wood ash

Ingredients

wood ash, animal bone

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Wood ash was identified within a fire installation level inside a midden context (p. 230). The installation was lined by a thin silty ridge and contained traces of burning (p. 227). Geochemical measurements confirmed available phosphate levels more than 20 times higher than natural plateau levels (p. 227, 230).

Evidence

"The fire installation layer shows also slightly increased K, Mg, Fe, S, Sr, and Mn values compared to the layer above. The higher amounts of both Mg and K may indicate wood ash (Figure 11)."

Remarks

The use of 'bone-tempered' wall or roof mortar is also mentioned as a potential source for these elements as it decays into the ruin fill (p. 224). The high portion of imported phosphates nearly doubles at this level (from 36.4 % to 63.8 %), suggesting intensive anthropogenic combustion and refuse deposition (p. 227).