ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Plant use in Muslim Spain: Preliminary results from the medieval town of Madīnat Ilbīra
1
Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Centre for Archaeology of Hills
and Uplands, Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Kraków, Poland
2
Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Centre for Medieval Archaeology
of the Baltic Region, Kuśnierska 12/12a, 70-536 Szczecin, Poland
Online publication date: 2020-12-30
Publication date: 2020-12-30
Acta Palaeobotanica 2020; 60(2): 296-306
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The paper presents preliminary results of archaeobotanical studies carried out at the Madīnat Ilbīra
site in Spain. The functioning of the town, which was the capital of one of the administrative districts (kūras) of al-
Andalus, falls in the period between the second half of the 9th century and the 11th century. However, the analysed
soil samples were collected from archaeological contexts dated mostly to the last decades of the 10th century and to
the 11th century. The samples yielded an interesting set of data about the preserved plant remains. Although the
taxonomic diversity of the plants is not high, the analysis revealed remains of naked and hulled wheat (emmer
wheat), millet, poppy seeds, perhaps peas, cucumber or melon, and grapevine. Although crop plants played an
important role in the everyday diet of the town inhabitants, wild plants also were probably collected and used. The
latter are represented in the analysed materials by, for example, wild strawberry, common mallow and common
purslane. The preserved charcoal remains confirm the use of different species of wood as fuel.
REFERENCES (43)
1.
Bates, D.M., Robinson, R.W., 1995. Cucumbers, melons and water-melons. In: Smartt, J., Simmonds, N.W. (eds), Evolution of crop plants. Longman, Harlow, 2nd ed., pp. 89–96.
2.
Bosi, G., Guarrera, P.M., Rinaldi, R., Bandini Mazzanti, M., 2009. Ethnobotany of purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) in Italy and morphobiometric analyses of seeds from archaeological sites in the Emilia Romagna Region (Northern Italy). In: Morel, J-P., Mercuri, A.M. (eds), Plants and Culture: seeds of cultural heritage of Europe. Studio tutela e fruizione dei Beni Culturali 3, Centro Universitario Europeo Per I Beni Culturali. Ravello, pp. 129–139.
3.
Buxó, R., 2007. Crop evolution: new evidence from the Neolithic of west Mediterranean Europe. In: Collegde, S., Conolly, J. (eds), The Origins and Spread of Domestic Plants in Southwest Asia and Europe. University College London Institute of Archaeology Publications. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, California, pp. 155–171.
4.
Buxó i Capdevila, R., Alonso, N., Canal, D., Echave, C., González, I. 1997. Archaeobotanical remains of hulled and naked cereals in the Iberian Peninsula. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 6, 15–23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF0114....
5.
Cappers, R.T.J., Bekker, R.M., Jans, J.E.A., 2006. Digital Seed Atlas of the Netherlands. Groningen Archaeological Studies. Barkhuis.
6.
Cappers, R.T.J., Neef, R., Bekker, R.M., 2009. Digital Atlas of Economic Plants. Parts: 1, 2a, 2b. Groningen Archaeological Studies. Barkhuis.
7.
Carrión Marco, Y., 2005. La vegetación mediterránea y atlántica de la península Ibérica. Nuevas secuencias antracológicas. Servicio de Investigación Prehistórica, Serie de Trabajos Varios 104. Valencia.
8.
Chabal, L., Fabre, L., Terral, J.-F., Théry-Parisot, I., 1999. L’Anthracolgie. In: Ferdiére, A., Bourquin-Mignot, Ch., Brochier, J.-E., Chabal, L., Crozat, S., Fabre, L., Terral, J.-F., Théry-Parisot, I. (eds), La Botanique, Collection “Archéologiques”. Ed. Errance, Paris, pp. 43–104.
9.
Collegde, S., Conolly, J., 2014. Wild plant use in European Neolithic subsistence economies: a formal assessment of preservation bias in archaeobotanical assemblages and the implications for understanding changes in plant diet breadth. Quaternary Sciences Reviews 101, 193–206.
