Palaeobotany of the Greek colonies of the northern Pontos
 

G. Pashkevič

The occurrence of palaeoethnobotanical and  zooarchaeological records since the end of the sixties has made it possible to consider the past societies as "systems" in which all the elements are connected  and all of them have great value.

Recently plant and animal remains fell into the hands of archaeologists casually. Not all researchers paid to them attention. At best, case finds were sent to the experts   for study; systematic research, however, was not carried out.  The finds were individual and did not provide a  representative picture about composition of cultivated plants. In general the authors refer to written sources. Systematic research, however, was not carried out. These were individual finds and did not provide a representative picture for understanding of farming economies.

In recent years palaeoethnobotanists are included in a team of archeologists and take part in the excavation. This union of archaeologists and palaeoethnobotanists enables to collect plant remains purposefully. The volume of the plant remains has grown considerably as a result of  the use of new technics of flotation during the archaeological excavation. The opportunity has now appeared to critically reconsider representations about structure of cultivated plants. These data are used as the reliable base for palaeoeconomical reconstructions of ancient societies.

Information about the cultivated plants  that were utilized by the inhabitants of the Greek cities and their surroundings in the North Pontic area is available in many papers and monographies, concerned with agricultural economy (Кругликова 1975, Гайдукевич, 1949; Крыжицкий, Буйских, Бураков, Отрешко, 1989; Шелов, 1972; Крижицький, Щеглов, 1991; Щеглов, 1978, 1990). The most detailed account of cultivated plants used by Greek in the North Pontic area, as described by ancient authors, is found in the work of V. Blavatsky " Agriculture in cities of  Antiquity on the Northern Coast of the Black Sea " (Блаватский 1953). V. Blavatsky  and later I. Kruglikova came to the following conclusions: 1.The crop-plant assemblage on the Northern coast of the Black Sea remained almoust unchanged during the time of Greek colonization.

2. The assortment of cultivated plants was identical both among the Greek colonists and the local tribes. The authors do not specify whether the Greek brougth wheat with them and if so, which kind. In reference to N.Kir'janov, I.Kruglikova agrees that emmer was introduced to the Northern coast of the Black Sea (Kruglikova 1975:182).

She  writes, that bread and hard wheat were present since the first  centuries AD, but that it played  a minor role compared to barley (Kruglikova 1975: 184 – 186). Blavatsky is of a different opinion. With reference to K.Fljaksberger, he maintains that the wheat exported to Greece  was of  local provenance, since  mainly Triticum durum was cultivated in the poleis. There the local wheat had small grains and was the lightest of all known grains in Gaul and  in Chersonesos (Blavatsky 1953: 80).

These data certainly, demand critical revision in view of modern results and knowledge.  We do not know what Herodotos meant with the common name “bread”, probably he meant wheat or barley. Besides, lack of corresponding Latin names of the plants between the names used today and the names used by ancient authors makes it impossible to understand which specific plant is meant.

One of the first specialized works in palaeoethnobotanics was made by G.Nikolaenko and Z.Janushevich in the seventies in Chersonesos (Janushevich and Nikolaenko, 1979:  121 - 126; Николаенко, Янушевич, 1981:  27 - 30). The purpose of their work was to reveal the rests of cultivated plants of the antique epoch on the Northern Black Sea Coast.

At the end of the nineteenseventies Palaeoethnobotanical material of the 4th – 2nd century BC were found in excavations of four farmhouses in the chora of Chersonesos (excavator, G.Nikolaenko). Spethial flotation was not made. Samples visible to the naked eye were selected. Unfortunately, the quantity of grains and seeds were not specified.

According to Z. Yanushevich, the composition of  the cultivated plants consists of a mixed population of naked wheat, club wheat Triticum aestivo-compactum with admixtures of the weed rye Secale segetale, the hulled six-row barley Hordeum vulgare with admixtures of Hordeum lagunculiforme and some small seeds varieties of legumes Vicia ervilia, Cicer arietinum, Pisum sp., Lathyrus sp., Vicia sp. The major finds  were vine with pips kindred by their morphology to the wild Vitis silvestris (Janushevich &Nikolaenko 1979: 133; Янушевич 1986: 40 – 70). Z. Janushevich believes, that grapes entered into the culture through forest –vines Vitis silvestris of the Crimea. Selection was the carried out, and wild grapes  were replaced with cultivated grapes brought from the poleis.  Since the beginning of the 3rd  centuries AD  the Greek colonists enjoyed a large variety of cultivated grapes (Janushevich  1986: 69).
Summing up research carried out in Chersonesos in the 1970s, one reaches the conclusion that naked wheat and  hulled barley were  the basic plants of the archaeobotanical complex in Greek cities. Millet,  rye, peas, lentil and bitter vetch were also in this complex (Янушевич 1981: 93 - 95; Nikolaenko & Janushevich 1981: 26 - 34; Janushevich  1988: 40 – 56).

However it is not always possible to establish the species in carbonized grains with certainty.  For example, the morphological attributes of  naked wheats are very similar. Some experts use the mean size-index L/B  as distinguishing feature for  the specific species  (Janushevich 1976: 85). The mean size-index for Triticum aestivum changes within the limits of 1.7 - 2.0, for Triticum compactum, the limits of 1.1 - 1.5. Grains within the size-index 1.5 - 1.6 are referred to as the mixed forms Triticum aestivo - compactum.  However, according to E..Schiemann, the combination Triticum aestivo-compactum  is synonymous with Triticum compactum, and the intermediate form Triticum aestivo-compactum simply does not exist (Schiemann 1948: 52).
Taking all of these points into account,  palaeoethnobotanists in  Europe  have  concluded  that the determination of carbonized grains of  naked wheats  is very difficult, and they  have agreed to use the incorporative  name Triticum aestivum s.l. This designation includes: Triticum vulgare Vill., Triticum compactum Host, Triticum vulgare antiquorum Heer, and Triticum  aestivum grex aestivo-compactum Schiem. (Wasylikowa et al. 1991: 209), and is used in the following.

