Agricultural economies of the Hellenistic era (323–30 bce) are poorly understood from primary plant and animal remains despite the extent of sites and rich historical records dating to this period. Here we present archaeobotanical remains from Hellenistic Ashkelon, an urban centre on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant, in comparison with a survey of the extant literature on Hellenistic archaeobotany across the eastern Mediterranean. Agricultural systems at Ashkelon focused on the cultivation of cereals, pulses, grapes, and figs, as did those of many other Hellenistic sites. We identify Triticum dicoccum (emmer) as a core component of agriculture at Ashkelon, a new finding for the period. Re-examination of other published Hellenistic assemblages from the southern Levant additionally suggests that T. dicoccum cultivation has been underappreciated to date and may have been regionally widespread, a legacy of Ptolemaic Egyptian control of the region in the early Hellenistic. A spatial and diachronic analysis of archaeobotanical remains in conjunction with the archaeological evidence at Ashkelon indicates a shift in practices of domestic food preparation towards increasing commercialization of food preparation. Further detailed archaeobotanical study of other Hellenistic cities is needed to establish whether this trend extends beyond Ashkelon during the period.

希腊化时代（323-30农业经济BCE）的不良主要来自植物和动物的遗骸，尽管网站和丰富的历史记录可以追溯到这一时期的程度的理解。在这里，我们展示了来自黎凡特南部地中海沿岸城市中心希腊化阿什凯隆的考古植物遗骸，并与对地中海东部希腊化古植物学现存文献的调查进行了比较。阿什凯伦的农业系统重点种植谷物、豆类、葡萄和无花果，许多其他希腊化遗址也是如此。我们确定了Triticum dicoccum(emmer) 作为 Ashkelon 农业的核心组成部分，这是该时期的一项新发现。对来自黎凡特南部的其他已发表的希腊化组合的重新检查还表明，T. dicoccum 的种植迄今未被重视，并且可能在区域内广泛分布，这是早期希腊化时期托勒密埃及控制该地区的遗产。对考古植物遗迹的空间和历时分析以及阿什克伦的考古证据表明，国内食品制备实践正在朝着食品制备商业化的方向转变。需要对其他希腊化城市进行更详细的考古植物学研究，以确定这一趋势在此期间是否超出了阿什克伦。