Botanical evidence for Garamantian agriculture in Fezzan, southern Libya

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 73 (1992): 315-327

315

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam

Botanical evidence for Garamantian agriculture in Fezzan, southern Libya Marijke van der Veen School o f A rchaeological Studies, University o f Leicester, UK

(Received February 25, 1989; revised and accepted May 11, 1992)

ABSTRACT Van der Veen, M., 1992. Botanical evidence for Garamantian agriculture in Fezzan, southern Libya. In: J.P. Pals, J. Buurman and M. van der Veen (Editors), Festschrift for Professor van Zeist. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 73: 315-327. The archaeobotanical analysis of 23 samples of occupation deposits from the Garamantian settlement of Zinchecra, Fezzan, southern Libya, dated to the first millennium BC, has identified 6113, mainly desiccated, plant remains. Six crop plants were found: Triticum dicoccum, Triticum aestivum, Hordeum vulgare, Phoenix dactylifera, Ficus carica, and Vitis vinifera, in addition to a number of wild plants. These remains form the first direct evidence for the arable economy of the Garamantes.

Preface

It is a great honour to be able to present a contribution to this Festschrift for Prof. W. van Zeist, who has played such an invaluable role in the development of our discipline. I was first introduced to the study of archaeobotany by his lectures in the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut in Groningen. But it was not until he had "thrown me in at the deep end" by sending me as his representative to the Unesco excavations at Carthage, Tunisia, during the summers of 1977 and 1978, that I developed my present fascination with the subject. When the "mission ne6rlandaise" started its archaeobotanical work in Carthage, from 1977 onwards, hardly anything was known about the development of agriculture in North Africa, other than scanty historical references about the coastal settlements of the Phoenicians. This situation is very slowly changing, find I thought it appropriate to present as my contribution to Prof. van Zeist Correspondence to: Dr. M. van der Veen, School of Archaeological Studies, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LEI 7RH, UK. 0034-6667/92/$05.00

the new archaeobotanical evidence for agriculture which has become available from Zinchecra, a Garamantian settlement in the remote hinterland of the north African coast contemporary with the Phoenician occupation of Carthage.

Introduction

During the first half of the first millennium BC the Phoenicians had founded a string of settlements along the North African coast, from the Gulf of Syrtis to the Atlantic. While most of these settlements remained small trading centres, Carthage became a powerful metropolis during the fifth century BC, controling a large part of the African hinterland. The r61e of the Carthaginians was mainly that of entrepreneurs, carrying goods from one foreign country to another along the Mediterranean and beyond. The presence of three Carthaginian settlements close together along the Tripolitanian coast (i.e. Sabratha, Oea, and Lepcis Magna, see Fig.l) suggests that trade routes into the hinterland and probably the Sahara were also important (Bovill, 1968). Tripoli (Oea) has been called the gateway of the Sahara and the easiest

© 1992 - - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved.

316

M. V A N I ) E R V E E N

100

0

100

200

,

IKm

200ram

200ram ~

O

e

a

(T~ripoli)

L e p cis ~ , . ~ . , , ~

..,%

Ghadames

>

~'^

• Bu Ngem

.:::!: i!::;?v .

"

):.? "::@i SAND SEA OF :::

......

Gheriat •

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:..: !: :.;.:.:~:;:: ?- : ~ , . } ? : j : ~ 2 : ~ ~ . ~

QGha

?(~:.~?:.'...~7~.7Z.v=~t~Z~:.:

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t

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:" """::'.':" .' 2 Z NCHECRA ~[ 1~ < <:!':! :" ~,ANDSEAOF :" ':...',.:...-' ~ ~ ~Q-::)i::J~. MUFIZUCH ~'~::".:~::"='~:':'"' • :'.":"

':"

Fig. l. Location map showing Zinchecra and other places mentioned in the text. access route to the interior from the M e d i t e r r a n e a n has always lain southwards from Tripoli. M a n y nineteenth century explorers, such as L y o n and Barth, used it as a base for their travels (Bovill, 1968). It is n o t k n o w n exactly which products the C a r t h a g i n i a n s o b t a i n e d from this trade route, b u t carbuncles (a precious red stone) from the G a r a m a n t e s are m e n t i o n e d , a n d gold dust, slaves, ivory, ostrich feathers, n a t r o n a n d salt have all been suggested (Bovill, 1968; Daniels, 1970b). Very little is k n o w n a b o u t the economic base of

the people living in the h i n t e r l a n d of the Phoenician trade posts. While references by classical authors provide relatively detailed descriptions of the coastal settlements, references to i n l a n d areas are rare. The few texts there are refer to pastoralists a n d n o m a d s , b u t also m e n t i o n very high grain yields. The fact that m a n y i n h a b i t a n t s are described as n o m a d s may simply reflect a c o m m o n a s s u m p t i o n a b o u t people living on the fringes of civilization (Fentress, 1979, for a detailed a c c o u n t of the classical texts which discuss the e c o n o m y of the i n d i g e n o u s African populations). There is, however, one i m p o r t a n t passage by H e r o d o t u s (writing ca. 450 BC) relevant to this study, in which he describes the G a r a m a n t e s , one of the remote tribes, who lived in an area c o r r e s p o n d i n g to the present Fezzan (now the s o u t h e r n province of the L i b y a n A r a b Republic): "1 have now mentioned all the pastoral tribes along the Libyan coast. Up country further to the south lies the region where wild beasts are found, and beyond that there is a great belt of sand ... along this belt, separated from one another by about ten days" journey, are little hills formed of lumps of salt, and from the top of each gushes a spring of cold, sweet water. Men live in the neighbourhood of these springs ... Again at the same distance to the west is a salt-hill and spring, just as before, with date palms of the fruit-bearing kind, as in the other oases; and here live the Garamantes, a very numerous tribe of people, who spread soil over the salt to sow their seed in ... and it is amongst them that the cattle are found which walk backwards as they graze. The reason for this curious habit is provided by the formation of their horns, which bend forwards and downwards: this prevents them from moving forwards in the ordinary way. for, if they tried to do so, their horns would stick in the ground. In other respects they are just like ordinary cattle .- except for the thickness and toughness of their hide. The Garamantes hunt the Ethiopian holemen, or troglodytes, in four-horse chariots, for these troglodytes are exceedingly swift of foot ..2' (Herodotus, Histories IV. 183). This passage clearly describes the presence of oases in an otherwise desert landscape, and the practice of a mixed e c o n o m y , based on fruit trees (dates), cereals, a n d cattle. The four-horse chariots are k n o w n from m a n y rock carvings in south western Libya a n d further west (Le Quellec, 1987), a n d the h u n t i n g of the Troglodytes may refer to a trade in slaves. The G a r a m a n t e s p r o b a b l y remained a remote a n d ill-known tribe (although the carbuncle or C a r t h a g i n i a n stone is t h o u g h t to