 

Recently a large amount of new archaeobotanical record has appeared, as a result of intensive research in Olbia, Chersonesos and its chora and on settlements of neighbouring tribes. The purpose of these studies were:

1.      To establish the composition of cultivated plants, utilised  by the Greek colonists.

2.      To establish, whether the plant assortment of the Greek colonists differed from that of local tribes?.

3.      To discern any changes in assortment during the course of time.

4.      To comprehend whether the Greek brought the plant assortment with them, or, having settled in a new place, adopted plants of the local tribes.

Olbia is one of the large centres of ancient culture on the Northern coast of the Black Sea. The city was founded by the Greek colonists from Ionia in the first half of 6th century BC.  It existed for almost one millennium, until the last third of the 4th century AD.  Excavations in Olbia have been conducted for more than one hundred years. During the last twenty years work has concentrated on three areas: 1. the area of the lower city ("Sector NGS", excavator N. Leipunskaja), 2.  "Sector № 25" (excavator V.Krapivina), and 3. “Sector T – 3" (excavator V. Nazarchuk).

Archaeological material dated to the  3rd  - 2nd  centuries BC was discovered in Sector NGS, material from the 1st  - 4th centuries AD in Sector № 25, and  material from the 6th  – 5th centuries  BC in Sector T-3. The excavations cover almost all periods of habitation in Olbia.

Since 1991 works on recovering fossilized plant remains has been carried out in Olbia. The samples were collected directly from the exposed levels in each of the three sectors and then subjected to water flotation.

Settlement finds from the chora of Olbia are used for the characteristic of earlier periods: the archaic period (second half of the 6th  to the first quarter of the 5th  century BC) and the classical period (middle of  the 5th to the second third of the 4th  century BC) (map   ). Archaeobotanical materials of the 6th –5th century BC are the most interesting. From these we learn what kind of cultivated plants the Greek colonists have started to grow on the northern coast of the Black Sea.

Berezan, the most ancient Greek settlement on the Northern coast of the Black Sea was founded at the end of the 7th century BC. In the 6th century BC a number of settlements like Beykush, Ochakov, B.Chernomorka, Chertovatoe appeared on the coast of the lower Berezan bay.

Excavation have been carried out at Berezan for tens years; however the palaeoethnobotanical material until now is rather insufficient.  Seeds of grape Vitis vinifera and the nuts gromwell Lithospermum arvense were found in amphora № AB 62/362 (excavator V. Lapin). In the report on the excavation V. Lapin designated the nuts of gromwell as grains millet Panicum miliaceum. Certainly, such a conclusion was made in the field during excavation, at a point whn the material had not yet been studied by an expert.

The most mass material is submitted on settlement Kozurka 9 (second half of the 6th to the first quarter of the 5th  century BC) (excavator V. Otreshko). The basic information was obtained from the analysis of charred grains recovered from pits № 32, 33, 37, 44 and 49. The grains were found together with chaff: fragments of straw, spikelet forks, rachis of ears, specate and floral glumes. The presence of these vegetative rests in the pits is most probably connected with a certain technological process. The walls of the clay pits were specially burnt for their durability. The material used in burning the walls could have been culm of cereals. Ears with grains could have been among this material as well. The grains were deformed by fire, and many of them have cavities on body (tab. ). Three cereals make the basic part of the finds - hulled barley Hordeum vulgare (28%), free-threshing or naked wheat (e.g. bread wheat) Triticum aestivum s.l. (14%) and millet (17%). Seeds of  lentil Lens culinaris, pea  Pisum sativum and bitter vetch  Vicia ervilia (12%  in sum) were also found,  as well as grains hulled wheats emmer and eincorn, and  naked barley. Most of the weed seeds represent common agricultural weeds. Corn-bind Convolvulus arvensis, field bromegrass Bromus arvensis, barnyard grass Echinocloa crusgalli and goosefoot Chenopodium album were found out in significant quantity. 

The settlement Beykush is located on the cape between Berezan and  Beykush,  to the north of Malaya Chernomorka, and dated  to the beginning of the 6th  - to the end of the first quarter of the 5th  century BC. The prevailing grains in the material recovered from the settlement (50 ml) was Triticum aestivum s.l.– near 3 thousand grains. Hulled wheats, mainly emmer and Triticum spelta were also found in insignificant quantity.

The materials from the settlement Chertovatoe 7 ( second half of the 6th  to the first quarter of the 5th  century BC), located on the right bank of the S.Bug, 9 km northeast from Olbia, has also been investigated. After wet –sieving the fillings of pits № № 5 - 8 and contents of a vessel from pit № 8 (tab.  ) it was determined that the prevailing grains were Triticum aestivum s.l. (65%).

Another settlement in the chora of Olbia,  Kozyrka 12 provided archaeobotanical material from the 4th  century BC (excavator E.Rogov). The settlement is located 1,2 km to the south of the modern village of Kozyrka, on the right bank of the Bug estuary. Charred grains were recovered from pits № 21, 27, 28 and 39. The results of the analysis affirmed the prevalence of grains Triticum aestivum s.l. (76 %).
Besides grains of  Hordeum vulgare, Secale cereale and hulled wheats,  seeds of  Lens culinaris and Vicia ervilia were present but in insignificant quantity.

