Revisiting the issue of Early Alan agriculture: finds of domesticated and weedy plants at the Podkumskoye-2 fortification (the 2nd-4th centuries ad)

The paper introduces into scientific discourse materials from one ofthe settlements dated to the startup of the Alan period in the Kislovodsk Depressionknown as Podkumskoye-2 (the 2nd-4th centuries AD). The investigations conducted revealthat the local population consumed a wide range of agricultural plants (broomcorn millet,foxtail millet, einkorn wheat, emmer, bread wheat, oats, and flax). The finds demonstratethat some of these crops, for example, Secale cereale, were probably grown in the areasaround the settlement. Radiocarbon dating indicates that it was one of the earliest locationsin the North Caucasus where this crop was grown.