Bioarchaeological Characteristics of the Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Consumed at Different Parts of the Early Medieval Settlement Agglomeration of Mikulčice-Kopčany (9th–10th Century AD, Czech Republic)

Michaela Látková, Roman Skála and Sylva Drtikolová Kaupová

Environmental Archaeology, 2025, vol. 30, issue 3, 267-279

Abstract: Archaeological hypotheses about the functioning of agriculture in the Great Moravian period in Central Europe are based primarily on the evaluation of artefacts or the character of the built structures in the vicinity of the central sites. Thanks to the introduction of new bioarchaeological methods, in particular isotope and archaeobotanical analyses, into archaeological research, it has been possible to better assess the subsistence strategies at Mikulčice-Kopčany. In this study, carbon and nitrogen isotopic values were measured in 39 samples of sown wheat recovered from four areas of the agglomeration with potentially distinct socio-economic statuses. The isotopic results were interpreted in the framework of archaeobotanical findings regarding the spectra of consumed crops, metrics of the grains and field weed analysis from the individual areas. Isotopic analyses of charred bread wheat characterise the locations where the fields were situated as moderately to well-watered, with the soils either naturally rich with a high contribution of organic nitrogen or with a medium to high rate of manuring. The results presented in this study point to the different agricultural strategies of people living in different areas of the Mikulčice-Kopčany, and suggest the underestimation of previously reported socio-economic differences in diet within the Great Moravian population .

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/14614103.2023.2176613

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