Material from pit 7 held vegetal remains such as bits of straw,  spikelets and  grains of  the hulled wheats Triticum dicoccon,  Tr. monococcum  and Triticum spelta. These finds attest that the grains and the remains from thrashing wheats were deposited together with unthrashed crops.

A lump (90 ml ) of charred grains of  Panicum miliaceum was recovered from pit № 23 in the settlement Adzhigol (end of the 6th  - beginning of the 5th  centuries BC) (Пашкевич 1990: 118).

The first Greek colony on the coast of the Northwest Crimea is Kerkinitida. It has been founded at the end of the 6th century BC and until the foundation of Chersonesos it was the only Greek polis in Crimea. It has been founded by natives of Ionia (Кутайсов, 1990: 143). The material from different places (excavator V.Kutajsov) is used. The earliest material occurs from a layer no. 9 (the end of 5th century BC). Here is revealed 6.5 ml of the charred grains. The grains of hulled barley makes a basis of a find (309 grains) (tab. ). Grains of Triticum aestivum s.l. was almost three times less (111). Also one grain of Triticum monococcum, 12 grains of Triticum dicoccon, and from legumes 3 seeds of Vicia ervilia and one seed of Lens culinaris were found. The identification of a seed from a grape is doubtful. A smaller material was found in two samples from layers of the 4th century BC. In these samples grains of bread wheat prevailed. Grains of hulled barley (280) again make a basis of a find (volume 2.2 ml) in an ash filling of a foundation ditch (3 century BC). Here only two grains of Triticum aestivum s.l. were found.

New material was recently retrieved in Mirmekion (second half of the 6th  century BC) in the Bosporan area (excavator Ju.Vinogradov, Sankth Peterburg). These data is of interest for comparision with the results from the settlements in the chora of Olbia. The charred material was in the filling of pit № 59, and 71 and it was found in an oven   (tab.). Grains of Triticum aestivum s.l. and Hordeum vulgare appeared in equal quantities in pit № 59: 28 and 21. Also two grains of Triticum dicoccon and seeds of Convolvulus arvensis were revealed here. The sample from the oven contained the same grains and in the same ratio - 60 and 59 grains accordingly. One grain of Triticum dicoccon, 17 seeds of Vicia ervilia and one seed of Lens culinaris  were found here. Just as in the previous sample, the grains of cereals were greatly deformed, partially destroyed. The seeds of legumes were well kept.

The most significant find occurs from pit № 71.The total volume of the sample amount to 140 ml. After removal of fragments of grains, charcoals, bones and scales of fishes, its volume has decreased up to 108,2 ml. Grains of Triticum aestivum s.l. and Hordeum vulgare prevailed.  Grains of the hulled wheats Triticum dicoccon and Tr. spelta were a small admixture of 2 %. Some grains belonged to the naked barley Hordeum vulgare var.coeleste. Two grains of rye were found among the charred grains. With some doubt they can be attributed to Secale cereale. Only three grains of  Panicum miliaceum were recovered. Legumes were represented in seeds of bitter vetch (65), peas (2) and  lentil (1). The average diameter of bitter vetch seed (taken from 20 measurements) is equal to 3.34 mm. The grains of Hordeum vulgare were also considerably destroyed, however some scales were preserved. The majority of the grains have an oval-elongated form. Part of the grains are very narrow, slightly curved and assimetrical.  These characteristics testify that the grains belonged to the six-rowed barley.
There were some grains and seeds of weeds - Bromus arvensis (4 and one  Galium aparine и  Rumex sp. All of these plants are typical weeds found among cereal crops. Among them a sclerotium of Claviceps purpurea came to light.
A grape pip was found in pit № 71. It was slightly broken off in the top part, yet it displayed an elongated oval form and a small beak. The pip was determined as Vitis vinifera. A similar find is known from an amphora, found in the settlement of Berezan. The fragments of a shell of common walnut Juglans regia, one stone, probably, of ground cherry Prunus fruticosa  and one half of stone of  Prunus sp.were also found.
Some of the material from Mirmekion has earlier been investigated. There were grains of soft wheat from point E (the 5th century BC), barley (the name is not given) and two seeds of Olea oleracia (Fljaksberger 1940: 118; Гайдукевич 1949: 95-96; Gajdukevic 1971: 112). The results are published briefly, but without the quantitative analysis of the material. In the East Crimea olea tree does not grow neither in wild nor in a cultivated kind. For olive trees to grow it’s necessary with a warm damp winter and a hot dry summer (Щеглов, Кузьминова, Янушевич, Чавчавадзе 1989 : 64). Olives found in Mirmekion must be considered as the import of salty olives in the 5th century BC from any Greek center located in the East Mediterranean or on the Southern Black Sea Coast. Three seeds of cultivated olive (Olea europea) has been found in the settlement of Panskoe I on the Northern Black Sea Coast.

In 1990 A.Shcheglov determined the new finds from Mirmekion. According to his data, they consist mainly of grains of naked wheat (30) and also hulled barley (19). There are also the grains from hulled wheat Triticum dicoccon (2), millet (1),  lentil seed (1) and a grape pip (1) (Vinogradov 1996: 84).

Two cereals, Triticum aestivum s.l. and Hordeum vulgare, formed the basic finds from the settlement Mirmekion. Vicia ervilia was third in quantity. Other cultivated plants are Pisum sativum, Lens culinaris and the cereals Triticum dicoccon, Tr.spelta,  Secale cereale, Panicum miliaceum.  It was present in only  a small amount.
The same ratio is recorded in finds from Hermonassa. Material from a pit of filling of the 6th century BC revealed mainly grains of hulled barley (more than 60 thousand grains) and very small amount of grains of naked wheats (33), emmer (50) and rye (58) (Zeest 1965: 54).