317

BOTANICAL EVIDENCE FOR GARAMANTIAN AGRICULTURE

come from the Garamantes), until the campaign by Cornelius Balbus in the late first century BC. This campaign was one of a series which Augustus' generals carried out along the Arab and African borders of the Empire (Daniels, 1970b). Renewed contact between the Garamantes and the Romans took place during the revolt of Tacfarinas (AD 17-24) and during the civil war between Lepcis and Oea (AD 68-69) (Daniels, 1970b). From the late first century AD the Garamantes and Rome appear to have been at peace with one another. No references to the tribe are known from the later Roman period, but it was still in existence in the seventh century (Daniels, 1970b). Archaeological work in Fezzan has greatly increased our knowledge of the Garamantes. Large scale surveys and excavations have been carried out between 1965 and 1971 under the direction of C.M. Daniels of the Department of Archaeology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, along the Wadi el-Agial, as part of his study of the Garamantes and their relationship with the Roman Empire (Daniels, 1968, 1969, 1970a, 1970b, 1973, 1977). The capital of the Garamantes, Garama, has now been identified with the archaeological remains at Germa in the Wadi el-Agial, ca. 700 km south of Tripoli and 170 km west of Sebha, the modern capital of Fezzan (see Fig. 1). The archaeological evidence suggests that the tribe of the Garamantes occupied a strip of land ca. 160 km long and 5 km wide along the Wadi el-Agial which lies in between the Sand Sea of Ubari to the north and the Hamada of Murzuch to the south, each of which rises to over 150 m in places. Evidence for occupation has, in fact, been found in a much larger area, and especially in the well-watered Wadi es-Sciatti to the north and the Wadi Bergiug to the south (Daniels, 1969, 1970b). The present evidence suggests that Garama was founded in the fifth century BC, and expanded considerably in the first century AD. By the fourth or fifth century AD it had begun to shrink in size, but was still known as the chief capital of Fezzan to the first Arab invaders in AD 643. Zinchecra, a fortified promontory site 3.5 km south-west of Garama on the southern side of the Wadi (Fig.l) was almost certainly Garama's predecessor. Survey work and excavations have identified over 300

habitation and burial sites on the slopes and top of this hill. The earlier occupation was concentrated on the top of the spur and on the northern slope; later buildings were recovered on the southern slope. Three radio-carbon dates from the occupation levels in building 13 on the northern slope and one from an occupation level in building 71 on top of the spur gave dates clustering between 2695 and 2560 BP, which suggests that the occupation at Zinchecra started in the first half of the first millennium BC (Daniels, pers. commun., 1988), while pottery evidence indicates that the occupation ceased sometime in the first century AD, at the time when Garama started to expand. Further samples for radio-carbon dating will be submitted in order to establish the exact length of the occupation on the site. During the excavations it was found that many of the occupation levels in and outside the buildings consisted of organic debris, such as animal dung, palm wood and leaves, knotted loops of twine, charcoal, ash, burnt date stones, and small amounts of animal bone. The presence of thick layers of dung was, in fact, mentioned frequently in the excavation reports. Small samples of these organic deposits were collected for future study. It proved impossible to have these samples analysed at the time, but renewed interest in the results of the Garamantes project in the light of recent work in Tripolitania (the Ghirza and Unesco Libyan Valleys Projects; Jones and Barker, 1980; Barker and Jones, 1984; Brogan and Smith, 1984; Van der Veen, 1984, 1985; Dore and van der Veen, 1986) has meant that these samples were "rediscovered". The analysis of the botanical remains has only just begun and the results should, therefore, be regarded as only preliminary. It was felt, however, that publication of these preliminary results was appropriate in the context of this Festschrift. The full report on the botanical analysis of all the samples will be published in Libyan Studies, vol.23. Contextual information

The samples discussed in this interim report all came from buildings located on top of the spur of Zinchecra. Building 34 is a house built from large stone blocks. Only hand-picked material (i.e. date

318

stones) was available from this context. Building 37/39 is a complex of two or more rooms of which

fragments have survived. The interior was filled with a thick layer of occupation debris. Handpicked date stones were available from context 37. One sample from the material on the floor of room 39 has been analysed. Three further samples (samples A, B, and C) still await analysis. Building 51 is a small structure situated in the south-east corner of the promontory. All the other buildings (contexts 60, 62, 66, 68, 71, and 72 must have formed a small village, or complex of huts and shelters, perched on the south side of the promontory top. The houses were built in dry stone walling with additional timber structures. Some of them were quite substantial. The buildings consisted of rooms and yards or pens, and contained several hearths and fireplaces. The interiors were all filled with dung, collapsed roofing material (palm?) and occupation refuse. A total of 17 samples was analysed from these contexts.

