Loshenkov M.I.

Key words: Milogradskaya culture, archaeobotany, collections, imprints of grains on crockery, species of cereals, paleoethnobotanic spectrum, paleoethnobotanic complex, organic impurities.
The occupation layer at sites of the Milogradskaya culture (7th – 3d cc. BC) in South Belarus has not preserved any grains. Hence, the imprints of grains on crockery are a very valuable resource. The author has studied the collections of pottery (44517 items) from 15 ancient settlements (tables 1, 2). They are located in the western part of the Gomel region of Belarus: 9 on the right bank of the Dnieper and 6 to the east of the Polesye lowlands.
One thousand and twenty-seven imprints of grains have been identified on 854 fragments of vessels in the laboratory of flora and classification of plants of the Institute of Experimental Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. They belong to three species of cereals: millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) – 918, barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) – 26 and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) – 15. The cultured crops include two species of beans: peas (Pisum sativum L.) – 2 and bean (Vicia faba L.) – 4. The imprints of cultivated crops comprise 94% of all the plants. Six per cent of the imprints are from 10 species of weeds, including rye (Secale cereale L.).