Charred Plant Remains from the Late Iron Age and Roman Settlement at Elms Farm, Heybridge, Essex

Samples of first to fourth century date were analysed representing the phases and zones of the extensive village settlement. The most abundant cereal was spelt with a trace of emmer and a few bread wheat type grains, and hulled barley including six-row barley, as a second cereal. Samples interpreted as fine sieved cereal cleaning waste were found throughout the periods of occupation and included some samples with abundant wheat glumes and arable weeds. Some evidence of larger scale cereal cleaning was found from the late 1st-early 2nd century onwards including waste from malting spelt from rubbish deposits. Cereal waste was widely spread on the site until the Later Roman phases when remains were more abundant at the periphery. Other crops included flax/linseed and indeterminate legume, while hazel nut, sloe, wild/sour cherry, blackberry, hawthorn and elder were possibly gathered for consumption. Weeds increased in variety in the later phases to include, for example white bryony and henbane, possibly as weeds of the settlement. The results were compared with other sites in the region and nearby sites in the Lower Blackwater valley.