Methods The samples were collected from occupation levels, hearths, and rubbish deposits associated with the buildings, but no systematic or other specific sampling strategy was applied. The sample size was usually a "small plastic bag" full of material. The actual sample sizes are given in Table I. In several cases hand-picked material was also present. No form of sieving was applied on site. The material was literally scooped up, bagged, and brought back to England, where it was put into store. When the material was assessed for the present analysis, it became clear that most of the plant remains in the samples were not charred, as is frequently the case in archaeological deposits, but were preserved in desiccated form. In some samples the material was in fairly good condition, but in many others the plant remains appeared fragile. It was decided not to apply water flotation, a method commonly used to separate charred plant remains from the mineral matter in the samples, as it was feared that contact with water might damage the desiccated remains. The samples were, instead, dry-sieved through an 0.5 m m mesh sieve to remove fine dust particles, and subse-

M. VAN D E R VEEN

TABLE I Zinchecra: sample volumes Context

Volume

34 3 34 4 37 1 37 2 39 1 51 1 7l 2 71 3 71 4 71 6 72 2 72 5

Handpicked Handpicked Handpicked Handpicked 150 ml Handpicked 200 ml 200 ml 250 ml 50 ml 600 ml (1/2 sorted) 50 ml 400 ml 175 ml 1000 ml (1/4 sorted) 350 ml 300 ml 400 ml (I/2 sorted) 350 ml 350 ml 600 ml 50 ml 150 ml

60 1 60 6 62 3 62 8 62 8A 62 9 62 9A 66 3 68 2 68 9 68 11

quently, hand-sorted under the microscope using 15 x magnification. As no satisfactory separation of the organic and mineral matter had taken place, the sorting of the samples was an extremely timeconsuming process, but it was important to extract all available material intact. The seeds and fruits were identified with the help of the writer's reference collection of modern seeds, the plant collections at the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Flora of Libya (Ali and Jafri, 1976-) and the Flora of Iraq (Townsend and Guest, 1966-). Magnifications of up to x 50 were used for the identifications. The results of the analysis are given in Table II. Pressure of time meant that in some cases only part of a sample was analysed. This is indicated in Table II with the symbol *. The actual amount of those samples analysed is given in Table I.

Results The samples were very rich in plant remains and a total of 6113, mainly desiccated, items has been

319

BOTANICAL EVIDENCE FOR G A R A M A N T I A N A G R I C U L T U R E

identified, including cereal grains, cereal chaff, remains of fruits, trees and shrubs, and wild plants. The results have been grouped in these four categories in Table II and will be discussed below in this order.

Cereal grain With the exception of sample 51 1, most of the samples contained only very small numbers of cereal grains. Most of the grains were in a poor state of preservation, being very shrivelled, fragmented, or both. A few of the wheat grains showed the clear dorsal ridge and pointed ends characteristic of emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccum, but the others could only be identified as wheat grains, Triticum sp. Sample 51 1 consisted of a large number of complete emmer spikelets, with the grain still enclosed by the glumes and the rachis internodes still attached to the base of the spikelet. The barley grains in the samples all showed parallel ridges on the dorsal surface and possessed an angular cross-section, both characteristics of hulled barley. The ratio of central to lateral grains was 1:1.6, which indicates that we are dealing with sixrow barley, Hordeum vulgare (the ratio of central to lateral grains is 1:0 in two-row barley and 1:2 in six-row barley).

Cereal chaff" Fragments of cereal chaff were the most common category of plant remains found, making up 52% of the total. More than half of them were glume bases of Triticum dicoccum (emmer). The venation pattern on the glume bases showed a strongly developed primary keel, a fairly prominent secondary "keel", and poorly developed tertiary veins. The angle between the glume faces on either side of the primary keel was less than 90 °, but obtuse at the secondary "keel". In several cases the rachis internode was still attached to the spikelet base, forming the characteristic spikelet fork. In sample 62 9 the light chaff fragments of emmer (lemma/palea and awn fragments) were found associated with the heavier chaff fragments like glume bases and rachis internodes. A large number of rachis internodes of barley was found,

as well as some of the barley hulls (lemma/palea, and lemma bases). The fact that some basal nodes of both wheat and barley were present indicates that the cereal ears were harvested by cutting below the ear, rather than by "plucking" the ears (Hillman, 1981). A small number of rachis internodes of a free-threshing wheat were found. They were shield-shaped and some showed very faint longitudinal lines near the outer edge of the convex face of the internode. At the top, immediately below the point of glume insertion, they had no lumps, but merely a thin inconspicuous ridge. These features are characteristic of bread wheat, Triticum aestivum (Hillman, pers. commun., 1988). Some cereal straw fragments were also present: 39 culm nodes and 7 culm bases, although the latter could also belong to a large grass.

