Table 1_Intercropping in the Merovingian period? Legume finds from Harestadkrysset, Norway, in their wider Scandinavian context.xlsx

In the largest of these houses, the wall ditch and one of the postholes produced charred remains of large legume seeds, tentatively identified as cultivated legumes (cf. Vicia/Lathyrus/Pisum) and dated to 579–645 cal AD.

These seeds are unusual in both their large size and their concentration: although vetches are occasionally found as single examples in wild/weed seed assemblages in Rogaland, this is by far the largest number of legume finds from a single house dating to earlier than the Medieval period. This suggests that legumes were cultivated, and that their inclusion in the archaeological record results from their collection and processing.