Seeds, fruits and charcoal from the Fewet compound

Research on plant macrofossils from Fewet has been carried out in a multi- disciplinary perspective to understand the land use and transformation that the Garamantes introduced in Fezzan, Central Sahara, at the time of their cultural development. The site of Fewet preserved a fairly abundant archaeobotanical record thanks to the fire events that reduced much of the plant material contained in several rooms to a charred state. The characteristic species of the archaeobotanical record of Fewet include: (a) culti- vated plants: the trees such as Phoenix dactylifera, and to a smaller extent Ficus carica, Vitis vinifera and Acacia nilotica subsp. nilotica; cereals such as Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aesti- vum/durum/turgidum and T. monococcum, and some Panicoideae (Pennisetum glaucum, and Sorghum bicolor); pulses such as Vigna unguiculata and Vicia species; some vegeta- bles and herbs such as Lagenaria siceraria and Apium graveolens; (b) wild woody plants such as Tamarix species, and wild grasses including Sorghum halepense and Setaria and Panicum species. Plant remains were particularly abundant in Room FW5 and, to a lesser extent, in FW6. Date palm and barley are the best represented plants in the archaeobo- tanical record and were the most characteristic crops cultivated by the Garamantes. They marked the landscape of the Fewet oasis and of the entire Fezzan at that time.