Yellow for the Miners? A Bulk Find of Reseda luteola L. from a Bronze Age Copper Mining Site

Archaeobotanical analyses of flotation samples from the Bronze Age mining site Prigglitz-Gasteil in Austria revealed a bulk find of charred seeds of the dye plant Reseda luteola L. (weld), of the Resedaceae family. The find securely dates to the 9th century BCE, i.e. the Late Urnfield Culture. Although Reseda luteola can also occur as a weed, its dominance in the sample rather indicates intentional growing. This paper discusses the biology and the economical uses of weld, and aims to clarify the rationale for the occurrence of weld in the Bronze Age mining context. Dyeing with weld requires pre-mordanting with inorganic compounds such as copper or ferrous sulphates. These metal compounds were abundantly available at the site, where copper ores were extracted from an opencast mine. While the mass find of Reseda luteola cannot provide a proof in the strict sense, in all probability it represents evidence for its use as a dyeing plant in the Alpine region as early as the 9th century BC.