The Vegetal Remains and the Bio-archaeological Findings: an Overview of Water Flotation Samples from Ancient Serdica (Sofia, Bulgaria)

Abstract

This paper explains the method, borrowed from the discipline of paleobotany, of sample processing for water flotation retrieved from archaeological contexts and their adjacent sediments. It presents insights, including the specific methodological approach and initial results of the samples' assessment, from a case study of the archaeological site located at 35 Exarch Joseph St – now within the heavily urbanised city centre of Sofia, Bulgaria, but falling within the frame of Serdica during the Antiquity. New evidence deriving from the study of the water flotation samples is shown, along with an accent on the bio-archaeological and in particular – to the vegetal macro-remains, including those of charred and waterlogged seeds and wood species, such as deciduous oak, fir, pine and spruce.