UNCORRECTED PROOF Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2018) xxx-xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com Prehistoric cereal foods of southeastern Europe: An archaeobotanical exploration Soultana Maria Valamoti a, ∗ , Elena Marinova c, d , Andreas G. Heiss e , Ivanka Hristova a, b , Chryssa Petridou a, b , Tzvetana Popova f , Stavroula Michou a, b , Lambrini Papadopoulou b , Panagiotis Chrysostomou g , Pascal Darcque h , Dimitrios Grammenos i , Stanislav Iliev j , Stavros Kotsos k , Chaido Koukouli-Chrysanthaki l , Krassimir Leshtakov m , Dimitria Malamidou n , Nikos Merousis o , Vassil Nikolov e , Krassimir Nikov e , Κrastina Panayotova f , Aikaterini Papanthimou a, b , Hristo Popov f , Liana Stefani p , Zoï Tsirtsoni h , Tatjana Kanceva Ruseva q a Department of Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece b Department of Geology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece c Laboratory for Archaeobotany, State Ofce for Cultural Heritage Baden-Württemberg, Fischersteig 9, 78343, Gaienhofen-Hemmenhofen, Germany d Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, B-B1000, Brussels, Belgium e Austrian Archaeological Institute (ÖAI), Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Franz Klein-Gasse 1, 1190, Vienna, Austria f National Institute and Museum of Archaeology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Saborna Str, 1000, Sofa, Bulgaria g Florina Ephorate of Antiquities, Greek Ministry of Culture, Greece h CNRS, UMR 7041, Archéologies et Sciences de l’Antiquité, Nanterre, France i Emeritus Ephor, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Greece j Regional Historical Museum, Haskovo, Bulgaria k Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City, Greece l Emeritus Ephor of Antiquities of Kavala-Thasos, Member of the Archaeological Society at Athens, Greece m Department of Archaeology, Sofa University „St. Kliment Ochridski“, 1504, Sofa, Bulgaria n Serres Ephorate of Antiquities, Greek Ministry of Culture, Greece o Hellenic Open University, School of Humanities, Studies in Greek Civilization, Greece p Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Manoli Andronikou 6, Thessaloniki, Greece q Archaeological Museum "Mariza-Iztok", Greece ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT This paper addresses for the frst time a large body of archaeobotanical data from prehistoric Southeastern Eu- rope, mostly published for the frst time, that correspond to cereal food preparations. The evidence presented here comes from 20 sites situated in Greece and Bulgaria, spanning the Early Neolithic through to the Iron Age (7th millennium B.C.-1st millennium B.C.). The remains correspond to cereal fragments or agglomerations of fragments that resulted from ancient food preparation steps such as grinding, boiling, sprouting/malting, mixing in bread-like or porridge-like foodstufs. The article builds on previous pilot studies and with the aid of stereomi- croscopy and scanning electron microscopy offers a frst classifcation and possible interpretations of the fnds leading to the recipes that might have generated them. At the same time the article highlights the significance of retrieving and studying in depth such rare archaeobotanical fnds, points out the interpretative problems stem- ming from such material and suggests ways forward to address similar archaeological fnds in different parts of the world. The paper demonstrates the potential of the systematic study of cereal-based food remains, in our case prehistoric Southeastern Europe, to reveal a wide variability in cereal food transformation practices, suggestive of the interplay between available ingredients, cultural traditions and the complex interaction between society and environment. ∗ Corresponding author. Email address: sval@hist.auth.gr (S.M. Valamoti) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.11.004 Received 23 June 2018; Received in revised form 29 October 2018; Accepted 19 November 2018 Available online xxx 0305-4403/ © 2018.