Grasses in Ancient Egypt Author(s): Loutfy Boulos and Ahmed Gamal-El-Din Fahmy Source: Kew Bulletin, Vol.

62, No. 3 (2007), pp. 507-511 Published by: Springer on behalf of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20443376 . Accessed: 08/08/2013 12:32
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KEW BULLETIN 62: 507-511 (2007)

507

Grasses inancientEgypt
LoutfyBoulosi & Ahmed Gamal-EI-Din Fahmy2
Summary. The grass species played an important role in the daily life and economy of ancient Egypt. Cereals: wheat and barley have been cultivated since time immemorial, the earliest finds date back to 7300 - 6000 BP. They were used in ancient Egypt formaking bread and for brewing. Reeds: Phragmitesaustralis,Arundo donax and were used formaking baskets, mats, nets, pens and arrows, and as building material. The Saccharum spontaneum rhizomes of Phragmites were used in popular medicine and the panicle as a Hieroglyphic sign that appears on old monuments. Reeds were also used in ancient architecture as a motif for columns. Halfa grasses (Desmostachya bipinnata and Imperata cylindrica) were used formaking sandals, brooms, ropes, bags, brushes, necklaces and other objects. Among the weeds identified from plant remains excavated from ancient sites are: Echinochloa colona, Brachiaia sp., Digitaria sp., Setaria sp., UJrochloa sp. and other Paniceae species. The desert grass Panicum turgidumhas also been identified among the plant remains. A list of grasses known from ancient Egypt is

provided.

Key words. Ancient Egypt, archaeobotany, barley, beer, bread, grasses, reeds, wheat.

Introduction
The largest familyof flowering plants in the Flora of Egypt isGramineae. Cope (2005) records 288 species of grasses, of which 44 are cultivated cereals, fodder plants, medicinal herbs or ornamentals. The native and naturalized grass species are 240, of which 142 are annuals and 98 are perennials. Among the annual species, a few often behave as short-lived perennials. Grasses in Egypt grow in variable habitat types: arid desert wadis, desert plains, mountainous regions, coastal sand dunes and salt marshes. They are especially prevalent in the Nile Valley and the desert oases with their wetlands, irrigation and drainage canals, lakes, springs, streams, swamps, roadsides, cultivated and arable ground and newly reclaimed land. On the other hand, our present knowledge of grasses in ancient Egypt is based mainly on archaeobotanical research ofmaterial recovered from archaeological sites. Archaeological sites in Egypt are characterized by producing well-preserved plant macro-remains (Fahmy 2004), which may be attributed to the prevailing dry climatic conditions. from Holocene Analysis of plant macro-remains archaeological sites (since 12,000 BP) has proved that wild grasses were the staple food for forager societies

in the Sahara. Climatic changes occurred during the end of the ice age bringing large shallow lakes and short grasslands to the Sahara (Fagan 1999). Saharan foraging populations flourished in areas that are now arid wilderness (Fahmy 2001). On the other hand, wild wheat and barley were important staples for other forager groups in the highlands and fertile river valleys like the Euphrates.

Neolithic archaeological sites in the Egyptian Sahara (WesternDesert)

In Egypt, we recognise two groups of archaeological sites characterized by different assemblages of grasses which have been exploited as food and/or fodder: Neolithic archaeological sites in the Egyptian Sahara (Western Desert), and Predynastic archaeological sites along the Nile Valley (Map 1). Barakat and Fahmy (1999) discuss the evidence for exploitation of wild grasses in threeNeolithic sites in the Egyptian Sahara. Macro-remains of wild grasses have been found in Nabta Playa (8000 BP), Hidden Valley (6700 BP) and Eastpans near Abu Ballas (6200 Echinochloa colona, BP). Sorghum sp., Panicum turgidum, Setaria viridia and Digitaria sp. were recorded in all

Accepted forpublication March 2007. 1 Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University,Egypt. E-mail: hadara@idsc.net.eg 2 Botany Dept., Faculty of Science, Heiwan University, Cairo, Egypt. -

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508

KEW BULLETIN VOL. 62(3)

