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During the excavation of a Neolithic settlement in Vienna-Oberlaa, the remains of a charred wild apple were found.
In Vienna-Oberlaa, an apple was accidentally burned while drying and then discarded in the trash. Now it has been found again, not by the garbage disposal, but by archaeologists. Because the domestic accident happened about 4,000 years ago. The remains are probably the oldest block in Vienna.
The find was reported by the Vienna City Archeology and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences on the second Friday of November (November 13) on “Apple Day”. Two rather misshapen lumps were discovered, which first had to be examined more closely. Result: these are the remains of a charred wild apple that was recovered from the excavation of a Neolithic settlement in Grundäckergasse.
The rural settlement dates from around 2400 BC. The Stone Age fruit is probably the oldest evidence of an apple on Viennese soil. The circumstances of the find show that it was deliberately brought into the settlement from the surrounding forests and probably stored as winter supplies, it is said.
Similar findings in Switzerland
“The apple has been cut in half and obviously dried up,” reported Marianne Kohler-Schneider, who works as an archaeobotanist at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences with plant residues from archaeological excavations. they were stored as air-dried nuts. “
Crabapples were coveted forage crops in the Neolithic and served as an important source of vitamins in the winter months. The Oberlaaer apple could have been dried in an oven and could have fallen into the fire. It was probably later disposed of in a waste pit.
Charred cereal grains and animal bones were also unearthed. They give an idea of the livelihood of the Neolithic settlers of Oberlaa: “In addition to agriculture, which is based on cereals such as einka, emmer and barley, as well as legumes, the raising of cattle, pigs and sheep and goats also it played an important role, “explained Martin Penz, a prehistoric in the archeology of the city of Vienna and head of the Oberlaa excavation.
Harvested in the forest
At the settlement, spinning and weaving textile crafts were already taking place: “Economically and culturally, the Neolithic farmers of Oberlaa appear to have had connections primarily to the Carpathian Basin, as the ceramic finds show us.”
The first inhabitants of Oberlaas, however, were not fruit producers: the apple found is definitely a European wild apple (Malus sylvestris), as emphasized. According to scientists, the ancestors of cultivated apples, and therefore the systematic cultivation of fruits, did not reach Central Europe until thousands of years later. The Oberlaaer apple was probably harvested in the forests that covered the Laaer Berg and the Liesingbach Valley at that time.
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