Plant Remains From Neolithic Gritille: Food and Fuel in the Context of Animal Domestication

The Neolithic excavation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)-related site of Gritille (7500–6500 cal. BC) was directed by Mary M. Voigt under the general direction of Richard Ellis, Bryn Mawr College. This report was completed in 1999, but the sample data have never been published. Although much more PPNB archaeobotanical information has become available in the intervening years, along with new approaches and interpretations. I have not updated this report, as the Gritille data themselves have not changed. The analysis (and the published version, Miller 2002) takes the depositional contexts of the Gritille archaeobotanical samples into account, distinguishing trash from food remains. It also demonstrates that plant remains reflect the development of the entire ancient agropastoral system. That is, changes in plant use and in the archaeobotanical assemblage have a direct relationship with the increasing dependence on domesticated animals during the Neolithic occupation. Perhaps obvious in 2013, when this version was set up, the Gritille example was an early demonstration that the integration of the ancient plant and animal economy is reflected in the actualistic, archaeobiological remains of that economy.