NDLI: Signs from a green desert: a preliminary examination of the archaeobotanical remains from a Byzantine dovecote near Shivta, Israel

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Ramsay, Jennifer Tepper, Yotam
Copyright Year	2010
Abstract	This paper presents a preliminary examination of archaeobotanical material from pigeon dung samples obtained from Byzantine period destruction levels of a dovecote near the site of Shivta, Israel. Such pigeon dung was a valuable fertilizer in antiquity and would not have been abandoned without a reason. The plant remains from the dung provide direct evidence of pigeon diet and the local environment during the Byzantine period. Eleven plant taxa, represented by either seeds and/or plant parts (cereal chaff material), including five wild taxa, one legume, four fruit/nut taxa and several unidentified seed fragments were recovered. The most common seeds found were from weeds of the genus Thymelaea sp., and Ficus (fig). The finds indicate that the birds in the dovecote consumed a mixed diet of wild seeds including Thymelaea sp. and Fumaria sp. (fumitory), and small fruits of Vitis (grape), Ficus (fig), Olea (olive) and Phoenix (date). The sample analyzed also included Rumex (dock), Carex (sedge) and Androsace which may not have come from the feed. Apparently the pigeons were free to forage in the desert, the fallowed fields and refuse piles or/and were intentionally fed agricultural by-products including wild plants.
Starting Page	235
Ending Page	242
Page Count	8
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09396314
Journal	Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
Volume Number	19
Issue Number	3
e-ISSN	16176278
Language	English
Publisher	Springer-Verlag
Publisher Date	2010-01-29
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Archaeobotany Dovecote Pigeon dung Archaeology Byzantine Israel Anthropology Climate Change Biogeosciences Paleontology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Plant Science Archeology (arts and humanities) Paleontology

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