INTRODUCTION

With fruit and vegetables we revert to a type of foodstuff which will only survive in particular conditions, and which will only be found if a sampling programme has been undertaken. Furthermore, there is a distinct bias between the survival of the two categories. Fruit generally has seeds whilst things classed as vegetables generally don't. Seeds which can become mineralised or charred are more likely to be preserved than the leafy parts of vegetables. The latter may survive in exceptional circumstances, such as the cabbage stalk found in a late fourth-century well at Vindolanda; but in general fruits are more visible in the archaeological record than vegetables. Unlike cereals which were routinely processed by heating, fruit and vegetables are not well represented in the charred-plant-remains assemblages. Most direct evidence thus comes from the waterlogged and mineralised remains. Packaging in the form of amphorae also provides evidence of preserved items, but again this favours fruits.

FRUIT

Good places to start the exploration of the fruit consumed are cesspits. Seeds and pips will often pass through the digestive track, and the conditions in cesspits are ideal for mineralisation to take place. Naturally such environments favour fruits with small seeds. Table 14.1 shows what has been identified in a variety of cesspits, together with material from the outfall of a latrine at Bearsden and from the Church Street sewer within the fortress at York.

As can be seen, fig seeds are ubiquitous.