ABSTRACT
S tudies of arable agricultural systems through-out the world have frequently utilised data from cereal grain and cha impressions on ceramic vessels in the reconstruction of past economies (for example, Costantini 1983; Helbaek 1952, 1959; Jessen and Helbaek 1944; Klee and Zach 1999; Munson 1976; Stemler 1990; Vishnu-Mittre 1969). Cereal components can become incorporated into ceramic vessels during manufacture and may be preserved through charring or destroyed during the ring of a pot, leaving morphologically identi able impressions of the material in the fabric of vessels (Figure 22.1; see also Manning and Fuller this volume). It has often been suggested that the frequency of various cereal types recorded from ceramic vessels represents the relative economic importance of each cereal type (for instance, Costantini 1983; Godwin 1975, p. 405; Helbaek 1952; Jessen and Helbaek 1944, p. 10; Possehl 1999, p. 459). A range of processes and behavioural patterns may, however, have a ected the ways in which cereals were incorporated into ceramic vessels, and the predominance of certain cereal types at various times is unlikely to be related directly to their economic importance (Hubbard 1975, p. 200).
