Novel insights into old societies
To advance our understanding of life in Ireland during the Neolithic era, the SCHERD project used modern methods to study cuisine and animal husbandry among early farmers. Selection of these two areas of study was based on the link between the appearance of pottery and the introduction of agriculture in Europe. The first objective was to identify the contents of various Irish Neolithic pottery vessels from different stages of the period as well as from different parts of the island. Work entailed systematic molecular and stable isotope analyses of both absorbed and surface residues from the vessels. A second, related objective was to provide more secure date markers for this era. The approach targeted the direct dating of surface and absorbed residues from vessels in key assemblages. Researchers sampled selected pottery assemblages from 15 archaeological sites spread across Ireland. Spanning all phases of the Neolithic era, the selections included material from houses, enclosures, pit complexes and ceremonial sites. Investigations revealed extremely well-preserved mixtures characteristic of degraded animal fats. Also, analyses of lipid extracts demonstrated a dominance of ruminant dairy fats — i.e. milk products from cattle or sheep. Among other interesting findings, SCHERD efforts offered conclusive proof that dairying was a part of Ireland's earliest farming practices. These results push back the history of dairying in this part of Europe by up to 2 000 years. With its programme of radiocarbon dating, SCHERD's direct-dating techniques and study results will help create a higher resolution and more robust chronology for the Irish Neolithic era. In turn, this will add to research on other European chronologies. As such, the project's dating method could prove to be a significant development in the dating of archaeological sites that have poorly preserved organic remains. On the whole, SCHERD contributions to this area of archaeological science are slated to positively impact studies of cultural heritage sites worldwide.