The ancient Chersonesos was situated on the Heraclean Peninsula in North-west Crimea by migrants from Pontic Heraclea in the end of the 5th century BC.

Water flotation was carried out in August, 2002 during a joint American - Ukrainian expedition. Samples were selected in various places - from fillings dwellings and pits. The material has been collected in three areas. The object 132, farmhouse, dated to the 3rd -2nd centuries BC was located in the chora. Samples were selected in the tank from yard A. Of principal importance were grains of naked wheat (10) and hulled barley (9). Other cultivated plants were attested by individual grains of  Triticum dicoccon, and seeds of   Lens culinaris,  Pisum sativum, Vicia ervilia. Also fragments of pips of grapes Vitis vinifera and seeds of fig Ficus carica were found. The basic purpose of the tank has been connected with storage of water. The possibility of finding charred grains in it was very small.

Sector “Bezymyannaya”.  Seven samples have been selected. Most numerous were grains of Triticum aestivum s.l. (32), Hordeum vulgare (38) and Panicum miliaceum (19). Whole pips and fragments of Vitis vinifera were also found, as well as seeds of fig Ficus carica. Other cereals are submitted to individual grains: Triticum dicoccon (4), Hordeum vulgare var. coeleste (1), Secale cereale (5), Avena sativa (1). Seeds Vicia ervilia - 23, Lens culinaris - 10 and Pisum sativum - 5 were among legumes.

City quarter in southern area of the Byzantian Chersonese. This material originally stems from the filling of a hole. (reckons the archeologists). The hole was found in a courtyard. It is attributed to the X century.

Panskoe 1 –settlement in north-western Crimea. The site was only settled during a short time – from c.400 B.C. to around 270 B.C. During its  first  fifty years of existence the settlement apparently  formed part of the  chora of Olbia, but after being destroyed around  350 B.C. it was included in the chora of the Tauric Chersonesos (Hannestad, Stolba, Ščeglov 2002). The settlement Panskoe 1 is of great interest due to the original composition of cereals. Numerous finds of carbonised grains of rye were made here. Rye is most frequent and in greatest number. Previous to that rye had been only a crop –weed of wheat.

Charred grains have been collected by A. Schcheglov in pit no. 25 in complex У7 (beginning Ш в.до AD) during the excavation in 1982. Grains of Triticum aestivum s.l. (73 %) prevaled. There was a mixture of grains barley and hulled wheats Triticum dicoccon, Triticum monococcum and Triticum spelta.

Materials from rooms 3 and 13 have been investigated by Z.V.Janushevich. Each find contains no less than 30-50 thousand grains. In room 3 two cereals Triticum aestivum s.l..18.1 % and Secale cereale 81.9 % formed the basic finds. Other cereals Triticum durum, Triticum monococcum and Triticum dicoccon, hulled barley, were present in small amounts. In a vessel from room 13 grains of Triticum aestivum s.l. (26.8 %) and Secale cereale  (73.2 % ) were recorded. The rests of a flour or porridge from millet was found in one of the vessels. Such high values of rye in the early 3rd century BC is a strong indication of the existence of independent crops of these cereals instead of a crop of weed. According to A. Shcheglov rye has been cultivated here as winter crop (Hannestad, Stolba, Ščeglov 2002: 329 – 330). The same high values of rye in a find - 95 % is found in the settlement of Vladimirovka (excavator V.Latyshev).

According to N. Vavilov, the Crimea and north-eastern Black Sea area were possibly among the regions where rye became an independent cereal crop at approximately the beginning of our era.

The settlement Novopokrovka 1 is located in the area South- East of Crimea, 23 km northwest of the modern city Feodosiya. The city Feodosiya was founded by Greek colonists in the second half of the 6th century BC.  A favorable environment promoted employment by farming. Rural settlements arised here in the 5th century BC. The number of these settlements increased considerably in the 4th century BC (Гаврилов 1998: 111). In the settlement of Novopokrovka1 54 pits have been investigated. The grains have been taken from 9 pits. Thefilling of the pits date to the 4th - 3rd century BC. Grains of naked wheats Triticum aestivum s.l. prevailed in the fillings of five of these pits.

Next in number was thegrains of barley. The main part of the grains was the hulled barley Hordeum vulgare. The grains of naked barley Hordeum vulgare var.coeleste was also found though in much lesser quantity. Except for a find from pit № 2 where 58 grains were found and only two grains of hulled barley. However, it is quite probable, that the amount of grains of naked barley was much bigger. As opposed to other cereals, grains of naked barley are often destroyed, and among the fragments of grains it is possible to note prevalence of fragments of this barley. In fact, grains of hulled barley were well kept when looking at the scales.The naked barley was preferable in primitive agriculture. It‘s quite stable towards unfavourable conditions of cultivation. It is being cultivated in mountain areas of Southwest Asia even at an altitude of 2000 m above sea level.

Grains rye and millet were represented as well. The number of  rye grains (112) was greater in  pit № 2, it was only found in smaller amounts in the other pits.

