Soultana Maria Valamoti, Dept. of Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Elena Marinova, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Eugenia Gkatzogia, Dept. of Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Ivanka Slavova, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgaria

This presentation focuses on plant remains from Iron Age contexts spanning the end of the 2^nd millennium BC up to the end of the 6^th century BC in northern Greece and Southern Bulgaria. The sites are Karabournaki, Toumba Thessalonikis and Polichni in central Macedonia in northern Greece and the sites Bresto, Malenovo, Dolno Cherkovishte and Kapitan Andreevo in the region of South Bulgaria. A variety of cereals and pulses, already cultivated since neolithic and Bronze Age times are identified as potential culinary ingredients in both regions, yet the list of crops from northern Greece includes a wider diversity than that from the Bulgarian sites especially as regards fruit remains. Continuities and discontinuities of plant ingredients are discussed in relation to potential taphonomic biases. This new evidence from the region indicates that during the Iron Age this part of southeastern Europe shares common traditions in terms of the plant species consumed with some differences already pointed out for the Late Bronze Age.