10.
Decker, M., 2009. Plants and Progress: Rethinking the Islamic Agricultural Revolution. Journal of World History 20/2, 187–206.
11.
Dörter, K., 1968. Das Bestimmen der Samen von Gräsern and Schmetlerlingsblutelern. Veb Deuscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, Berlin.
12.
Dzieżyc, J., 1967. Podstawy rolnictwa. Państwowe Wydawnictwa Rolnicze i Leśne. Warszawa.
13.
Esau, K., 1973. Anatomia roślin. Państwowe Wydawnictwa Rolnicze i Leśne. Warszawa. (collective translation edited by H. Teleżyński).
14.
Espinar Moreno, M., 2016. Medina Elvira. Ciudad para la arqueología Granadina. Universidad de Granada, Granada.
15.
Gómez Moreno, D.M., 1888. Medina Elvira. Reprint Grupo Artes Unidades, Granada 1986.
16.
Gurriarán Daza, P., Sáez Rodríguez, Á.J., 2002. Tapial o fábricas encofradas en recintos urbanos andalusíes. In: Martinez Enamorado, V., Torremocha Silva, A. (eds), En II Congreso internacional, La ciudad en al-Andalus y el Magreb (Algeciras). Fundacíón el Legado Andausi, Granada, pp. 561–625.
17.
Hanelt, P. (ed.), 2001. Mansfeld’s encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops. 1–6. Springer, Berlin.
18.
Jacomet, S., 2006. Identification of cereal remains from archaeological sites. Archaeobotany Lab IPAS, Basel University.
19.
Körber-Grohne, U., 1988. Nutzpflanzen in Deutschland. Kulturgeschichte und Biologie. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart.
20.
Lityńska-Zając, M. 2008. Usable wild plants in the archaeological record from Poland: selected examples. In: Z. Sulgostowska, J. Tomaszewski (eds) Man – Millennia – Environment. Studies in honour of Romuald Schild. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences, pp. 107–112.
21.
Lityńska-Zając, M. 2018. A Man and a Plant: Archaeobotany In: E. Piskin, A. Marciniak, M. Bartkowiak (eds). Environmental Archaeology: Current Theoretical and Methodological Approaches. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, pp. 75–110.
22.
Lityńska-Zając, M., Wasylikowa, K., 2005. Przewodnik do badań archeobotanicznych. Vademecum Geobotanicum J.B. Faliński (ed. of series). Sorus. Poznań.
23.
Malpica Cuello, A., 2011. La ciudad Andalusi de Ilbīra. Su formación y desarollo. In: Gomes, M.V. (ed.), Cristãos e Muşulmanos na Idade Média Peninsular Encontros e Desencontros. Instituto de Arquelogia e Paleociências, Lisboa, pp. 27–49.
24.
Malpica Cuello, A., 2012a. La ciudad de Madinat Ilbira y el poblamiento de la Vega de Granada (siglos VIII-XI). In: Arízaga Bulumburu, B., et al. (ed.), Mundos medievales: espacios, sociedades y poder: homenaje al Profesor Jóse Ángel García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, tomo I. Universidad de Catambria, Santander, pp. 681–692.
25.
Malpica Cuello, A., 2012b. La vida agrícola y la ganadería en al-Andalus y en el reino Nazarí de Granada. In: Marín López, R. (ed.), Homenaje el profesor Dr. D. Jóse Ignacio de Vianca y Vieites, Universidad de Granada, Granada, pp. 213–228.
26.
Malpica Cuello, A., 2012c. Madīnat Ilbīra, un proyecto de investigación sobre el Mundo urbano el al-Andalus. Debates de Arqueologia Medieval 2/2012, 383–405.
27.
