Beyond cereals: crop processing and Vitis vinifera L. Ethnography, experiment and charred grape remains from Hellenistic Greece

Archaeobotany, ethnographic observation, and laboratory experimentation are brought together to build model sequences of grape processing parallel to the better studied and reported sequences in existence for cereal processing. A set of such model sequences is developed and presented, and explored in the context of rich archaeobotanical assemblages from the Hellenistic farmstead at Komboloi in Southern Macedonia. We conclude that the remains of pressed grapes are reasonably distinctive, whereas whole grapes and raisins can leave similar material in charred state, requiring close scrutiny for secure separation. Our model sequences are further considered in the light of other sites in which Vitis remains have been variously interpreted, and our own reinterpretations offered.