Evidence of wheat production found in Britain

[guy]

 

Recent research at Littleport, Cambridgeshire, has suggested that parallel Roman cultivation trenches were not vegetable beds, as previously presumed. Instead, they were used to cultivate wheat.

 

Richard Mortimer of Cotswold Archaeology argues that the trenches were more likely part of a technique known as marling, in which clay-rich soil was spread onto poorer farmland to improve its fertility. If correct, the trenches would represent an effort by the Romans to increase agricultural productivity on marginal land.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmy83v93ql3xo

 

 

This short video shows the demand for grain among the Roman troops in Britain:

 

 

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by guy

[guidoLaMoto]

How does this rubbish get published?

When I hear "parallel trenches" dug in a field, I think "irrigation" in dry areas or "drainage" in wet areas..Clay soil is a poor growing medium because it contains essentially no organic matter (no Nitrogen) and it retains water. (to make a pond, one digs a large hole and lines it with clay so water doesn't seep  out)...Clay does contain minerals, but ash is a much better source....

..if they wanted to scatter clay as a mineral source, they would need to find clay elsewhere and transport it to the farm plot-- not dig into a field of clay, then scatter it in the same field of clay....

...the article is a bit confusing...it states that the trenches were dug, then back filled immediately....with what, and why bother?..

..or, it could be that they dug trenches in clay soil, then filled them with loam &/or humus (good soil) from elsewhere, like we build "raised beds" in areas of poor/scant soil. (The problem with that explanation is that the dimensions sited are the opposite of what you would really do- the back filled beds should be the wide areas, not the shallow narrow trenches.

I bet the trenches were for drainage (isn't most of England notoriously low & wet with high rainfall?) and that the "back fill" was the inevitable silting in of a drainage ditch under those weather conditions.

Wheat is a grass and suited to grow best when scattered over wide, flat, DRY fields like the American northern Great Plains or The Steppes. While wheat was a major source of protein in Roman times, the British Isles do not have the best climate or soil conditions to grow it. Yield would not compare well to other areas.... Either plant more acres or import more....or eat more mutton, pork, fowl etc.