WHAT’S DOWN THE HOLE? Archaeobotanical Evidence on Plant Subsistence and Vegetation during the Hellenistic Period at the Archaeological Site Near Voditsa Village, Northeastern Bulgaria

The archaeological site № 5012-West in the territory of the village of Voditza, Targovishte Region, Northeastern Bulgaria, is interesting with its features and wide chronological range. On an area of 7000 m2, a total of 116 structures from various chronological periods have been excavated. However, pits from the Hellenistic Period (late 3rd – early 1st c. BC) are most numerous and provide invaluable archaeobotanical evidence on plant subsistence and local vegetation. The archaeobotanical remains have been recovered from flotation samples, collected from the pits` fills. The archaeobotanical assemblage is comprised of carbonized remains from several annual cereal crops – hulled and free-threshing wheats, naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum L.), millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), oat (Avena sativa L.) and chaff. The weedy flora is represented by annual ruderal and synantrophic species such as goosefoot (Chenopodium album L.), bedstraw (Galium aparine L.), knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare L.), and wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis L.). On the basis of the discovered plant remains we can only propose a partial reconstruction of the agricultural practices and local vegetation cover. However, the collection of samples from specific contexts – storage facilities and pits, provided an opportunity to observe the “secondary environment” of the utilized plant resources and to identify possible depositional and post-depositional processes. Thus, taphonomic and contextual analyses gave us important insights into the behavioural factors that affected the composition of the archaeobotanical assemblage.