Period: Germanic Iron Age and Viking Age (400-1050 AD)

Project title: Prehistoric bread baking and bread culture illuminated through experimental studies

Researcher: Liselotte Bergström, Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, Sweden

E-mail: belibe(at)arklab.su.se

Year: 2006

Abstract:

Finds of prehistoric bread constitute a small but informative category of artefacts. Buns or biscuits found in prehistoric contexts in Sweden mostly come from Merovingian and Viking Age cremation graves.

The diameter, thickness, compactness etc of the bread pieces are determining factors when identifying the shape and the type of production technique that has been used when baking the bread. By morphological analyses of the prehistoric bread material, the composition and characteristics have also been registered. The result of the analysis constitutes the foundation for reconstructing the original shape of the prehistoric breads.

But it is not possible to get a complete understanding on how the breadcrumbs originally have looked by studying the prehistoric material alone. By reconstructing the bread and the baking process - followed by a comparison with the archaeological artefact material – new knowledge can be obtained, the gap can be filled out.

During the stay at Lejre, a number of baking experiments were conducted. This included experiments on cutting and breaking bread into pieces to study the appearance of the edges. Many of the bread findings from graves have edges that indicate cutting. By experiments, it was possible to show that some of the prehistoric breads possibly have been cut after the bread has cooled off. Newly baked bread has a crust that it is not possible to cut into without breaking the smoothness of the section. The bread must therefore have been baked at least a day in advance before the funeral and have been sliced only prior to being placed on the pyre.

Reference number: HAF 12/06