Fruits and trees This category is dominated by the remains of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera. A total of 426 date stones was found. In some cases, in fact, the entire fruit, very dried and shrivelled, was still present. In addition to the fruits and stones a very large number (412) of the perianths of the fruits were found (showing two whorles of three perianth segments, imbricate), as well as fragments of the strands (rhachillae) which bear the flowers and later the fruit. Some of the rhachillae fragments were still attached to the perianths. It would appear that, in addition to the rhachillae of female inflorescences, also fragments of male inflorescences are present, as some fragments are rather thin, more zig-zag in shape, and with rather short distances between the flowers. The most surprising find was the presence of the flowers of the date palm. Both female and male flowers were found, in addition to some loose anthers. The interpretation of their presence will be discussed below. The remains of two other fruits were found: seeds of figs, Ficus carica, and pips of grapes, Vitis vinifera. The number of fig seeds (96) is very low considering that one fig can contain up to 2000 seeds. The fruits of two wild plants have been grouped in this category: the fruits of Rhus tripartitus, a spiny shrub with twisted branches, and the seeds of bitter apple, Citrullus colocynthis, a prostrate creeper

II

dicoccum, glume bases dico~ cum. rachis internodes dico~cum, basal nodes dicoccum, lemma/palca dicoceum, awn fragments aestivum L. (bread wheat), rachis

vulgate, vulgate, vulgare, vulgare,

W I L D PLANTS Resedo lutea L. (wild mignonette), ~eeds Reseda alba k (upright mignonette), seeds Caryophyllaceae indet., seeds Aizoon hispanicum g.. seeds Portulaca oleracea L. (purslane). seeds (7~enopodium cf. murale L. (nettle-leaved goosefoot) seeds Chenopodiaceae, leaf tip Apium graveolens L. (wild celery), seeds Compositae indet., flowerhead Heliotropium europaeum-type, nutlet Cyperus el. laevigatus L., achene Eh,ocharis cf (arihaea (Rottboet) Blake. athene

FRUITS, TREES, A N D S H R U B S Phoenix dactvl~fi'ra L. (date palm), fruds stones Phoeniv dactvlifera, perianths of fruits Phoenix dactvlifi'ra, rachillae/strands Phoenix dactvl(fi, ra. female flowers Phoeniv dactvlifera, male flowers Phoenix dactvlifera, anthers I%us cari~a L, (lig), seeds Vitis vm¢fi,ra L. (grape), pips Rhus tripartitus R. Schultz, fruits Citrullus ~olo~3nthis ( L ) Schrader {bitter apple) seeds Tarnariv sp. {tamarisk), leaves

rachis internodes basal nodes lemma bases glumes (lemma, palea) Indet., rachis internodes Cerealia, culm nodes Cerealia, culm bases

Hordeum Hordeum Hordeum Hordeum

internodes

Triticum Triticum Trith'um Triticum Triticum Triticum

CHAFF

barley)

Triticum di~o¢cum Schiibler {emmer wheat) Triticum sp. (wheat) Hordeum vulgare L. emend. (six-row. hulled

GRAIN

Context

It

343~4

Zinchecra: total numbers of seeds and fruits

TABLE

II

371+2

12 2 I

10 I

I I

I

I

I

12

~

(, I

0 2 1 2

6 2

2

2

I

15 I8

2

60 28

4 1

78 18

10

~

560 280

19

]

83 28 I I

I I 42

7

3 31

1 20 I

10

I

7 I

7 20

2 1

21

143 21

4

2

714

"

14 1

4

I2 22

I 9

2

28

2

123 23 I

2

1

71~

3

25

712

I

560

511

I

391

111 9

5 2

716

3O

5 I 2 2

24 52 4 2

I0 3

43

4

224 33 2

17

3

722*

2

2

4 6

12 6

725

19 3

4

6

13

12 I

I

601

9 19 2 I

5 2

26

70 7 1

I

606

9 5 4

3

26 6

623*

1 5

30 2

I

6

9 14

1 2 I

21 I

44 7

628A

5

4

8

1

26 80 5

I 4 12 3

65

I

119 29 I

6

2

628

I0 I

2

7 1

84

3 I 2

41 61 4 I 34

6 5 2

41 1

196 108 2 49 12

2

I

629*

5 2

I

15 ~2

5

2

57

125 28

I

629A

442 IU

26 ~

I I

6

43

I

663

,I 2

6

14 17 4 2

4 4

42

l

ll7 10

1

682

I 2

9 I

689

2

I 19

I

2

4 3 1

6811

31

I

I

t5

170 4

4

O3 7

426 412 23 7 44 2 96 t9 t7 7

397 2 7 14 47 39 7

1993 611 9 50 12 9

565 5 65

Total

Z

m

> Z

TOTAL

Phragmites australis (Cavanilles) Trinius ex Steudel, culm node Phalaris cf. minor Retzius (lesser canary grass). seeds Panicum turgidum Forssk~d. upper floret cf. Setaria sp., upper floret Gramineae. tribe Paniceac indet., upper floret Gramineae, tribe Paniceae indet., spikelet Pennisetum divisum (Gmelin) Henry, bristles Pennisetum sp., caryopsis Indeterminate, Type T Indeterminate 2 2 I 1 1 6

252

3 I

7 1 5

298

1428

I

I

347

1 8

4

4 2 2

2

303

1 3

7

2 I 2

2

128

488*

I 9

I

35

72

198

4 66*

I 442

3 1 3 6

5

1 I

3 2 5

1

3 1

1

1

I

126

I

2

3

3

706*

7 7

4 3 7

302

3

1 1

3 2

564

I

3

273

3 8

I

9

13

50

I

1

7

7~

Z

Z

~" ~r

if?

64 6113

~

~

~

~ Z

3~ r"

Z

19

2

28

39 2

29

10

322

with round yellow fruits the size of small apples. The seeds are very similar to those of watermelon, but much smaller: ca. 7 mm long, 5 mm wide, and 1.5 mm thick. They are brown or pale buff in colour. The last species in this category is the tamarisk tree, Tamarix sp. The small, alternate, scale-like leaves with the characteristic pitted surface were found mainly in context 62 9. The different species of this genus are very difficult to identify and the presence of leaves alone is insufficient for an identification to species level.