Grains of millet prevailed in pits № 32 and 46. Grains of foxtail millet Panicum italicum together with  grains of Panicum miliaceum were recovered. Panicum italicum was found also in the settlement of the 3rd century BC Maslynu in Crimea and in the territory of Chersonesos in medieval layers (Янушевич, 1976, with. 160-161). Grains of hulled wheats were found in a small amount. Triticum dicoccon predominated among the hulled wheats. Grains of Triticum monococcum, Triticum spelta were present but in insignificant quantity. Usually grains of hulled wheats have been found among grains of naked wheats, they are accepted as weeds. However, other parts of these wheats were recorded, as straw, spikelets and “forks” or fragments of chaff. These data specify existence of hulled wheats, and, first of all, emmer Triticum dicoccon. It is known, that grains of hulled wheats were stored in ears. It’s warmed up before threshing. Transportation of the collected crop demanded big capacities. It is obvious, that hulled wheats were raised on the fields near to the settlements. According to the archeologist A. Gavrilov, such various assortments of cultivated plants probably reflects the existence of a close contact between Greek colonists and the local population. Primitive, not exacting to soil and climatic conditions, but giving reliable crops hulled wheats and naked barley, and also the traditional plant of the Scythians – the millet, was cultivated by the local population. It is quite possible that greek colonists raised plants known to them, and, first of all, naked wheats (Pashkevich, 2001: 540).

Besides grains of cereals, seeds of Pisum sativum, Vicia ervilia,  Cicer arietinum,  Lens culinaris, Vicia faba, were only present in insignificant quantity. It’s a typical assortment used by the Greeks in the economy in Chersonesos (Янушевич, 1986:  54 and 58).

On finds of individual seeds of grapes in holes № 32, 33, 38, 46 it’s difficult to speak about their probable cultivation here.

Settlement Artyushchenko is located on the eastern fringe of the investigated area. The settlement is located on the Tamanskoy peninsula, and dated to the 6th - 5th  century BC (excavators E.Rogovym and Ju.Vinogradovym).  The information was obtained from three pits. The prevailing grains in the material recovered from these pits consists of the usual assortment of grains and seeds. Prevailing grains were Triticum aesivum and Hordeum vulgare. The material from pit 4 differs from this as seeds (94) of a legumes plant common vetch Vicia sativa L. (94) were recovered. They are found in this area for the first time.

This plant is typical, first of all, for the Mediterranean agriculture. It’s used mainly as feed for cattle. Today the plant is frequently met as a weed in crops, basically, lentils and bitter vetch. Ancestors and wild forms are dated for the Mediterranean area. The charred seeds are known in finds of the Neolithic and Bronze age in Near East, and in Europe. However specialists can with confidence only carry finds of charred seeds to cultivated plants back to the Roman times (Zohary D. and Hopf M., 1988:109).   

In view of all data, presented above, it is possible to state that the major importance among cereals is carried by Triticum aestivum s.l.  Hulled barley plays a significant role as well. In accordance with the investigated material it is possible to conclude with certainly that the Greek colonists cultivated an assortment of plant that they themselves brought from the poleis. It is not possible to agree with I.Kruglikova, who maintains that Greeks have begun to cultivate local cereals that were present on the Northern coast of the Black Sea. In argument she refers to Gerodotus, who mentions that in the 1st millennium BC local tribes such as agriculturalist Scythians (Callipidae and Alazonae) sowed wheat, barley and millet (Kruglikova 1975: 180). She does not specify the particular wheat that represents the basic cereal.

The plants, which have been discussed in the works of many archaeologists and historians under the common name of "wheat", are not defined as to their species. The experts know well, that the various kinds of wheat differ considerably, not only in morphological attributes (in this case: grains), but also in the conditions required for cultivation. Hence, hulled wheats, that are undemanding as to the quality of the tilled earth, drought-resistant and well adapted to primitive conditions of management, were crops of the tribes that occupied the Ukraine for some thousand years ago, i.e. since Neolithic period. Naked wheats, on the opposite, require a better soil quality for growth. These wheats appeared in a massive amount on the Northern coast of the Black Sea with the oncome of the Greeks. In earlier times the wheats were most probably weeds among the crops of hulled wheats. The fact that they are found in insignificant quantities in the material from many sites investigated in the Ukraine, beginning with the Neolithic and continuing into the first centuries AD, is testimony for this assumption (Z.Yanushevich 1986; Pashkevich 1991). Naked wheats are not known in the flat and highlands of the Crimea, as well as in other steppe zones on the northern coast of the Black sea before the occurrence of the first Greeks colonists. It may well be that in the indegenous culture only hulled wheats were grown. A mixture of grains Triticum monococcum and Triticum dicoccon was found in the burial of the Catacomb culture in the Northern area of Crimea, near Sivash (Янушевич, Корпусова, Pashkevich 1981). The second find occurs in South-west Crimea. On the settlement Chernaya rechka (7th –5th centuries BC, Kyzyl-Koba culture) were found more than two thousand charred grains (excavator J.Savelya). In total amount only 12 grains belonged to emmer, 10 grains - to hulled  barley, and the others - almost one thousand nine hundred eighty (that is, 99 %) to Triticum. monococcum (Янушевич, Кузьминова, Савеля 1988 : 14). According to Z. Yanushevich existed populations of naked wheats, hulled barley and legumes already at the beginning of Greek colonization, serving as economy base for local tribes. This I think is a wrong interpretation. (Янушевич1986: 46, 69).

Triticum monococcum seems to have been quite an important crop in the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Greece as well  as Triticum dicoccon. These primitive wheats, together with tetraploid Triticum durum are more adapted to the unfavourable climatic conditions and poor soils than are the hexaploid bread wheats (Sarpaki 1992: 69).

Classical set of the main cultivated plants in agriculture of the antique Mediterranean  usually reduce to cereals – primarily wheat and barley with the addition of legumes, vegetables and fruits according to local tastes and customs (Costantini, 1998:7).  Certainly, in different landscape and microlandscape zones of the Mediterranean the situation in each concrete case could differ in details.

