-dated sediment sequence from Crag Lough, by Hadrian's Wall, northern England, are used to reconstruct vegetational and land-use change since ca. 3000 cal BC. The sequence is interpreted in the light of the archaeological record, particularly in relation to the impact of Roman military activity in the area. The most significant episodes of woodland clearance occurred in the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age period and then in the middle Iron Age, creating a patchwork of woodland, heather moorland, pasture and arable land by the Roman period. The main changes in the Roman period were a decline in the extent of Betula woodland and perhaps the local introduction of Secale cereale cultivation. Local land management practices involving fire seem to have been suspended in the Roman period, but resumed afterwards. The end of the Roman period may have been accompanied by a shift towards pastoral land-use and abandonment of less favourable agricultural land, but the effect was minor compared to that at other sites in the region. Later shifts in land use may relate to climate variability, as reconstructed from several mires in northern England.