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New study by the ROOTS Cluster of Excellence provides evidence of intensive rye cultivation with manuring in northern Central Europe since the Roman Empire.
Rye products, such as black bread or pumpernickel, are not only considered as being typically German. They are also often marketed as being particularly rustic and traditional. However, rye has only been part of the human diet for a relatively short period of time. While other cereals such as wheat and barley have been cultivated in Central Europe since the beginning of the Neolithic Age, rye had been considered a weed for thousands of years. This only changed around 2000 years ago. The main reason for this change - according to common hypothesis so far - was that rye thrives without much effort on poor, sandy soils and thus slowly became established as a crop.
An interdisciplinary research team funded by the ROOTS Cluster of Excellence at Kiel University (CAU) has now published new results in a special volume on research about early cultivation and domestication in the international journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, which question these previous views. The modern methods of analysis which were used show that rye was probably more than just an undemanding alternative for poor soils, even at the beginning of its cultivation. ‘It did not slowly become a dominant crop as a substitute plant, but through its early integration into a labour-intensive manuring system that already existed at the time, which was mainly based on stable dung,’ says palaeoecologist Dr Frank Schlütz from the Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at Kiel University, lead author of the study.
For this study, the participants examined charred rye grains found during archaeological excavations on the North Sea coast of Lower Saxony and in settlements on the nutrient-poor sandy soils of present-day Brandenburg. The grains date from the period between the 4th century and the 15th century.
The quantities of stable isotopes of nitrogen, carbon and sulphur were measured in the grains. ‘The nitrogen and sulphur isotopes provide us information about the type and intensity of manuring at the time, while the carbon isotopes tell us about the grain's yield,’ explains Frank Schlütz.
However, the effect of manuring on the isotopes in the cereal grains also depends on the soil quality. The team therefore also carried out analyses on modern rye on different soils for comparison. They used existing agricultural trial areas with dung fertilisation in Thyrow (Brandenburg) and Halle an der Saale (Saxony-Anhalt).
Overall, the measurements show that, in the beginning, rye was mostly grown on well-manured fields and only partly on poor, unfertilised soils. The sulphur isotopes suggest that peat was probably also used as a fertiliser in places.
In addition to manuring, crop yields also depended heavily on the water supply. The carbon isotopes show whether the cultivated rye suffered from drought or grew under moist conditions. Overall, the highest yields were probably achieved in the marshes on the North Sea coast. Here, rainfall was naturally high and livestock farming on the rich meadows provided plenty of dung for fertilisation.
Thus, the new study shows that rye did not only become a dominant crop in northern Central Europe because of its undemanding nature. Rather, it was productive to integrate it into a diverse agricultural system with heavily manured fields.
This also has consequences for the social valuation of rye. Agriculture and animal husbandry were apparently closely interwoven, and promoted the domestication of rye—and a labour-intensive agriculture with surpluses—the control of which ultimately favoured social inequality and consolidated medieval power structures.
‘There is much to suggest that the accumulation and control of rye surpluses during the Middle Ages was a means for the upper classes and the church to consolidate their dominant position,’ explains Frank Schlütz. However, rye remained the main food grain for over a thousand years before it was replaced in the 1950s by the wheat we are more familiar with today.
Dr Frank Schlütz
Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at Kiel University/ROOTS Cluster of Excellence
frank.schluetz@ufg.uni-kiel.de
Schlütz F., Bittmann F., Jahns S,. König S., Shumilovskikh L., Baumecker M., Kirleis W. 2025. Stable isotope analyses (δ15N, δ34S, δ13C) locate early rye cultivation in northern Europe within diverse manuring practices. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 380: 20240195. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0195
http://www.cluster-roots.org ROOTS Cluster of Excellence
https://www.sidestone.com/books/stories-of-waste-and-value Article on the history of rye in the ROOTS booklet: ‘Valuable waste stories - roots of the circular economy'
Rye ready for harvest.
Frank Schlütz
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Rye ready for harvest.
Frank Schlütz
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