Marinova, E., van Loon, G.J.M., De Meyer, M., Willems, H., 2012. Plant economy and land use in the Middle Egypt during the late Antique/early Islamic period – archaeobotanical analysis of mud bricks and mud plasters from the area of Dayr al Barsha. Reports in African Archaeology 3, 120–136.
28.
Neef, R., Cappers, R.T.J., Bekker R.M., 2011. Digital Atlas of Economic Plants in Archaeology, Groningen Archaeological Studies 17. Barkhuis.
29.
Paris, H.S., Daunay, M-C., Janick, J., 2012. Occidental diffusion of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) 500–1300 CE: two routes to Europe. Annals of Botany109, 117–126. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcr281.
30.
Peña-Chocarro, L., 2007. Early agriculture in central and southern Spain. In: Collegde, S., Conolly, J. (eds), The Origins and Spread of Domestic Plants in Southwest Asia and Europe. University College London Institute of Archaeology Publications. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, California, pp. 173–187.
31.
Peña-Chocarro, L., 2013 (unpubl.). Informe preliminar de los restos vegetales de Madīnat Ilbīra In: García-Contreras Ruiz, G., González Castanón, M., Malpica Cuello, A. (ed.), Memoria final. Proyecto de investigación sistemática la ciudad de Madīnat Ilbīra (Atarfe, Granada), Granada, pp. 769–771.
32.
Peña-Chocarro, L., Pérez-Jordà, G., Alonso, N., Antolín, F., Teira-Brión, A., Tereso, J.P., Montes Moya, E.M., López Reyes, D., 2019. Roman and medieval crops in the Iberian Peninsula: A first overview of seeds and fruits from archaeological sites. Quaternary International 499, 49–66.
33.
Peña-Chocarro, L., Pérez-Jordà, G., 2019. Garden plants in medieval Iberia: the archaeobotanical evidence. Early Medieval Europe. Gardens and gardening in southern Europe 27(3), 374–393. DOI: doi.org/10.1111/emed.12348.
35.
Picchi, G, Pieroni, A., 2005. Atlante dei prodotti tipici: le erbe. Roma: Agra, RAI-Eri.
36.
Sabato, D., Esteras, C., Grillo, O., Picó,B., Bacchetta, G., 2015. Seeds morpho-colourimetric analysis as complementary method to molecular characterization of melon diversity. Scientia Horticulturae 192, 441–452.
37.
Schweingruber, F.H., 1978. Mikroskopische Holzanatomie. Eidgenössische Anstalt für das forstliche Versuchswesen, Kommissionsverlag Zürcher AG, Zug.
38.
Schweingruber, F.H., 1982. Mikroskopische Holzanatomie, Komisionverslag/F. Flück-Wirth. Internationale Buchhandlung für Botanik und Naturwissenschaften, CH-9053 Teufen AR.
39.
Schweingruber, F.H., 1990a. Mikroskopische Holzanatomie. Formenspektren mitteleuropäischer Stamm- und Zweighölzer zur Bestimmung von rezentem und subfossilem. Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft, Birmensdorf.
40.
Schweingruber, F.H., 1990b. Anatomie Europäischer Hölzer. Paul Haupt Berne und Stuttgart Publishers, Bern-Stuttgart.
41.
Tardío, J., Pardo de Santayana, M., Morales, R., 2006. Ethnobotanical review of wild edible plants in Spain. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 152, 27–71.
42.
Watson, A.M., 1983. Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World: The Diffusion of Crops and Farming Techniques, 700–1100. Cambridge Univeristy Press, Cambridge.
43.
Zohary, D., Hopf, M., Weiss, E., 2012. Domestication of plants in the Old World. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
CITATIONS (1):
1.
Plants from distant places: the 1st millennium ce archaeobotanical record from Iberia
Leonor Peña-Chocarro, Guillem Pérez-Jordà
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
Leonor Peña-Chocarro, Guillem Pérez-Jordà
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
| eISSN: | 2082-0259 |
| ISSN: | 0001-6594 |
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
