Abstract

Charred botanical finds from the excavation of the Early Bronze Age city of Jericho (Tell es-Sultan), one of the earliest urban centers of 3^rd millennium BC Palestine, were collected during the 2015-2017 excavation seasons carried out by Sapienza University of Rome and the Palestinian MoTA-DACH. Among other plant macro-remains, a round fruit was found in the subsidiary room behind the throne room of Royal Palace G, next to a vase, in the burnt filling overlying the platform. It was identified as a drupe of a dwarf palm, through classical archaeobotanical techniques and computed tomography scan. Two dwarf palms were taken into consideration: the Mediterranean dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis L.) and the Mazari palm (Nannorrhops ritchiana (Griff.) Aitch. native to the Saharo-Indian region), both with small, round/oval fruits, none of which currently grows in the area of Jericho. A detailed analysis of iconography, archaeobotanical literature and herbarium samples of both species stored in Rome (RO), Florence (FIAF) and Edinburgh (E), has allowed to identify the charred drupe as Nannorrhops ritchiana. Its presence in the palace suggests the existence of an overland commercial track to the south-east, across the desert of Saudi Arabia, which only recent excavations and other finds have revealed.

摘要

从青铜时代早期耶利哥城的发掘烧焦的植物的发现（告诉ES-苏丹），3最早的城市中心之一^RD收集公元前巴勒斯坦，在2015-2017赛季挖掘由罗马大学进行以及巴勒斯坦MoTA-DACH。在其他大型植物遗体中，在皇家宫殿G宝座后方的子室中，在花瓶旁的烧焦填充物上发现了圆形果实。通过经典的古植物学技术和计算机断层扫描技术，它被鉴定为矮棕榈树的核果。考虑了两种矮棕榈：地中海矮棕榈（Chamaerops humilis L.）和马扎里棕榈（Nannorrhops ritchiana）（格里夫）阿奇。原产于萨哈罗-印度地区），均具圆形或椭圆形的小果实，在耶利哥地区目前没有一种生长。对罗马（RO），佛罗伦萨（FIAF）和爱丁堡（E）存储的这两个物种的肖像学，考古植物学文献和植物标本室样本的详细分析，已将炭化核果鉴定为Nannorrhops ritchiana。它在宫殿中的存在表明东南部跨越沙特阿拉伯沙漠的陆上商业路线的存在，只有最近的发掘和其他发现才揭示出这一点。