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A bazaar assemblage: reconstructing consumption, production and trade from mineralised seeds in Abbasid Jerusalem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2019

Oriya Amichay ,
Doron Ben-Ami ,
Yana Tchekhanovets ,
Ruth Shahack-Gross ,
Daniel Fuks Open the ORCID record for Daniel Fuks [Opens in a new window]  and
Ehud Weiss
Oriya Amichay
Affiliation:
Archaeobotanical Laboratory, Martin (Szusz) Land of Israel and Archaeology Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel Israel Antiquities Authority, 12 Lavanda Street, Tel-Aviv 6602919, Israel
Doron Ben-Ami
Affiliation:
Israel Antiquities Authority, 12 Lavanda Street, Tel-Aviv 6602919, Israel
Yana Tchekhanovets
Affiliation:
Israel Antiquities Authority, 12 Lavanda Street, Tel-Aviv 6602919, Israel
Ruth Shahack-Gross
Affiliation:
Department of Maritime Civilizations, Recanati Institute of Maritime Studies, Leon Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Avenue, Haifa 3498838, Israel
Daniel Fuks
Affiliation:
Archaeobotanical Laboratory, Martin (Szusz) Land of Israel and Archaeology Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
Ehud Weiss*
Affiliation:
Archaeobotanical Laboratory, Martin (Szusz) Land of Israel and Archaeology Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: ehud.weiss@biu.ac.il)
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Abstract

Recent excavations in the historic centre of ancient Jerusalem have revealed evidence of an Abbasid (eighth- to tenth-century AD) marketplace. Refuse pits and cesspits have yielded an exceptionally well-preserved archaeobotanical assemblage—the first to be recovered from a Levantine marketplace, and the first in the region to be almost entirely preserved by mineralisation. Among several rare species identified is the earliest discovery of aubergine in the Levant. The assemblage includes staple and luxury food plants, medicinal herbs and plants used for industrial production, illuminating patterns of consumption, production, trade and the socioeconomic structure of Abbasid Jerusalem.

Keywords

JerusalemEarly IslamicAbbasidarchaeobotanymineralisation
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 93 , Issue 367 , February 2019 , pp. 199 - 217
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019 

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