New evidence of late Neolithic and early Metal Period agriculture in Turku, southwest Finland

Abstract

A re-evaluation of late Neolithic cereal grains, combined with new archaeobotanical data, add to the evidence of late Neolithic and early Metal Period farming in southwest Finland. Earlier indications of late Neolithic cereals at the Niuskala Kotirinne site in Turku are confirmed by new radiocarbon dating results. An early occurrence of Hordeum has also found at a second site nearby, Räntämäki Riihivainio. The finds are discussed in relation to early dates of cereal finds and other indications of farming, as well as general interpretations of the earliest cereal growing in Finland and the northern Baltic region.