Insights from archaeobotanical investigations at Shuqayra al-Gharbiyya: one thousand years of agriculture, biodiversity, and food processing at an Early Islamic Qasr

This article presents the results of the archaeobotanical study of the site Shuqayra al-Gharbiyya, which was founded as an Umayyad palace or qasr during the Early Islamic period and was continually occupied until the Late Ottoman period. Within the study the major crop taxa cultivated at or nearby the site, including a range of cereals, pulses, and fruit and nut trees, were identified. The most important cereals were hard wheat and hulled barley, though emmer wheat was a consistently important secondary cereal throughout the occupation of the site. Cultivation of multiple cereals is potentially indicative of a risk-spreading strategy. In addition, cereal crop processing by-products were attested as fuel, both by themselves and as temper within animal dung. A particularly interesting concentration of cereal embryos found in an archaeological cooking context attests food processing activities. Another interesting find of the study was the forty-one well-preserved and identifiable weed seeds and fruits in the archaeobotanical assemblage, many of which were arable (cereal) field weeds and some of which may be indicative of agricultural practices such as irrigation. This study represents the first archaeobotanical study in Jordan of a site specifically founded during the Early Islamic period, a period in the midst of the so-called ‘Islamic Green Revolution’ when there was intense diffusion of new crops and agricultural strategies across the Mediterranean and Middle East. This case study also demonstrates the potential for the study of agriculture on the margins and the strategies historical farmers employed there.