These data are comparable with materials from excavations in Miletus. There is an assumption that Miletus was mother country of the majority of Greek colonies in the North Pontic area. The palaeoethnobotanical data are important as a picture of the agricultural traditions of the first colonists and structure of cultivated plants. Naked barley (43, 8 %) and wheats  (20, 9 %) prevailed in finds, and Panicum miliaceum (14, 6 %)  occupied third place. Wheats (18) are submitted both grains (15), and ears (3). Only four grains have been determined. Three grains belong to Triticum aestivum/durum. Hulled wheat are submitted one grain and three ears of Triticum monococum, and, probably, Triticum dicoccon (Stika 1992 : 160).

Some palaeoethnobotanists think that most ponderable are informations about agrobiological peculiarities. So according to W van Zeist, Triticum durum most probably in Mediterranean with  rainy winters and dry  summers, as naked wheats more adaptated to moderate climate (W van. Zeist, 1982: 199). Distinguishing charred grains of Triticum durum from Triticum aestivum s.l., on morphological signs is very complicated. It’s frequently impossible to do even in «living» contemporary material (Zohary, 1973).

The rachis segments serve as important criterion to determination of fossilised material (Nesbitt 2001: 42). They were present only in materials from the urban district on Chersonesos (10th –13th  century AD) in an insignificant quantity. Part of fragments can be classified as remainders of tetralpoid Triticum durum, and part as hexaploid Triticum aestivum s.l.  It is quite possible that in medieval ages Triticum durum was in crops on Crimea.

Information from Z.Yanushevich about grains of Triticum durum found in the Taurian settlement Uch-Bash in Crimea (10th – 9th centuries BC) has proven to be erroneous. Some thousand carbonised grains Triticum durum were recovered in a medieval pit,that intruded into the layers of the Taurian settlement. The report by S.Strzheletsky on this find is in the museum of Chersonesos. A.Shcheglov was the first to pay attention to this fact. The remains of  Triticum durum  were found also on settlement Bakla in medieval layers (Янушевич 1986: 49).

In Z.Yanushevich’s opinion, naked wheat Triticum aestivo-compactum appeared in the Near East including Transcaucasia  and reached the Crimea  via the Caucasus during the Bronze Age or the Eneolithic period (Janushevich 1976; Nikolaenko & Janushevich 1981; Yanushevich 1986).

The remains of ears of wheats were found recently in Georgia in cultural layers dated to the  6th  millennium BC. Thus, these finds have confirmed Z.Janushevich’s assumpsion that naked wheats occurred in the Caucasus from an    early period (Neolithic and Bronze Age) onwards (Janushevich & Rusishvili 1984). However, while there is still no definite answer to the question as to how naked wheats reached the Crimea, it is quite probable, that they were brought to the peninsula by the Greeks. In due course naked wheats spread throughout the territory and into the Ukraine. Numerous finds of grains of these wheats in material of the Greek cities testify to this course of dissemination.

As can be noted, hexaploid bread/club wheats Triticum aestivo-compactum prevailed since 6-th millenium BC in Georgia. They have been quite important crops in the Neolithic and Bronze Age.  Its amount changes within the limits of 70 - 90 %. However at the end of the 2nd millenium BC –1st thousand AD its quantity decreases considerably. At this time the increase of importance of hulled wheats was remarkable. It is possible, in some places there were pure crops wirh hulled wheats (Русишвили, 1988: 20). In the settlement Kavtishevi in a room for storage of grains Triticum dicoccon make up 84.8 % (Русишвили, 1988:23).

On data of H. Kroll, cultivation of bread wheat in Southeast Europe became possible only at the end of the late Bronze Age (2nd - to half of the 3rd   millennium BC). Before then it was only a weed growing among crops of hulled wheats. In the Iron Age this wheat prevailed among the crops. The author misses to explain the reasons for this transition from hulled wheats to bread wheats. (Kroll,1991:161-177).

E.Lange comes to the conclusion that the increase of crops of naked wheats in Europe began in the first half of 1st millennium AD and was closely connected with progress in the agricultural economy (Lange, 1975). Short-stemed naked wheats have shown better adapted to well processed soils. Besides, grains of these wheats were easier to thresh, and they did not require the large expenses of work for preliminary heating and grinding into flour. However, in some areas such as the eastern regions of the European part of Russia and also areas beyond the Urals, for instance in the Tjumen area, crops of emmer were still cultivated at the end of 19th and in the beginning of the 20th century (Stoletova 1924 – 1925: 38 - 48).

All of recovered data testify that naked wheats (probably together with hulled barley) were the basic crop- plant during Greek colonisation of the Northern coast  of the Black Sea. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that the Greeks brought with them an assortment of crop-plants with which they were familiar, and in which naked wheat had long been used as grain culture. This wheat had a number of important advantages over hulled wheats. The grains of naked wheats are smaller in size, than grains of hulled wheats, and have a more rounded form. Such grains give a greater amount of flour and a smaller amount of bran. It was also necessary to have a smaller bulk of container at storage or at transportation. These wheats proof to be treshed easily. And in addition, they are grown both summer and winter,that also provides a number of advantages before summer hulled wheats.
Throughout different periods of time, Greek poleis were bordered by various local tribes. During the second half of the 5th and in the 4th centuries BC a gradual transition of the nomadic Scythian tribes to sedentary life and the formation of an agricultural component in their economy occured on the Northern coast of the Black Sea (Гаврилюк, Пашкевич 1989). Archaeobotanical material from a number of settlements and burial grounds was used to reconstruct the agricultural component in the economy of the Scythians living in the steppes, dated to the end of the 5th and the 4th centuries BC. The largest amount of material (charred grains and impressions of grain on pottery) was retrieved from the settlement Lysaya Gora and the hillfort Kamenskoe. Individual impressions appeared on fragments of pottery from other Scythyan settlements and from grave mounds (Гаврилюк, Пашкевич, 1991:53; Пашкевич 2000, 101 – 109).

