Research on plant macrofossils from Fewet has been carried out in a multidisciplinary perspective to understand the land use and transformation that the Garamantes introduced in Fezzan, Central Sahara, at the time of their cultural development. The site of Fewet preserved a fairly abundant archaeobotanical record thanks to the fire events that reduced much of the plant material contained in several rooms to a charred state. The characteristic species of the archaeobotanical record of Fewet include: (a) cultivated plants: the trees such as Phoenix dactylifera, and to a smaller extent Ficus carica, Vitis vinifera and Acacia nilotica subsp. nilotica; cereals such as Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aestivum/durum/turgidum and T. monococcum, and some Panicoideae (Pennisetum glaucum, and Sorghum bicolor); pulses such as Vigna unguiculata and Vicia species; some vegetables and herbs such as Lagenaria siceraria and Apium graveolens; (b) wild woody plants such as Tamarix species, and wild grasses including Sorghum halepense and Setaria and Panicum species. Plant remains were particularly abundant in Room FW5 and, to a lesser extent, in FW6. Date palm and barley are the best represented plants in the archaeobotanical record and were the most characteristic crops cultivated by the Garamantes. They marked the landscape of the Fewet oasis and of the entire Fezzan at that time.
Seeds, fruits and charcoal from the Fewet compound
BULDRINI, FABRIZIO
2013
Abstract
Research on plant macrofossils from Fewet has been carried out in a multidisciplinary perspective to understand the land use and transformation that the Garamantes introduced in Fezzan, Central Sahara, at the time of their cultural development. The site of Fewet preserved a fairly abundant archaeobotanical record thanks to the fire events that reduced much of the plant material contained in several rooms to a charred state. The characteristic species of the archaeobotanical record of Fewet include: (a) cultivated plants: the trees such as Phoenix dactylifera, and to a smaller extent Ficus carica, Vitis vinifera and Acacia nilotica subsp. nilotica; cereals such as Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aestivum/durum/turgidum and T. monococcum, and some Panicoideae (Pennisetum glaucum, and Sorghum bicolor); pulses such as Vigna unguiculata and Vicia species; some vegetables and herbs such as Lagenaria siceraria and Apium graveolens; (b) wild woody plants such as Tamarix species, and wild grasses including Sorghum halepense and Setaria and Panicum species. Plant remains were particularly abundant in Room FW5 and, to a lesser extent, in FW6. Date palm and barley are the best represented plants in the archaeobotanical record and were the most characteristic crops cultivated by the Garamantes. They marked the landscape of the Fewet oasis and of the entire Fezzan at that time.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.