How to detect fodder and litter? A case study from the Roman site Le Marais de Dourges, France

This paper presents the archaeobotanical results of three samples from the Gallo-Roman site of Dourges, which probably represents a relay post along an important Roman road from Paris to the Belgo-Dutch basin. One of the samples studied comes from the floor of a burnt stable where the imprints of hooves, most probably from horses, covered the floor. The sample is composed of cereals, crop treatment by-products and straw. A comparison with known dung and litter compositions shows that this deposit most probably consists of stable manure, a mixture of dung and litter, the latter mainly consisting of straw and chaff. Two other samples with large amounts of carbonised cereal remains from a ditch near the burnt stable showed some similarities with the dung and litter remains. This suggests that they represent mostly remnants of animal fodder, which was composed of cereal by-products and sprouted grains of naked wheat and emmer. However, a direct connection of the samples from the ditch with those from the stable could not be proven.