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three sites.Wasylikowa & Martens-Kubiak (1995) have identified the grains to Sorghum arundinaceum (Desv.) of Sorghum L. at Nabta Playa and Stapf. Dominance the Hidden Valley during the site's habitation indicates that the inhabitants collected the panicles for food. Wasylikowa & Dahlberg (1999) suggest the possibility of Sorghum cultivation in Nabta Playa by dry farming technique, which may have led to its domestication. Sorghum was not cultivated in Egypt during the Pharaonic period. Tackholm & Drar (1941) report Sorghum as the main cereal now cultivated in southern Egypt. The vegetation in the Hidden Valley region, northwest of Farafra Oasis in the Western Desert, was characterized by itsreeds, e.g. Phragmitesaustralis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud., and wetland vegetation with Typha domingensis Pers. The surrounding desert savanna grassland vegetation included Panicum turgidumand Sorghum spp. which were themost prevailing grasses (Boulos & Barakat 1998; Fahmy 2001).

Predynastic archaeological sites along the Nile Valley

Domestication of wild wheat and barley is confirmed in archaeological in sites to the Fertile Crescent Southwest Asia. Farmers in villages along the River Euphrates and in the Jordan Valley have cultivated wheat and barley since 10,000 BP (Zohary & Hopf 1993). By 8000 BP, farming villages flourished in the Nile Valley. Now these settlements are buried beneath deep layers of sand and gravel laid down by thousands of years of the annual flood (Zohary & Hopf 1993). The farmers planted barley and wheat
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(Triticznm diroccum [Schrank] Schfibl.) as the anntual floods receded, while their animals grazed in the river grasslands. The high frequency of emmer wheat remains, found in settlements at NMaadi and Hierakonpolis, demonstrates themajor role which this cereal played during the Predvnastic Period (7500 - 5050 BP). Available archaeobotanical evidence proved that this cereal was a basic constituent of human meals during the Piedynastic Period (Fahmy 2003) and was highly appreciated by ancient Egyptians as a source for food and drink (beer). Emmer wheat was (bread) cultivated in Egypt throughout the Pharaonic Dynasties until the Roman Period. Zohary & Hopf (1993) refer to einkorn wheat, Triticum monococcutmL., as a cereal which grows in relatively cool climates, and therefore is absent from warmer regions like Egypt. However, few remains of grains, ears and rhachis internodes of this species were found mixed with richer remains of emmer wheat from archaeological sites inMaadi (Caneva et al., 1987), Tell el Dab'a (Thanheiser 1987) and Thebes (de Vartavan 1999). These records may provide evidence that einkorn wheat was growing in ancient Egypt, probably as a weed in cereal fields. Among the cereals which have been also cultivated in ancient Egypt are the pasta and bread wheats durumDesf and T aestivumL.), and six-rowed (Triticum barley and two-rowed barley (Hordeum vulgareL.). Barley was cultivated as a fodder during the Predynastic period. Identification of barley grains separated from animal dung (Fahmy 2003) may prove that this cereal was cultivated as a fodder in Predynastic Hierakonpolis (5800 BP). Recovery of emmer wheat and barley remains, mixed together, may suggest that theywere cultivated in the same field and consequently threshed and harvested, winnowed in the same manner. Some grass species are recorded among the field weeds in ancient Egypt (Fahmy 1997). Recovery of field weed remains provides clear insights into past agricultural practices. It also contributes to our knowledge of other aspects of past ecology, such as soil conditions and the growth of a specific assemblage of field weed restricted to a particular crop (Willerding 1991). The following are the grasses which are frequently recorded as field weeds from archaeological sites in Egypt: Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers., Desmostachya bipinnata (L.) Stapf, Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop., Echinochloa colona (L.) Link, Eragrostis barrelie7i Daveau, Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeusch., Lolium perenne L., Lolium temulentum L., Paspalidium geminatum (Forssk.) Stapf, Phalaris minor Retz., Phalaris paradoxa L., Rostraria cristata (L.) Tzvelev. and Setania verticillata (L.) P. Beauv. Floristic analysis of archaeological field weed finds from the Predynastic settlement in Hierakonpolis

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GRASSES IN ANCIENT EGYPT

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shows the presence of East Mediterranean and Irano Turanian elements. These fieldweeds were apparently introduced with the cereals (wheat and barley) to Egypt from the Fertile Crescent (Fahmy 1997 ). Grasses have played a major role in the daily lifeof agriculture, industries, food ancient Egyptians: building material, artwork, and other activities.