These investigations concluded that the crop-plant assemblage of the steppe Scythian tribes included Hordeum vulgare, Panicum miliaceum and less frequently Triticum dicoccon (Fig.1)

Farming of the Scythian tribes in the Steppe zone has first of all arisen from the requirements of cattle breeding,. Population growth and the need to feed a significant increase in the number of cattle resulted in the necessity to cultivate certain plants. Hordeum vulgare and Panicum miliaceum served this purpose. These plants can be used both as food for humans and as fodder for cattle. Hence, Hordeum vulgare and Panicum miliaceum were cultivated mainly in steppic Scythia. These drought-resistant plants answered well to the requirements of semi-nomadic tribes living in the steppes. Millet and hulled barley are drought-resistant and quickly ripening crops which makes them irreplaceable in the areas of droughts. Millet is frequently used as green fodder for cattle. Thanks to its short growing season in the southern regions, from 60 to 110 days, it is possible to get two crops in one year. Barley is also known as a forage crop of high quality, used for feeding horses especially in those areas, where oat Avena sativa does not grow.

Certain differences can be established between archaeobotanical complexes retrieved from material of Greek colonies and those from the Scythian settlements, formed during the transition from nomadic to semi-nomadic life at the end of the 5th to the 4th centuries BC. Hordeum vulgare and Panicum miliaceum are of great importance in the agriculture of the Scytian tribes, while Triticum aestivum s.l. and Hordeum vulgare are characteristic for the Greek colonies.

It should be noted, that in contrast to material recovered from  the Greek colonies, where cultivated plants predominated among weeds in the fields, the seeds and grains found in the hillfort of Kamenskoe those plants prevailed that are encountered in pastures, weedy places, and  along roads and  paths. Thereby, the seeds of fat hen Chenopodium album are met foremost. Seeds of Brassicaceae are also represented in significant quantities. It is known that the most often found seeds of the family Brassicaceae are ruderal weeds.  Only few indicators of crop weeds, such as barnyard grass Echinochloa crusgalli and corn-bind Convolvulus arvensis, were observed. 

Later, probably as a result of contacts with the farming of adjacent  Greek cities, bread wheat Triticum aestivum s.l. acquired a significant role. It can be concluded that archaeobotanical data illustrates the similarity between the plant assemblages cultivated in the chora of ancient cities and the hillfort of the Lower Dnieper in areas as Lubimovskoe, Gavrilovskoe,  Zolotaja Balka (3rd century BC –3rd century AD).

Thus, it can be concluded that the composision of cultivated plants from hillforts of Lower Dnieper consists of the following: Triticum aestivum s.l., Triticum dicoccon, Hordeum vulgare, Panicum miliaceum. Three cultures - Triticum aestivum s., Hordeum vulgare, Panicum miliaceum prevail among the finds and possibly in crops as well.

In both cases the prevalence of Triticum aestivum s.l. and Hordeum vulgare can be observed. One likely component of the assortment was rye.   Legumes such as, peas, lentils and vetch were also cultivated. Some differences in composition can be noted. Panicum miliaceum is of rather great importance in the archaeobotanical complexes of the Late Scythian hillforts, while in the  complexes from settlements of Greek colonists this cereal declined in significance. This is attested by a large find of grains Secale cereale in the Scythian settlement Suho-Chaltyr on the Bottom Don (1st – 2nd centuries AD). There 31,500 grains of rye were recovered (Kruglikova 1975: 184-185).

Tribes of the Cherniakhovskaja culture existed in the southern part of the vast territory of the Forest-Steppe and in the steppe area of the Ukraine, Moldova and Romania at the end of the 3rd century and in the 4th century AD. On the conclusion of Z. Janushevich, Triticum dicoccon and Panicum miliaceum were the basic plants inn the territory of Moldova  in Roman time (Janushevich 1986: 16 - 17). 
In the southern part of this area the population lived in coexistence with the inhabitants of the Greek colonies. The palaeoethnobotanical research on settlements of the Cherniakhovskaja culture, located in immediate vicinity of Olbia, enables a reconstruction of the assortment of plants known for carriers of the Cherniakhovskaja culture (Pashkevich, 2001:527 – 530).  

Hence, the cultivated plants known to the tribes of the Cherniakhovskaja culture differed considerably from what was used by their neighbouring Greek colonists on the Northern coast of the Black Sea.  The differences consist, first of all, in the use of various kinds of wheat. Whereas the Greeks had Triticum aestivum s.l. among the basic plants, emmer Triticum dicoccon was prominent in the tribes of the Cherniakhovskaja culture. The millet was of greater importance. Rye was probably in the assortment as well.  These differences are certainly related to a different form of economic activity. The tribes of the Cherniakhovskaja culture did not make use of deep tilling. They used soft alluvial soils of terraces or slopes of beams for their crops. The fields of the chora of the Greek cities were situated basically on raised places in watershed with a heavy dark chestnut-brown chernozem,that required deep tillage.

It is necessary briefly to discuss finds of buckwheat in the Greek material. D. Shelov refers to definitions of buckwheat grains Fagopyrum esculentum in Nizshne-Gnilovskoye a Sarmatian settlement (1st – 2nd centuries AD) on the Bottom Don. The definitions were given by A.Pristupoj, the senior lecturer of the Rostov University (Шелов, 1972: 77). These definitions were called in question by V. Petrov. According to V. Petrov, which V. Blavatsky refers to in his monography, individual grains of buckwheat have been brought in a tomb during recent time by little animals - shrew (Блаватский, 1953:  77 - 78). Further indications on the cultivation of  buckwheat in the Northern coast of the Black Sea in antique time, with references to V.Gajdukevich (Гайдукевич, 1949: 381) and D.Shelov (Шелов, 1972: 77), are given in I.Kruglikova's work (Кругликова, 1975: 186 - 187). Basing on these individual finds, I.Kruglikova comes to the conclusion, that Greeks have brought buckwheat with them to the Black Sea area (Kruglikova, 1975: 186). Except for the doubts stated by V.A.Petrov, available palaeoethnobotanical materials specify all an inaccuracy of opinion on possible cultivation of buckwheat in the northern coast of the Black Sea during the antique epoch.

In fact, buckwheat has appeared in Europe rather late - only in the Middle Ages. It was revealed in a layer of the 14th century AD of the medieval city of Kolobrzeg in Poland (Badura, 1999: 219-231), in layers of the16th century AD in Kiel in Germany (Wiethold, 1995); in layers of the14th –17th  centuries AD in Denmark (Robinson, Harild, 1996) and in materials of the 18th  century AD in England (Greig, 1996).

Domestication of buckwheat has taken place in China between 4th –5th   centuries AD, in Europe it became known only in the Middle Ages (Janik, 2000: 128). Unfortunately, the definitions made in a field not by experts are frequently erroneous. So, in 1995 V.Kutajsov has attributed seeds of a legumes plant Vicia ervilia at an excavation of the settlement Kalos Limen (3rd century BC) as buckwheat.

These researches have allowed toreconsider critically the existing representations about the structure of the cultivated plants.

Conclusions.

1.      The results of research have anabled a reconstruction of the assortment of plants, that were utilised by the Greek colonists on the Northern coast of the Black Sea. The assortment consisted of Triticum aestivum s.l., Hordeum vulgare and legumes Pisum sativum, Lens culinaris, Vicia ervilia, Lathyrus sativus and Vicia faba. Hulled wheats  Triticum dicoccon, Triticum monococcum, Triticum spelta  and Panicum miliaceum, Secale cereale and Hordeum vulgare var.coeleste  were also present, although in less significant quantities. Cultivation of grapes Vitis vinifera began in the first centuries AD. According to written sources and insufficient palaeoethnobotanical data, it is known that vegetable and garden cultures were part of the economy too. Finds of figs, peaches, and nuts, which were originally brought from Greece, show that fruits held a certain importance in the diet. This list shows a great similarity to the assortment in both Chersonessos and in the Bosporan region.

2.      Through the recovered data it is apparent, that if any changes in the structure of cultivated plants occured, they were insignificant during the whole period of existence of Greek colonies.

3.       Hence, from the very beginning of settling in the new territory, the Greek colonists utilised a plant assortment that was well known to them, instead of borrowing from the neighbouring local tribes. Archeobotanical remains from archaic Greek settlements of the second half of the 7th  to the  first third of the 5th  centuries BC, such as  Mirmekion, Kozyrka 9, Chertovatoe 7 and others  demonstrate that two cereals, naked wheat and hulled barley, prevailed together with peas and vetch. Other plants constituted an insignificant part of the diet.

4.      This research provided the grounds to disagree with conclusions made by V.Blavatsky and I.Kruglikova, namely that the plant assemblage of both Greek and local tribes was identical. It has been established that the assortment used by Greek  colonists considerably differed from what was known in the agricultural economy of the neighbouring Scytian and  Cherrniakhov  tribes. Hordeum vulgare,  Panicum miliaceum and also hulled wheats prevailed in the economy of the early Scythians of the 5th – 4th  centuries BC. With their agrobiological features these cereals corresponded with the needs of the semi-nomadic style of life. The composition of plants used by the Cherniakhovskaja culture, widely disseminated in the Steppe area of the Ukraine and Moldova in the 3rd   - 4th  centuries AD, was more varied. It has been established that hulled barley prevailed in the steppe palaeoethnobotanical complex of the Cherniakhovskaja culture, whereby emmer had greater importance and the known culture was rye. Naked wheats are noted in small quantities. These differences are certanly related to a diverse form of economic activity. Members of the Cherniakhovskaja culture used soft alluvial soils on the terraces of floodlands or slopes for crops; therefore deep tillage was not required.

5.      Substantial archaeobotanical data has appeared in the Ukraine in the last years and shows that beginning with the Neolithic and continuing into the first millennium, unpretentious, hulled wheats played the basic role in the agricultiral economy of various tribes, and only with arrival of the Greek colonists did naked wheats appear as one of the basic cereals. Their occurrence is definitely connected with a different level of the economic activity.  More progressive ways of managing the agricultural economy was characteristic for the Greek colonists. Fields in the chora of Greek cities were established more often on raised watersheds with heavy dark - chestnut soils and required deep ploughing. Thus at the northern Black Sea coast, in the Early Iron Age, human communities existed which differed in their economy despite living in similar natural conditions.

6.      There are many unsolved questions. The words of V.Blavatsky (1953) remain urgent till now: " the development of history of antique agriculture requires realization of the large expeditions work directed on the research of the chora, as only new materials extracted by expeditions, which work on a level of modern receptions of field work, will allow with all completeness to investigate the given question " (Blavatsky 1953: 5).

Year 2003