Siliceous microfossils, especially phytoliths, as recorded in five prehistoric sites in Eastern Middle Sweden

Abstract

At Myskdalen, a Mesolithic site, hearths and hearth pits contained morphologically more varied phytoliths than stone tools. Brackish water diatoms suggest that a presumed grinding tool was used for processing of marine material. A stone implement had abun-dant phytoliths attached to it indicating plant processing. Östra Vrå is an Early Neolithic site. Two grinding slabs found in a ritual context were verified as having been used for the grinding of plant remains. At Kyrktorp, an Early/Middle Neolithic site, siliceous micro-fossils on one grinding slab and a replica of it were compared. The lack of siliceous micro-fossils on the original slab indicated a different use from that of the grinding tools from Östra Vrå. Albertsro is a chieftain’s farmstead from the Late Pre-Roman and Early Ro-man Iron Age. Phytoliths were abundant in the surrounding field system but the strati-graphic variations in the soil were restricted. Gribbylund is a farmstead, used from the Pre-Roman Iron Age to the Migration Period, where two cultivation phases were veri-fied. The phytolith analysis showed that Linum usitatissimum was probably cultivated, and the concentrated stratigraphic occurrence of Chrysophyceae stomatocysts indicates that manure was used. It is concluded that siliceous microfossils can be used to deduce anthropogenic activities.