The team processed 171 samples – less than half the number processed in 2003. This reduction is a consequence of fast-tracking (excavation with limited sampling) in the South and 4040 Areas. A total of 23 samples were assessed to level 2. Most of these samples were dominated by glume wheat chaff (glume bases), irrespective of context type (e.g. midden, room fill, bin fill, hearth fill etc.), presumably reflecting the frequent dehusking of glume wheats stored in a hulled state as well as the usefulness of this material as mudbrick temper, kindling, fodder etc. Glume wheat grain was the most common cereal grain type, usually far outnumbered by glume bases (on average c. 10:1 glume bases to grains). The chaff and grain of free-threshing cereals (wheat, barley) and the seeds of pulses were present in many of the samples but at low levels. The regular deposition of a diverse range of crops, including small discrete deposits suggests that this diversity was a feature of consumption at the household level.

The seeds of sedges, especially sea clubrush ( Scirpus maritimus ), were another constant presence in most samples.

A further observation that can be made at this stage concerns possible changes in crop use over time. Hulled barley – which was not detected as a crop in the earlier Neolithic levels by the previous team (see Fairbairn et al . in press) – was noted in several units from the 4040 Area. Hulled barley also occurs in archaeobotanical samples from the Early Chalcolithic West mound (see below). It is hoped that continued excavation and sampling of the later Neolithic levels in the 4040 (and TP) Areas can clarify changes in crop husbandry through time.

Another activity this season, was the scanning, initial sorting and preliminary identification of archaeobotanical samples from the West mound. The central question for the West mound archaeobotanical project concerns continuity or change in the use and husbandry of plants across the Neolithic (East mound) to Chalcolithic (West mound) transition: to what extent were changes in social organisation and material culture linked to changes in the use of staple crops and gathered wild plants and in the husbandry/management of these resources? This issue is critical not only for understanding the economy and routine of the Chalcolithic community but also as a new vantage point from which to evaluate the growing archaeobotanical dataset available for the East mound.