M, VAN D E R V | E N

Setaria sp. Present in only small numbers were Portulaca oleracea (purslane), Apium graveolens (wild celery), Caryophyllaceae, and Heliotropium europaeum-type. The nutlets of this last species could not be satisfactory distinguished from those of H. villosum or H. undulatum. The seeds of one species have so far defied identification. They have been recorded as Type T in Table II. Discussion

Sample composition Wild plants Seventeen species of herbaceous plants have been identified. The commonest seeds were those of a sedge. The achenes were flat on one side, rounded on the other, obovate, apiculate, and minutely papillose. They were most similar to Cvperus laevigatus. One other species of the family of Cyperaceae was present. The achenes of this species were biconvex and obovate, with a small disk which would have supported a style base. They were reddish brown in colour. They looked most similar to Eleocharis caribaea, although the modern achenes of this species are black. Also very common were the seeds of Aizoon hispanicum, Reseda lutea (wild mignonette), Reseda alba (upright mignonette), Chenopodium murale (nettleleaved goosefoot), and Compositae, all common weeds in desert regions. A number of different grasses was identified: Phalaris minor (lesser canary grass), a tall annual grass and weed of cultivation; Phragmites australis (common reed), a perennial reed-like grass of water edges and marshland; Panicum turgidum, a perennial desert grass forming low; dense bushes; and Pennisetum divisum, a desert grass of similar habit and habitat to the previous species. The bristles of the spikelets of this species can be distinguished from those of Cenchrus ciliaris by the degree of fusion at the base. In Cenchrus the inner bristles are flattened and ciliate in the lower half; in Pennisetum divisum the bristles are all slender and scabrid. In the samples only those of Pennisetum were found. Many of the upper florets of the Paniceae tribe could not be identified to genus level, but those with a rugose upper lemma were classified as cf.

By calculating the ratio of the cereal grain to the cereal chaff and to the weed seeds in each of the samples it is possible to reconstruct which stages of the crop processing activities are represented. This has important implications for our understanding of the origin of the material and of the r61e arable farming may have played on the settlement. A detailed analysis of the sample composition will be presented in the final report. Suffice it to say here that, with the exception of context 51 1, all samples contained the waste products of the cereal harvest, and the different types of chaff present included waste products from both the early and the late stages in the crop processing sequence. This indicates that the cereal crops were produced by the inhabitants of Zinchecra itself, rather than being imported from elsewhere. On so-called "producer" sites all stages of crop processing must be present; on "consumer" sites only the late stages will be present (although the import of straw may confuse this pattern). The fact that the waste products of three different cereal crops were mixed and that the waste products of both early and late stages were mixed, would suggest that these were combined and stored for use as fodder and possibly for fuel. The ubiquity of dung in the samples would corroborate this suggestion. In several samples, especially 66 3, the plant material might in fact have passed through the digestive tract of livestock before finding its way into the archaeological dePOsits. Analysis of cow-dung and sheep droppings has proved that many seeds can pass through the digestive tract of these animals without damage (Bottema, 1984).

BOTANICAL EVIDENCE FOR GARAMANTIAN AGRICULTURE

Cereal crops

The remains of three cereal crops were found at Zinchecra: Triticum dicoccum (emmer wheat), Triticum aestivum (bread wheat), and Hordeum vulgare (hulled six-row barley). Emmer wheat (a glume wheat) and barley were amongst the earliest cereals cultivated in the Near East and remained the principal cereal crops for most of the prehistoric period. Free-threshing (or naked) wheat came into cultivation not much later, but appears initially to have been secondary in importance to emmet. By the beginning of the first millennium BC, however, many Near Eastern and Mediterranean sites show a prevalence of naked wheat (Zohary and Hopf, 1988). In western Europe this change from glume wheats to free-threshing ones took place in the early first millennium AD. No information is available from North Africa, but in the Nile valley it is thought that emmer was only replaced by naked durum wheat towards the end of the first millennium BC (Zohary and Hopf, 1988). Until recently the archaeobotanical remains of tetraploid and hexaploid naked wheats could not be distinguished from one another (Van Zeist, 1976), but it was commonly assumed that the naked wheat of the Near East and the Mediterranean was the tetraploid wheat Triticum durum, as durum wheat is adapted to Mediterranean environments (Zohary and Hopf, 1988). In contrast, the hexaploid naked wheat Triticum aestivum thrives in cooler and more continental parts of Europe and western Asia, and the archaeobotanical finds of naked wheats in western Europe have usually been identified as belonging to Triticum aestivum (Zohary and Hopf, 1988). Now that identification criteria for separating the rachis remains of tetraploid and hexaploid naked wheats have been developed (Hillman pers. commun., 1986; Jacomet, 1987) it will be possible to trace the history of these two species in more detail. New research may indicate that the attribution of durum wheat to the Near East and Mediterranean and bread wheat to western Europe was too simplistic a proposition. The presence of Triticum aestivum in the samples from Zinchecra forms important evidence for our understanding of the history of this species. Few other records are

