Agrarian legacies and innovations in the Nabataean territory

Abstract

he Nabataeans, a nomadic people inhabiting the southern Near East from the end of the 4 th century BC, are mainly known for their trade activities along the Incense Road. Recent scientiic advances have shown the importance of agro-pastoral activities within the Nabataean kingdom. However, few studies have addressed the identiication of the existing agrosystems and the kinds of associated plant production. his paper focuses on agrarian plant resources exploited in the Nabataean territory by analysing the carpological and anthracological data from four sites (Bosra, Dharih, Petra, Hegra) presented Nabataean and Roman layers dated between the 2 nd century BC and the end of the 3 rd century AD. he results obtained show the existence of farming systems combining annual and perennial crops, responding eiciently to diferent economic needs (including food, technical raw materials and fuel). Fruit trees were important and their distribution mainly correlated with climate and topographic constraints. Semi-arid sites developed Mediterranean agroforestry systems while the only arid area site developed an oasis agrosystem. Crop production was directly inherited from preceding periods while the presence of cotton in the Hegra oasis relects innovative agricultural and technical processes probably related to Nabataean trade activities. Résumé : Les Nabatéens, peuple nomade à l'origine, s'installant dans le sud du Proche-Orient à partir de la in du IV e siècle av. J.-C., sont surtout connus pour leurs activités marchandes le long de la route de l'encens. Les avancées scientiiques récentes montrent l'importance des activités agro-pastorales à l'époque nabatéenne, mais peu d'études s'intéressent à la déinition des agrosystèmes existants et aux types de productions végétales associées. Cet article propose donc de faire le point sur ce que nous savons des ressources végétales agricoles exploitées sur le territoire nabatéen par l'analyse des données carpologiques et anthracologiques de quatre sites (Bosra, Dharih, Pétra, Hégra) présentant des niveaux nabatéens et romains datés entre le II e siècle av. J.-C. et la in du III e siècle apr. J.-C. Les résultats soulignent l'existence de systèmes agricoles mixtes associant cultures annuelles et pérennes, répondant eicacement aux diférents besoins économiques (notamment alimentaires, techniques et combustibles). Les fruitiers y tiennent une place importante, et leur distribution est étroitement corrélée aux contraintes climatiques et topographiques. Les sites soumis à un climat semi-aride développent des systèmes agroforestiers méditerranéens tandis que le seul site soumis à un climat aride présente un agrosystème oasien. Les productions végétales sont directement héritées des périodes précédentes tandis que la présence de coton dans l'oasis de Hégra souligne une forme d'innovation agricole et technique probablement en lien avec l'activité commerciale nabatéenne.

Landscape use and fruit cultivation in Petra (Jordan) from Early Nabataean to Byzantine times (2nd century bc–5th century ad)

“…The strong presence of fruit by-products in the form of seeds, stones and wood charcoal reveals the regular use of edible products as food and inedible by-products as fuel (see Secondly, the small but consistent amounts of cereal chaff, straw remains and weeds resulting from post-harvesting processing probably indicate local farming, as is the case for the regional ancient farming sites in the southern Near East, for instance at Bir Madhkur (Ramsay and Smith II 2013), or other more distant contemporary archaeological sites (Gilliland 1986;Crawford 1987Crawford , 2006Willcox 1992Willcox , 2003Hoppé 2012;Ramsay 2013). Nevertheless, the proportions of cereal by-products at ez-Zantur are much lower than at other farming sites, like Dharih in the north (Bouchaud 2015) or Humayma in the south (Ramsay 2013), where charred chaff and straw constitute more than 50 % of the cereal remains. As it is highly unlikely that these by-products were not used as fuel, fodder or temper in such a semi-arid environment (van der Veen 1999), one can assume that the cereal spikes were processed elsewhere, whereas only the grains, or florets together with accidental by-products and weeds, reached ez-Zantur.…”

“…The present study is based on the plant material collected during the various excavation campaigns carried out in the ez-Zantur area between 1991 and 2002. It compiles data by various scholars from unpublished theses and dissertations (Martinoli 1997;Bouchaud 2011) and partially published works (Bouchaud 2015;Karg 1996;Jacquat and Martinoli 1999).…”

“…The results are very similar to those from other archaeobotanical analyses conducted in the southern Near East (Gilliland 1986;Crawford 1987Crawford , 2006Willcox 1992Willcox , 2003Hoppé 2012;Ramsay 2013). All of these help us to understand which crop plants were grown in this semi-arid region characterised by the growing of freethreshing wheats, hulled barley and Mediterranean fruit (Bouchaud 2015), a triad inherited from at least the Bronze Age (Tengberg 2012). It is however difficult to know whether the inhabitants of ez-Zantur cultivated the various crops themselves, and if they did, the location of the irrigated or rain-fed fields.…”