This section provides an update on the grain storage pits at Cornstown House. As part of the FOODSEC project, we are digging 10 experimental storage pits, filling the pits with grain, monitoring the pits via sensors and then opening the pits after a few months. Laboratory analysis of the grain will help us better understand the impact of storage on the grain. Why are we doing this? Find out more here.
In September 2023, we dug six experimental pits at Cornstown House, filled them with grain and sealed them. Six months later, it was time to open the pits. On Tuesday 19th and Thursday 21st March 2024, we excavated and sampled Pits 1, 2, 3 and 5 at Cornstown House, including during our Open Day event. For the latter, we invited 4th class students from Scoil Cholmcille in Skryne, for whom we had previously produced a workbook to help them learn about archaeology, the Bronze Age, the project and what we would be doing on the day. The event was also open to members of the public, including archaeologists and interested community members. All would witness us not only opening the pits, but they could also interact with learning tables that included stone and bronze axeheads, Bronze Age pots, animal bones, plant remains, and a quern stone demonstration. This format allowed us to talk about different aspects of our project and about life in Ireland during the Bronze Age. We have received feedback from the school and members of the public about how much they enjoyed the experience and how much they have learned about the Bronze Age and food storage practices (and smells that will not soon be forgotten).
Our excavation of the pits has already offered some interesting results! Pits 1 and 5, both of which were filled with naked barley, were intensively sampled (the samples are currently in freezers at UCD, waiting to be transported for testing). Pits 2 and 3, both filled with emmer wheat, were bulk sampled during the Open Day. For Pits 1 and 5, a portion of the grain on the exterior (and thus in contact with the soil/straw lining) appeared to be greyer in colour and perhaps more decayed in texture, the grain on the interior of the grain column, however, was bright and fresh-looking, if somewhat doughy or floury in texture. From the smell and the observation of bubbles in standing liquid within the pit, it was clear that the grain had fermented. Subsequently, our project partner Dominic Gryson has successfully created a very vigorous sourdough starter by combining some of this grain with flour. Pits 2 and 3, on the other hand, had more of a rotting or manure-like smell, a softer texture, and a higher amount of standing (ground) water was observed in the pits. We are investigating if the presence of the hull on the emmer wheat grain may have impacted the amount of rot in the pits.
Of all of the pits, the grains in the lined pits (Pits 1 and 3, naked barley and emmer wheat, respectively) were less well preserved than the grains in the unlined pits. We are investigating if the straw lining trapped a greater amount of oxygen in these pits, leading to greater degradation of the grain. But large quantities of grain in each pit were well preserved, even though the grains had been stored underground in pits during one of the wettest autumn/winter periods on record in Ireland. Watch this space for the results of scientific analysis of the stored grain!
The project is funded by the Irish Research Council COALESCE Scheme (2022–2024; Strand 1L INSTAR+; Project ID: COALESCE/2022/1623)
