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

Abstract

Archaeobotanical analyses of charred seeds, fruit and wood charcoal from the residential part of the ez-Zantur area at Petra, Jordan, provide new data on the agricultural economy and use of the landscape in this famous merchant Nabataean city from the middle of the 2nd century BC to the beginning of the 5th century AD. The study is based on analyses of 7,499 whole and fragmented seeds, pips and fruit stones and 624 charcoal fragments sampled from household deposits. The results show that the food supply was based on common Mediterranean cultivated taxa such as cereals (Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aestivum/durum), pulses (Lens culinaris) and fruit (Olea europaea, Ficus carica, Vitis vinifera), which were probably cultivated both in the city and its hinterland. The by-products from the processing of cereals and fruit trees played a significant role in fuel supply, supplementing woody wild plants obtained from rocky slopes and the desert valley. The variety of fuel resources shows a major capacity to manage complex supply networks and perhaps the rarity of natural woodland cover. The existence of orchards within the city centre and notably olive groves is indicated in the Early Nabataean period (mid 2nd century to mid 1st century BC) but they expanded during the Classical Nabataean period (mid 1st century BC to 1st century AD), probably reflecting specialised fruit growing. Unusual plant remains such as Prunus armeniaca (apricot), P. persica (peach) and Juglans regia (walnut) are considered to be social indicators of prosperity. These archaeobotanical results fit with others from this region and match with the urbanization and social dynamics of the city of Petra.

Unprecedented yet gradual nature of first millennium CE intercontinental crop plant dispersal revealed in ancient Negev desert refuse

“…The snapshot presented here of the Negev Highlands’ microregional crop basket supports and significantly enhances previous evidence for first millennium CE crop diffusion. Together with the archaeobotany of sites from southern Jordan ( Bouchaud et al, 2017 ) and Jerusalem ( Amichay and Weiss, 2020 ; Amichay et al, 2019 ), the Negev Highland plant remains attest to Roman and Byzantine dispersal in the Southern Levant of fruit crops such as peach, pear, plum, jujube, apricot, cherry, pistachio, pine nut, and hazel, among others, and to Abbasid introduction of aubergines. Altogether, this evidence suggests that RAD was a greater force in the agricultural history of the first millennium CE than the IGR, which is also the current consensus from Iberia ( Peña-Chocarro et al, 2019 ).…”

Unprecedented yet gradual nature of first millennium CE intercontinental crop plant dispersal revealed in ancient Negev desert refuse

“…The snapshot presented here of the Negev Highlands’ microregional crop basket supports and significantly enhances previous evidence for 1 st millennium CE crop diffusion. Together with the archaeobotany of sites from southern Jordan [70] and Jerusalem [25,41], the Negev Highland plant remains attest to Roman and Byzantine agricultural influence on the spread of fruit crops such as peach, pear, plum, jujuba, apricot, cherry, pistachio nut, pine nut, and hazelnut, among others, and to Abbasid introduction of aubergines in the southern Levant.…”

Cultural landscape and plant use at the Phoenician site of Motya (Western Sicily, Italy) inferred from a disposal pit

“…Almost all Fabaceae present a strong structural variability, making identification difficult. Faboideae are a subfamily of Fabaceae including shrubby brooms, whose wood is generally semi-ring porous, characterized in the transversal section by vessels arranged in an oblique to dendritic pattern with paratracheal parenchyma (Bouchaud et al 2017). Longitudinally it presents spiral thickenings, homogenous to heterogeneous rays, of variable width (Schweingruber 1990).…”