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available from North Africa, but both Triticum durum and Triticum aestivum (identified on the basis of their rachis internode morphology) have been found in the samples from the Roman-period settlements in the pre-desert of Tripolitania, northwest Libya (Van der Veen, 1984, and unpubl.). It is very difficult to assess the relative importance of different wheat crops from archaeobotanical remains, as the crop processing sequence for glume wheats, such as emmer, varies from that of the free threshing cereals, such as bread wheat and barley. The parching and pounding of glume wheat spikelets produces the characteristic glume bases which are found, often in large numbers, in archaeobotanical samples. The remains of bread wheat are commonly underrepresented in the archaeological record, as the papery glumes of this crop only survive in exceptional circumstances when exposed to fire, while the rachis internodes are removed at an early stage and rarely come into contact with fire. As most of the plant remains at Zinchecra were preserved in desiccated form, the differential exposure to and survival in a fire cannot explain the very small number of remains of bread wheat compared to the large numbers of remains of emmer wheat. The small number of bread wheat rachis internodes compared to those of barley suggests that bread wheat may only have played a minor role in the arable economy. Bread wheat is a more demanding crop to grow than either emmer or barley, which are both more drought resistant than bread wheat. But, as the name suggests, bread wheat has better bread making qualities due to its high gluten content. A list of cultivated crops in Fezzan from 1910 mentions both six-row barley and bread wheat (Durand and Baratte, 1910), and both are still grown in the desert oases today (EI-Sharkawy and Sgaier, 1975a, b). Sorghum and two different types of millet were also cultivated in 1910 (Durand and Baratte, 1910). These central African species allow a second harvest of cereals each year as they can be grown as summer crops after the harvest of wheat and barley. It is not known exactly when these central African species were first introduced into North Africa; no evidence for them was found at Zinchecra.

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Fruits and trees The three fruit crops found were Phoenix daco,lifera (date palm), Ficus carica (fig), and Vitis vine[era (grape vine). Date palms are a characteristic feature of desert oases and the presence of very large numbers of date stones came as no surprise. What was unusual, however, was the presence of the flowers of the date palm. While the female flowers, when unpollinated, may persist on the strands and could have fallen off only when the strands with mature fruits were brought up to the settlement, the presence of male flowers cannot be so easily explained. Date palms have separate male and female trees. In palm groves one usually finds one male tree to about 50 female trees (L6tschert and Beese, 1983; Harrison et al., 1985). The setting of fruit is often improved by artificial pollination, which can be achieved by shaking male inflorescences into the female trees as soon as the flowers have opened, or by cutting off the male inflorescences and fixing them onto the female tree, near the flowers. The date palms at Zinchecra will have grown in the wadi; the virtual absence of rainfall in Fezzan would have made it impossible for date palms to grow on the escarpment itself. Date palms need a fairly regular supply of water and grow in oases, along rivers, and are often cultivated under irrigation. The male flowers could, therefore, not have been accidentally blown into the occupation deposits on top of the spur; they must have been deliberately brought up there. A number of possible explanations can be put forward: it is possible that the strands with male flowers were still attached to the female ones when the mature fruits were harvested and brought up to the settlement. If this were the case it would be evidence for the practice of artificial pollination of the date palms. However, it is questionable whether the male flowers could be in such a good state of preservation if they had been exposed to the sun and wind for a period of five to six months before being buried in the archaeological deposits; they would probably have withered and fallen off long before the ripening of the fruits. It is also possible that the male inflorescences were cut on purpose for decorative and/or ceremonial purposes. No historical

M. VAN I)ER Vl!l!N

references about such practices are known to the writer, but further research is necessary. The Flora of Iraq (Townsend and Guest, 1966-) does mention that the flowers and pollen of the date palm are eaten. Probably the most likely explanation is that they are there accidentally. When the palm fronds were cut for roofing material some strands with male flowers could accidentally have been cut off as well, and have been carried up to the settlement incorporated in the roofing material. Palm fronds were extensively used for the roofs and walls of simple huts, and for artefacts such as baskets. The other two fruit remains found were those of figs and grapes, Ficus carica and Vitis vin~/kra. They both belong to the oldest group of fruit trees cultivated around the Mediterranean. The grape vine thrives in characteristically Mediterranean environments, but can tolerate cooler conditions and succeeds in parts of central Europe and western Asia (Zohary and Hopf, 1988). The presence of both species at Zinchecra is remarkable, but especially so for the grape vine which is a difficult crop to grow successfully. Vines are rather susceptible to dry winds, heat, and drought. Both species could, of course, have been imported from the coastal region as dried fruits. Both were, however, recorded as growing in Fezzan in 1910 (Durand and Baratte, 1910), and Lyon noted during his travels in Fezzan (1812-20) that almost every garden had a vine, and that the figs from the area were small, but good (Lyon, 1821). They were usually grown in the shade of the palm trees within irrigated gardens, and this practice could well be very old. It is not known whether the fruits of Rhus tripartitus were used in any way by the Garamantes. This species is closely related to Rhus coriaria, the sumach tree. The leaves of the latter produce a dye, the fruits are used medicinally, and the leaves and twigs have been employed in tanning. In some Near Eastern countries the dried fruits are powdered and the red powder is used as a condiment on grilled meat (Townsend and Guest, 1966-). The fact that the fruits were found in many different contexts, combined with the fact that it is extremely unlikely that the tree grew on top of the escarpment, would suggest that the

BOTANICAL EVIDENCE FOR GARAMANTIAN AGRICULTURE

fruits were purposely collected and used. (The fruits of this species were incorrectly identified as belonging to Rhus coriaria in Hunt et al., 1987). The fruits of the bitter apple, Citrullus colocynthis, may also have been collected. The plant is commonly found in desert areas. It has a thick perennial root high in water content and long leaf shoots trailing over the surface. The fruits are the size of small apples, green, and later yellow in colour, with a thick skin like melons. The spongy pulp of the fruit is extremely bitter and poisonous, but is widely used in the Near East for medicinal purposes (e.g. as a purgative). Fatal cases of poisoning from an overdose of colocynth have been recorded (Townsend and Guest, 1966-; Zohary, 1982). The seeds are used as a famine food by bedouin (Zohary, 1982). Whether the Garamantes used the medicinal qualities of the colocynth is difficult to establish. The plants could probably have grown on Zinchecra itself, which means that the seeds could have been blown into the archaeological deposits. A few samples contained leaves of the tamarisk tree, Tamarix sp. The plants of this genus are quick growing, deep rooted, drought resistant, and salt-tolerant trees and shrubs. They grow in most deep wadis of the desert and on river banks. Their wood is used as building material in areas where timer is scarce, and forms a common source of fuel. The branches and leaves are sometimes eaten by livestock. The Garamantes probably used this tree for all these purposes.

Wild plan ts All the species listed in this category are found in Fezzan today. Some of them probably grew as arable weeds in the wheat and barley fields, others are more likely to have grown around the settlement itself. Reseda lutea, Reseda alba, and Chenopodium murale are all tall (60-80cm) weeds frequently found in arable fields. Aizoon hispanicure is a low succulent plant, common in wadi beds. Portulaca oleracea is a small weed, the leaves of which can be used in salads. The plant is sometimes cultivated as a pot-herb (purslane). Heliotropium is often found near buildings and along roads, but also occurs in fields. Apium

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graveolens is a tall herb (up to 1 m) characteristic of damp places. The root and leaves are eaten as vegetables, while the seeds are used for flavouring. The plant (celery) is today widely cultivated, also in Fezzan (Durand and Baratte, 1910). Phalaris minor, Setaria sp., and the other grasses of the Paniceae tribe are all common arable weeds. Pennisetum divisum and Panicum turgidum are both grasses of sand deserts. They are part of the natural vegetation of the area and are not arable weeds. They could well have grown on the top of the escarpment of Zinchecra as they are very drought resistant. They form dense, almost woody bushes and are grazed by camels and goats, although, the amount of leaf matter they provide is small. Phragmites austral& (common reed) is a water plant growing in swamps, marshy areas, and along river banks. The stems of the reeds are of great importance for the construction of matting, roofing, walls, etc. The inhabitants of Zinchecra could well have collected this important raw material from some distance. There is a perennial spring in Germa itself, and today in the area around Germa small lakes are formed after heavy rainfall, which take a long time to go down (Daniels, pers. commun., 1988). It is quite likely that the reeds came from the Germa area, ca. 3.5km from Zinchecra. Finally, two sedges were found, Cyperus cf. laevigatus and Eleocharis cf. caribaea, the first one in very large quantities. Both require a fair amount of water and are normally found near wadis, ditches, springs and marshes. They could both have grown as weeds in arable fields, provided there was enough water. They may have occurred as weeds in irrigated gardens. They are rather low plants, Eleocharis 3 - 2 5 c m tall and Cyperus 5-45 cm, which would suggest that if they ;did grow as arable weeds, the cereal culms must have been harvested low down. Most of the seeds came from one context, 66 3. They were incorporated in large lumps of dung-like material and they could have been eaten by livestock. The animals could either have grazed on the sedges growing on the wadi floor, or have eaten them as part of fodder, which was a mixture of waste material from crop processing (straw, chaff, and weed seeds). If they grew on the wadi floor their presence would suggest

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that the water table in the wadi was relatively high during most of the year.

Summary The archaeobotanical analysis of 23 samples of occupation deposits from the top of Zinchecra, Fezzan, dated to the first millennium BC, has identified 6113, mainly desiccated, plant remains. Six crop plants were found, Triticum dicoccum (emmer wheat), Triticum aestivum (bread wheat), Hordeum vulgate (six-row, hulled barley), Phoenix dactyl~fera (dates), Ficus carica (figs), and Vitis vinifera (grapes). The type of cereal remains present indicates that the cereals were locally produced. With the exception of context 51 1, which may represent a seed store, all samples consist of the waste products of the cereal harvest (glumes, rachis internodes, straw), rather then the prime product (grain) itself. The cereal remains were mixed with fruit stones and weed seeds. The ubiquity of animal dung in the samples, the state of preservation of some of the plant remains, and the fact that some fragments were found incorporated in lumps of dung, would suggest that some of the material found may have been intended as animal fodder, which in some instances, in fact, had already passed through the animals' digestive tracts. The diet of cereals would have been supplemented by dates, figs, and grapes (all probably locally produced), and some green vegetables such as celery, Apium graveolens, and purslane, Portulaca oleracea. The fruits of Apium graveolens and Rhus tripartitus may have been used for flavouring, while those of bitter apple, Citrullus colocynthis, could have been used for medicinal purposes. The reeds of Phragmites australis, the wood and leaves of Tamarix sp., and the wood and leaf fronds of Phoenix dactylifera will have been used as raw materials for matting, roofing, and building work. The occurrence of Phragmites austral& points to the presence of standing water in the vicinity of the site, probably near the spring at Germa. The large numbers of sedges, Cyperus laevigatus and Eleoeharis caribaea, suggests that the water table in the wadi bed was near to the surface and

M. VAN DER VEI=N

that standing water was probably present seasonally, although they may also have grown as weeds in irrigated gardens. The cereal crops, fruit trees, grape vines, and vegetables must have been grown on the wadi floor, possibly in depressions near natural springs in order to receive adequate water, but more likely in permanently irrigated gardens. The likely farming methods applied are discussed in Van der Veen (1992). The botanical remains suggest that the Garamantes at Zinchecra, while living in a desert area with harsh climatic conditions, very high summer temperatures, relatively low winter temperatures, and virtually no rainfall or vegetation cover, managed to live quite comfortably on a varied vegetable diet which, as the animal bones indicate, was complemented by milk and meat of cattle, sheep, and goat. The archaeobotanical analysis of these plant remains from Zinchecra has added greatly to our knowledge of the Garamantes in particular, and the history of arable farming in North Africa in general, but the discipline of archaeobotany is still in its infancy in this region and much remains to be done. Van Zeist's initiative at Carthage has put North Africa firmly on the archaeobotanical map. Let us hope that we, the next generation, are able to continue his work: a formidable task indeed.

