During the middle ages, strawberry, Fragaria vesca, is frequent in the settlements from north-western Europe. The species can often be recorded in huge quantities. The issue of its cultivated or wild status has to be discussed. It is impossible to determine whether the species is wild, cultivated or domesticated from simple anatomical observation of its achenes. Several elements could influence the presence and abundance of strawberry: the fruit of the strawberry produces many achenes; these are very resistant to biodegradation and they keep even well in contexts where organic decomposition of organic matter is strong. In medieval and early modern times they are quite common finds in the filling of cesspits and kitchen rubbish pits. The presence from Fragaria vesca in the archaeobotanical assemblages from cesspits can be resulting from collections from the wild, but also specimens cultivated in gardens. Indeed, the species is a characteristic component of forest borders and clearings and collection of the fruits was easy. However, from iconographic and textual sources, we can observe that strawberry was depicted as a garden plant on several religious paintings, due to its strong symbolic meaning as symbol of the pureness of Saint Mary. In addition, from the tenth century to the early modern times, the species is increasingly frequent in archaeobotanical assemblages. Through these several elements, we can imagine that the cultivation of strawberry could have taken place earlier than was previously estimated.

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