Modern pollen analysis and prehistoric beer - a lecture by Jørgen Troels-Smith March 1977

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Abstract

During a symposium to celebrate the publication of the results of the first pollen analysis by Lennart von Post in
1916 in Stockholm in November 2016, it was decided that first-hand reports by pioneers in the field should be
published. J. Troels-Smith (1916–1991)was one of these pioneers and in 1977 he gave a lecture to The RoyalDanish
Academy of Sciences describing both the development of the field at the National Museums bog laboratory
and their investigation into the remains of the Egtveds Girls mead. The lecture is translated here verbatim and
he recounts the developments from a time when they could only identify around 10 pollen taxa to being able
to identify around 400, how they confirmed the wall architecture of grains by slicing at 1/1000 mm and his
work with Joh. Iversen to devise and publish a fixed terminology for pollen features. The work on the pollen
from the Egtved Girls bark bucket is described along with comparative finds fromthe early Bronze Age and concludes
the bucket contained amixture of beer, fruit wine and honey, possibly asmead, with many plant fibres of
bread wheat and cowberry or cranberry
Original languageEnglish
JournalReview of Palaeobotany and Palynology
Volume259
Pages (from-to)10
Number of pages20
ISSN0034-6667
Publication statusPublished - 13 Sept 2018

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