G.Pashkevich.
Annual Report about Palaeoethnobotanical investigations in          Chersonesos in 2004.

In the present report the results of archaeobotanical examination of  occupation levels of Chersonesos are submitted. 
          In accordance with the research plan of the ICA project  investigation was conducted in Byzantine Chersonesos and the site on the Bezymiannaia hill. It suggested collecting fossil carbonized remains of plants in the course of field works by means of manual water flotation and their further analysis in the laboratory of the Institute of Archaeology the Academy of Science of Ukraine. The present study was primarily aimed at obtaining information on food-plant assemblage of the inhabitants of  Chersonesos. In the framework of the present study  77 samples from Byzantine Chersonesos and 3 samples from  Bezymiannaia site were examined. All samples were from deposits of occupational soil. Samples of about 10 kg were used. The volume of the samples floated varied considerably.  Some samples were larger, some smaller. The difference in the number of found cereal grains is not connected with the types of soil. In total,  80 samples from different contexts were examined. The results of the analyses are presented  in  tables 1 and 2. They are divided into the following groups: cereals and chaff fragments, pulses, fruits and nuts, weeds.
           Some of the samples are comparatively rich, the others are poor. The samples containe organic (charred plant remains,  pieces of wood charcoal, fragmented shells, bones and scales of fish) and inorganic (ceramic fragments, scoria and glass fragments, marble) materials. Plant remains are mostly represented by carbonized grains and seeds, more seldom – by chaff such as rachis segments of ears, spikelet forks, culms. 
1.The samples for water flotation in Byzantine Chersonesos were taken  within the bounds of the following premises: room 29 (10 probes), room  32 (23 probes), room 33 (13 probes), room 35(5 probes), room 36 (24 probes), and 2 probes  without numbers. 
Composition of probes and their richness in palaeoethnobotanical material turned out to be greatly diverse what  is connected not only with preservation conditions, but also with the vital activity of the inhabitants of the site.   Probes taken out from room 33, sample 18, 24, 25, 36 consist of pieces of wood charcoals, scoria and there are no grains at all. Probes 40 a and 40b, the fillings of pithos from room 33, consist of small unknown bones of brown color, sometime – black color. These bones paint all the samples in light brown color and create erroneous imagination about the contents of grains of millet. There are a lot of scales and bones of fishes, brilliant black amorphous pieces here. Grains are destroyed up to such condition, that they cannot be determined. Only insignificant quantity of grains has escaped such destruction. Probably, they had completely burnt out in fire. Some samples of carbonized material were in such an unsatisfactory condition that it was impossible to identify either species, or genus of the grains.
          Several probes contained a large number of grains. There are samples 4,  5, 20, 67a and 67b from room 33; sample 19 from room 35. Sometimes the volume of seeds in these tests makes from 200 up to 1000 ml. However it is impossible to get a clear view of the situation  concerning a ratio of structure, because the significant part of grains is destroyed.
          From table 1, Byzantine Chersonesos, it is evident that the cereals (wheats, barley, rye, oats, millet ) are represented in comparatively large numbers of grains and occur more frequently than wild plant taxa, fruits or weeds. The latter are generally poor represented.  Remains of rachis internode fragments, spikelet forks, glume bases and culms of hulled wheats indicate that the cereal crops were stored in  farmyards. On the one hand one could argue that threshing was done in the yard or in a barn. On the other hand, some samples consist of the remains of more or less pure cereal crop supplies.
          The main cereals used at Medieval Chersonesos were free-threshing bread wheat Triticum aestivum s.l., eincorn wheat Triticum monococcum, emmer Triticum dicoccon, hulled two-rowed barley Hordeum vulgare, and naked barkey Hordeum vulgare var. coeleste. Grains bread wheat Triticum aestivum s.l. are met almost in all samples and almost everywhere they prevail. Only in  sample 63, sr. 448, room 36 grains of hulled wheats prevail. Here grains of three hulled wheats are found  – Triticum dicoccon, Triticum monococcum, Triticum spelta. Altogether  there are  up to 262 grains of these wheats and only 65 grains belong to bread wheat Triticum aestivum s.l.   The remains  of rachis internode fragments, spikelet forks, glume bases and culms of hulled wheats are found. It confirms  that the cereal crop was stored here, in the farmyard or probably in barns. It is known, that hulled wheats were removed from  fields in ears and were kept in special premises. Threshing (clearing from scales) was made as required.
          Barley is worse represented. Numbers of grains recovered are usually small. But, on the other hand, barley may have been of (almost) equal importance as wheat. It is necessary to remember that the significant part of grains was destroyed.
          Rye Secale cereale and common oat Avena sativa probably played a minor role  and were cultivated in addition to the wheats. Rye in significant quantity (345 grains) is found  only in  sample 22, room 35.
Broomcorn millet Panicum miliaceum is hardly represented and has occurred as rare grains. Only in sample 44, room 36 a lot of caked pieces of charred grains millet were found. It makes impossible to count millet grains.
          Among the pulses, lentil Lens culinaris and Pisum sativum are represented in rather small number of samples, usually by one or a few seeds only. In this connection it should be taken into account that, compared to cereal grains, pulse-crop seeds are usually underrepresented in the charred seed records. Other pulses were identified : bitter vetch Vicia ervilia, broad been Vicia faba var.minor and Vicia sativa.
          Fruits and nuts were identified in a few samples only. Best of all elder Sambucus nigra is represented among  wild fruits. Juglans regia and Corylus avellana are represented as fragments of shells. Pips of fig Ficus carica, one pip olive Olea europea and one pip Phoenix dactylifera.were found . These findings are the evidence of some sort of contact with Mediterranean region. 
          Pips of Vitis vinifera are represented by a  rather small number of samples, usually by one to a few seeds only. 16 charred pips of Vitis vinifera are represented only in the filling of the pithos from sample 1, sr. 410.  
          Relatively few plant taxa are represented by vegetation types and weeds. Weeds of cornfields such as Bromus arvensis and Bromus sterilis, Galium aparine, Agrostemma githago, Echinochloa crus galli Polygonum convolvulus are comparatively well represented. A few species characterise  ruderal habitats: Sambucus edulus, Rumex acetosella, Rumex crispus,  Euphorbia, Malva silvestris and Malva pussila.

2. The composition of grains and seeds in the three probes from  Bezymiannaia site. 
The following cereals were revealed here:  Triticum dicoccon and Triticum aestivum s.l. (prevailed), hulled barley Hordeum vulgare and naked barley Hordeum vulgare var. coeleste,  Panicum miliaceum, Secale cereale, Avena sativa; pulses:   Lens culinaris,Pisum sativum, Vicia ervilia. Pips of grape Vitis vinifera  were also discovered. There are not many weed seeds.  
Grains of Triticum aestivum s.l., hulled barley Hordeum vulgare  are the most numerous among the findings.