Veget Hist Archaeobot (2005) 15:45–56 DOI 10.1007/s00334-005-0077-8 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Michaela Ernst · Stefanie Jacomet The value of the archaeobotanical analysis of desiccated plant remains from old buildings: methodological aspects and interpretation of crop weed assemblages Received: 8 October 2003 / Accepted: 15 March 2005 / Published online: 7 September 2005 # Springer-Verlag 2005 Abstract Plant material like threshing remains has been used systematically as filling and insulation material in buildings for a long time. Such plant material can be found in several places, for example in floor cavities (internal floor deposits, Fehlböden) or in beam holes. For the first time in Switzerland, desiccated plant material like this has been investigated. In this article the analysis of the material from three different sites is presented, each dated to a different period, from the late medieval period to the time just before the industrial revolution. The samples consisted of chaff from Triticum spelta in bulk, and smaller amounts of other cereals such as T. mono- coccum, Avena sativa, Panicum miliaceum and Secale cereale, plus various weeds. The assemblages in the late medieval samples show evidence of three-field rotation: the high percentage of grassland species is interpreted as an indicator of the fallow land phase within the three-field system. A higher ratio of annual to perennial plants in the more modern samples indicates the development of more intensive tillage and cultivation. Methodological ques- tions regarding sampling strategies of the floor cavity subsamples are investigated. The analyses suggest that the volume of these subsamples should be more than two litres. Keywords Switzerland · Three-field rotation · Arable weed communities · Early modern period · Late medieval period Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at http://dx.10.1007/ s00334-005-0077-8 Introduction Compared to other types of plant preservation, desiccated material from old buildings has only rarely been exam- ined in Europe. Examples are material from southwest Germany (Fischer and Rösch 1999; Rösch and Fischer 1999), from southern Germany (Lohmann 1987), from northern Germany (Lohmann 1993), and roofing material from medieval houses in England (Letts 1999). Willerd- ing (1996) gives an overview of the investigations of desiccated materials up to the year 1996 and mentions twelve sites located in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Hesse (Hessen), Brandenburg, and Bavaria (Bayern). Investi- gations of other floor cavities, for example from Bavaria (Lohmann 1987), from Baden-Württemberg (Rösch et al. 1994; Rösch and Fischer 1997; Fischer and Rösch 1999), and from Lower Saxony (Willerding 1996), show that different plant material was used as filling material de- pending on the region, the crop and the type of house construction. Lohmann (1987) mentions remains of Li- num usitatissimum, moss, threshing residue containing Avena sativa and cereal straw; Rösch and Fischer (1997) also found chaff of Triticum spelta. Fischer and Rösch (1999) investigated half-timbered (Fachwerk) houses in Baden-Württemberg from the early modern period (14th– 19th century), where the floor cavities were filled with a mixture of loam and straw. The analysis of desiccated material from buildings can increase our knowledge of house construction, of arable weed communities and plant cultivation methods, as well as of crop processing procedures. If the archaeobotanical data is compared to the medieval and early modern lit- erature on farming, it is possible to discover regional differences in cereal growing which are not mentioned in the literature. Especially with regard to the transition from the three-field system to the methods used in early modern times we must expect considerable regional dif- ferences (Pfister 1985). This is the first investigation of desiccated plant ma- terial in Switzerland. Consequently, little is known about M. Ernst ( ) ) Institut für Phytosphäre, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany e-mail: m.ernst@fz-juelich.de S. Jacomet Institute for Prehistory and Archaeological Science IPAS, Basel University, Spalenring 145, CH-4055 Basel, Switzerland