The investigation of a medieval barrel-latrine from Worcester

The contents of a 15th century barrel-latrine from Worcester (U.K.) have been investigated. Twenty edible plant taxa were identified, mainly fruit, including gooseberry—an unusual find—while fig and grape may be exotics. Weld (used for dyeing) and linseed were also found. Seeds from cornfield weeds, wayside and wetland plants show the past presence of straw, hay and sedge, and the pollen spectra also show this. Broad bean, hemp/hop and borage pollen may represent food or drink, and abundant bran demonstrates the remains of cereal food like bread. Intestinal parasite ova give evidence of faeces, and the beetle remains are comparable with those from modern cesspits, the remains of grain and legume pests possibly coming from beetles consumed with infested food. The herring and eel bones may also have been eaten, but the chicken bones and larger fruit stones represent rubbish which would not have been swallowed. Some cloth remains were found. This study shows something of latrines, rubbish disposal, diet, living conditions and the general surroundings at the time.     

Ban Chiang and Northeast Thailand; the palaeoenvironment and economy

Beginning with a detailed presentation of the faunal spectra from Ban Chiang and related sites in Northeast Thailand, this essay reconstructs the palaeoenvironment during the period 3500 BC to the end of the prehistoric period. The evidence from the freshwater molluscs found in prehistoric layers suggests that the first occupants of Ban Chiang encountered a habitat with permanent lakes and clear, slow moving streams. Since the lakes contracted in the dry season, there were ideal conditions for practising wet swidden agriculture. From c. 1600 BC, the presence of water buffalo and associated changes in the faunal spectrum suggests the inception of wet rice cultivation. Such agricultural intensification, it is held, follows population pressure and accounts for subsequent settlement in the more arid plains of Thailand.     

The craniology and relationships of four species of Bos,: 4. The Relationship between Bos primigenius Boj. and B. taurus L. and its implications for the Phylogeny of the Domestic Breeds

The three previous papers in this series Grigson, 1974, Grigson, 1975, Grigson, 1976 were a study of the basic craniology of the genus Bos using B. taurus as an example. This paper deals with B. primigenius from Holocene deposits in northern Europe, studying the relationship of absolute size, cranial proportions, angles and non-measurable characters to age and sex. It concludes that the two size forms of B. primigenius are merely the expression of sexual dimorphism, that the two forms B. primigenius and B. taurus are so similar that they form a continuum and should be considered to be of the same taxon, and that where B. taurus does differ from B. primigenius the differences can usually be ascribed to breed and can be described as specializations.     

Analysis of suspected human coprolites from Terra Amata, Nice, France

Dietary analyses were conducted on 400,000 yr old specimens recovered during the excavation of the Terra Amata Palaeolithic site in Nice, France and initially identified as coprolites. The results of our analyses demonstrate that the identification of these specimens as coprolites is difficult to confirm due to the age of the samples. Consequently, they provide no new data pertaining to the suspected dietary habits of prehistoric man.