Acknowledgements ! would like to thank Charles Daniels for inviting me to analyse the samples and for allowing me to publish these preliminary results in advance of the final publication on the project; the Society for Libyan Studies for funding the analysis; Dr. T.A. Cope, Dr. J. Dransfield, and Dr. D. Simpson of the Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Prof. L. Boulos of the Kuunzil University, Kuwait, for their help and advice regarding some of the identifications; and Yvonne Beadnell for drawing Fig.1.

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Valleys Survey, VI: Investigations of a Romano-Libyan Farm, 1. Libyan Stud., 15: 1-44. Bottema, S., 1984. The composition of modern charred seed assemblages. In: W. van Zeist and W.A. Casparie (Editors), Plants and Ancient Man, Studies in Palaeoethnobotany. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 207-212. Bovill, E.W., 1968. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford Univ. Press, London. Brogan, O. and Smith, D.J., 1984. Ghirza: A Libyan Settlement in the Roman Period. Dep. Antiquities, Tripoli. Daniels, C.M., 1968. Garamantian excavations: Zinchecra 1965-67. Libya Antiqua, 5:113-194. Daniels, C.M., 1969. The Garamantes. In: W.H. Kanes (Editor), Geology, Archaeology and Prehistory of the Fezzan, Libya. Pet. Explor. Soc. Libya, 1lth Field Conf., pp. 31-52. Daniels, C.M., 1970a. The Garamantes of Fezzan: Excavations on Zinchecra 1965-67. Antiquaries J., 50: 37-66. Daniels, C.M., 1970b. The Garamantes of Southern Libya. The Oleander Press, New York, 47 pp. Daniels, C.M., 1973. The Garamantes of Fezzan - - an interim report of research, 1965-1973. Libyan Stud,, 4: 35-40. Daniels, C.M., 1977. Garamantian excavations (Germa) 1977. Libyan Stud., 8: 5-7. Dore, J.N. and van der Veen, M., 1986. Radio-carbon dates from the Libyan Valleys Survey. Libyan Stud., 17: 65-68. Durand, E. and Baratte, G., 1910. Florae Libycae Prodromus. Catalogue raisonn6 des plantes de Tripolitaine. Romet, Gen6ve. EI-Sharkawy, M.A. and Sgaier, K., 1975a. Yield trial of sixteen tall and dwarf wheat varieties (Triticum aestivum L.) grown in the Libyan desert. In: M.A. E1-Sharkawy (Editor) Crop Research in Kufra Oasis. Libya. Agric. Dev. Counc., 111-117. El-Sharkawy, M.A. and Sgaier, K., 1975b. Yield trial of sixteen barley varieties (Hordeum vulgare L. and H. distichum L.) grown in the Libyan desert. In: M.A. El-Sharkawy (Editor) Crop Research in Kufra Oasis. Libya. Agric. Dev. Counc., 121-127. Fentress, E.W.B., 1979. Numidia and the Roman Army. Br. Archaeol. Rep. Int. Ser., 53,242 pp. Harrison, S.G., Masefield, G.B., and Wallis, M., 1985. The Illustrated Book of Food Plants. Peerage, London, 206 pp.

327 Herodotus, The Histories. (Transl. A. de S61incourt) Penguin Hammondsworth, 1963. Hillman, G., 1981. Reconstructing crop husbandry practices from charred remains of crops. In: R. Mercer (Editor), Farming Practice in British Prehistory. Univ. Press, Edinburg, pp. 123-162. Hunt, C.O., Gilbertson, D.D., Jenkinson, R.D.S., Van der Veen, M., Yates, G. and Buckland, P.C., 1987. ULVS XVIII: Palaeoecology and agriculture of an abandonment phase at Gasr Mml0, Wadi Mimouw, Tripolitania. Libyan Stud., 18: 1-13. Jacomet, S., 1987. Pr/ihistorische Getreidefunde. Eine Anleitung zur Bestimmung pr/ihistorischer Gersten- und WeizenFunde. Bot. Inst. Univ., Basel, 70 pp. Jones, G.D.B. and Barker, G.W.W., 1980. Libyan Valleys Survey. Libyan Stud., 11: 11-36. Le Quellec, J.L., 1987. L'Art Rupestre du Fezzan Septentrional (Libye). Br. Archaeol. Rep. Int. Ser., 365, 404 pp. L6tschert, W. and Beese, G., 1983. Collins Guide to Tropical Plants. Collins, London, 256 pp. Lyon, G.F., 1821. A Narrative of Travels in Northern Africa in the Years 1818-1819 and 1820. Frank Cass, London. Townsend, C.C. and Guest, E., (Editors), 1966-. Flora of Iraq. Minist. Agric. Agrar. Reform, Baghdad. Van der Veen, M., 1981. Appendix III. The Ghirza plant remains: Romano-Libyan agriculture in the Tripolitanian pre-desert. Libyan Stud., 12: 45-48. Van der Veen, M., 1984. Botanical remains (Appendix 15). In: O. Brogan and D.J. Smith, Ghirza: A Libyan Settlement in the Roman Period., Dep. Antiquities, Tripoli, pp. 308-311. Van der Veen, M., 1985. The Unesco Libyan Valleys Survey X: Botanical evidence for ancient farming in the pre-desert. Libyan Stud., 16, 15-28. Van der Veen, 1992. Saramantian agriculture: the plant remains from Zinchecra, Fezzan. Libyan Stud., 23. Van Zeist, W., 1976. On macroscopic traces of food plants in southwestern Asia (with some reference to pollen data). Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, B275: 27-41. Zohary, M., 1982. Plants of the Bible. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 223 pp. Zohary, D. and Hopf, M., 1988. Domestication of Plants in the Old World. Clarendon, Oxford, 249 pp.