Hayley Saul

Western Sydney University, School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Faculty Member

University of York, Archaeology, Research Associate

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Hayley Saul is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of York in the UK and Director of the Himalayan Exploration and Archaeological Research Team (H.E.A.R.T) research group. Her research explores the intersection of archaeology, landscape, heritage and development in the Himalayas of Nepal. H.E.A.R.T operates in partnership with Nepalese communities as well as the charity-NGO Community Action Nepal, with whom Hayley is a heritage consultant, building an archaeology/heritage dimension to the charity, to operationalize the results of HEART and bring about positive benefits to rural Nepalese communities. Following her PhD at the University of York she undertook research with the Early Pottery in East Asia Project and was a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science post-doctoral fellow on the Japanese Archaeo-Ceramic Residue Research Strategy project (JARRS). She is interested in the way that subsistence engenders specialized and creative interactions with Himalayan environments for successful settlement, management, and social innovation in “deep time.”

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Vasiliki Papakosta

Ester Oras

University of Tartu

Kamil Adamczak

Nicolaus Copernicus University

Blandine Courel

Université de Strasbourg

Alexandre Lucquin

University of York

Andreas Kotula

Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum

Ekaterina Dolbunova

The State Hermitage Museum

Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences

Harry K Robson

University of York

Jacek Kabacinski

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences

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Papers by Hayley Saul

Illuminating the Late Mesolithic: residue analysis of ‘blubber’ lamps from Northern Europe

Antiquity, 2013

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Earliest evidence for the use of pottery

Nature, 2013

Pottery was a hunter-gatherer innovation that first emerged in East Asia between 20,000 and 12,00... more Pottery was a hunter-gatherer innovation that first emerged in East Asia between 20,000 and 12,000 calibrated years before present (cal bp), towards the end of the Late Pleistocene epoch, a period of time when humans were adjusting to changing climates and new environments. Ceramic container technologies were one of a range of late glacial adaptations that were pivotal to structuring subsequent cultural trajectories in different regions of the world, but the reasons for their emergence and widespread uptake are poorly understood. The first ceramic containers must have provided prehistoric hunter-gatherers with attractive new strategies for processing and consuming foodstuffs, but virtually nothing is known of how early pots were used. Here we report the chemical analysis of food residues associated with Late Pleistocene pottery, focusing on one of the best-studied prehistoric ceramic sequences in the world, the Japanese Jōmon. We demonstrate that lipids can be recovered reliably from charred surface deposits adhering to pottery dating from about 15,000 to 11,800 cal bp (the Incipient Jōmon period), the oldest pottery so far investigated, and that in most cases these organic compounds are unequivocally derived from processing freshwater and marine organisms. Stable isotope data support the lipid evidence and suggest that most of the 101 charred deposits analysed, from across the major islands of Japan, were derived from high-trophic-level aquatic food. Productive aquatic ecotones were heavily exploited by late glacial foragers, perhaps providing an initial impetus for investment in ceramic container technology, and paving the way for further intensification of pottery use by hunter-gatherers in the early Holocene epoch. Now that we have shown that it is possible to analyse organic residues from some of the world&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s earliest ceramic vessels, the subsequent development of this critical technology can be clarified through further widespread testing of hunter-gatherer pottery from later periods.

Phytoliths in Pottery Reveal the Use of Spice in European Prehistoric Cuisine

PLoS ONE, 2013

Here we present evidence of phytoliths preserved in carbonised food deposits on prehistoric potte... more Here we present evidence of phytoliths preserved in carbonised food deposits on prehistoric pottery from the western Baltic dating from 6,100 cal BP to 5750 cal BP. Based on comparisons to over 120 European and Asian species, our observations are consistent with phytolith morphologies observed in modern garlic mustard seed (Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb) Cavara & Grande). As this seed has a strong flavour, little nutritional value, and the phytoliths are found in pots along with terrestrial and marine animal residues, these findings are the first direct evidence for the spicing of food in European prehistoric cuisine. Our evidence suggests a much greater antiquity to the spicing of foods than is evident from the macrofossil record, and challenges the view that plants were exploited by hunter-gatherers and early agriculturalists solely for energy requirements, rather than taste.

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Ancient lipids reveal continuity in culinary practices across the transition to agriculture in Northern Europe

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011

Farming transformed societies globally. Yet, despite more than a century of research, there is li... more Farming transformed societies globally. Yet, despite more than a century of research, there is little consensus on the speed or completeness of this fundamental change and, consequently, on its principal drivers. For Northern Europe, the debate has often centered on the rich archaeological record of the Western Baltic, but even here it is unclear how quickly or completely people abandoned wild terrestrial and marine resources after the introduction of domesticated plants and animals at ∼4000 calibrated years B.C. Ceramic containers are found ubiquitously on these sites and contain remarkably well-preserved lipids derived from the original use of the vessel. Reconstructing culinary practices from this ceramic record can contribute to longstanding debates concerning the origins of farming. Here we present data on the molecular and isotopic characteristics of lipids extracted from 133 ceramic vessels and 100 carbonized surface residues dating to immediately before and after the first evidence of domesticated animals and plants in the Western Baltic. The presence of specific lipid biomarkers, notably ω-(o-alkylphenyl)alkanoic acids, and the isotopic composition of individual n-alkanoic acids clearly show that a significant proportion (∼20%) of ceramic vessels with lipids preserved continued to be used for processing marine and freshwater resources across the transition to agriculture in this region. Although changes in pottery use are immediately evident, our data challenge the popular notions that economies were completely transformed with the arrival of farming and that Neolithic pottery was exclusively associated with produce from domesticated animals and plants.

A systematic approach to the recovery and identification of starches from carbonised deposits on ceramic vessels

Journal of Archaeological Science, 2012

Starch granules are being successfully recovered from an increasing range of artefacts. Here we p... more Starch granules are being successfully recovered from an increasing range of artefacts. Here we present the recovery of starches from carbonised ceramic 'foodcrusts' from late Mesolithiceearly Neolithic residues at the site of Neustadt in northern Germany. A method for investigating background loading of residues with contaminant starches is proposed by comparing interior 'foodcrusts' versus exterior 'sooting', for the purposes of eliminating samples with insignificant quantities of grains from subsequent identification procedures. The classification of starches to plant taxon is traditionally achieved by manual observations and measurement of nominal and ratio morphological variables. Here, we present a method for the automated classification of granules, using software developed in-house. The results show that when multiple granules are considered, the species selected as modern reference examples can be classified to high levels of specificity. When applied to the archaeological samples we show that wild plant resources persist in importance across the transition to agriculture, with high proportions of granule forms consistent with acorn (Quercus sp.) occurring in all samples. Hazelnut (Corylus avellana) types are less well-represented suggesting it was not an important food in the context of pottery, and may have been over-represented in the repertoire of hunteregatherer resources. Cereals are not represented in any of the samples, supporting the notion that their adoption may have been a slow process, occurring more gradually than for other domesticated foods, or that they were not initially processed in ceramic vessels.

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Illuminating the Late Mesolithic: residue analysis of ‘blubber’ lamps from Northern Europe

Antiquity, 2013

Download

Earliest evidence for the use of pottery

Nature, 2013

Phytoliths in Pottery Reveal the Use of Spice in European Prehistoric Cuisine

PLoS ONE, 2013

Download

Ancient lipids reveal continuity in culinary practices across the transition to agriculture in Northern Europe

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011

A systematic approach to the recovery and identification of starches from carbonised deposits on ceramic vessels

Journal of Archaeological Science, 2012

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Hayley Saul

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