Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T14:28:51.292Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Macroscopic Plant Remains from Euesperides (Benghazi): an interim report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

Ruth Pelling
Affiliation:
Oxford University Museum
Saleh al Hassy
Affiliation:
Garyunis University, Benghazi

Abstract

Recent excavations at the Greco-Libyan site of Euesperides, Benghazi, have included a sampling programme for the retrieval of macroscopic plant remains. Preliminary results are now available and help to shed some light on the economy of the site between the sixth and the third centuries BC. Barley is the principal cereal crop recorded, while both hulled and free-threshing wheats are present. Fruit remains generally dominate the samples and include frequent seeds of grape and fig. The grape pips are of interest in that they appear to be morphologically more wild than cultivated. It is thought that they may be of a variety which does not conform with the characteristics of better known northern Mediterranean varieties of grape.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Buzaian, A. and Lloyd, J. A. 1996. Early urbanism in Cyrenaica: new evidence from Euesperides. Libyan Studies 27: 129–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, P. P. and Mattingly, D. J. 1995. Preliminary report on field work at Euesperides (Benghazi) in October 1994. Libyan Studies 26: 8396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, H. and Jones, H. 1990. Experiments on the effects of charring on cultivated grape seeds, Journal of Archaeological Science 17: 317–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stummer, A. 1911. Zur Urgeschichte der Rebe und des Weinbaus. Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien 41: 283–96.Google Scholar
van der Veen, M. 1995a. Ancient agriculture in Libya: a review of the evidence. Acta Palaeobotanica 35 (1): 8598.Google Scholar
van der Veen, M. 1995b. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey X: botanical evidence for ancient farming in the pre-desert. Libyan Studies 16: 1528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zohary, D. and Hopf, M. 1993. Domestication of Plants in the Old World. 2nd ed. Oxford; Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Zohary, D. and Spiegal-Roy, P. 1975. Beginnings of fruit growing in the Old Word. Science 187: 319–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar