Baselines for delta15N values of cereals retrieved from archaeological excavations

Abstract

This paper describes an experiment to providebaselines for the δ15N values of prehistoriccereals.

Emmer wheat and barley were grown in tubs filledwith two different substrates and

placed in a cage to protect them from birds andcats. The experiment lasted three years. Values obtained in this way may serve in caseswhere no experimental farms of long standing with unmanured fields can provide them. The resultsare in line with the values obtained at such farms, as well as withvalues presented for ethnographic cases in the literature. .