Baskets,mats and others objects

Two halfa grasses, Desmostachya bipinnata and Imperata cylindrica, as well as three reeds Phragmites australis, Arundo donax L. and Saccharum spontaneum L., were widely uised in ancient Egypt for making baskets, ropes, nets, sandals and other objects (Tackholm & Drar 1941, Greiss 1957). In the Predynastic and Pharaonic periods, culms of the ordinary reed Phragmites australis and the taller Arundo donax have been identified (Greiss 1957), but much more Phraginites L. was used than Arundo L. (Wendrich 2000). Not only the culms of the common reed were used, but also the leaves, identified by Greiss (1957) in a matting fragment from el-Omari. The leaves of Saccharum spontaneum were also used formaking soft mats (Greiss 1957, Wendrich 2000). Techniques of basket-making and other objects, in the different periods of Egyptian history, are discussed and illustrated in detail by Wendrich (2000). Tackholm & Drar (1941) specify the use of the common reed Phragmites australis, as writing pens from the culms, obliquely cut and split in the manner of quill pen. They add: the culms were also used for making arrows, the leaves for soft sleeping mats. The making rhizomes were ascribed in popular medicine for their diaphoretic and diuretic properties.

Emmer wheat and barley

According toMurray (2000), it is generally agreed that Egyptian agriculture was probably established some time during the eighth millennium BP with a range of domesticated crops from the Levant (Trigger 1983, Wetterstrom 1993, Zohary & Hopf 1993). Emmer and barley supplemented thewell-established 1984, (Hassan hunting and gathering practices Wetterstrom 1993). The earliest finds of Emmer and barley in Egypt date to 7300 - 6000 BP (Hassan 1988, Wetterstrom 1993, Zohary & Hopf 1993), marking the beginnings of one of themost accomplished examples of plant - people interaction in history.

Cereals inancient Egypt

record shows that emmer wheat The archaeological and barley have been cultivated in Egypt since at least the eighth millennium BP, and that theycontinued to be the twomost important cereals produced until times (Murray 2000). Murray adds Graeco-Roman that the archaeobotanical record shows that two rowed barley and six-rowed barley were grown in Egypt, although relatively few finds of the more primitive two-rowed form have been reported. She adds: it is now suggested that four-rowed barley, commonly reported from Egypt, is simply a lax-eared form of six-rowed barley, and that separating these two closely related types in archaeological material is unjustified. Several findings of naked barley have also been recorded although claims for this species in ancient Egypt have been disputed, e.g. Helbaek (1959).

Reeds inancient art

According to Tackholm & Drar (1941), Phragmites is also pictured on old monuments, though misinterpreted by some authors as Arundo. The outer temple wall of Madinet Habu, where the war events of Ramses III are illustrated, a lion is seen fleeing through thickets of Phragnites. They add 'the panicle of Phragrnites was used as a common Hieroglyphic sign, easily distinguished from Arundo by its lax, acute, 1-sided (not dense, ovoid, symmetric) panicle'. Reeds have also been used in ancient architecture as a motif for columns, e.g. in Tell el'Amarna, 18'h Dynasty, and in the tomb of Rechwimose, Saqqara, 19 - 20h Dynastv.

Brewing and baking

Samuel (2000) reports the importance of both bread and beer in ancient Egypt, widely attested in many sources, documentary including offering lists, proverbs, scribal exercises, and administrative records. No meal was complete without bread and beer, and everyone in ancient Egyptian society partook of them, to the labouring peasant. The from pharaoh tombs were frequency with which well-furnished provided with bread loaves and jars of beer, and the many artistic scenes of baking and brewing in tombs, demonstrate how the ancient Egyptians aimed for an

List of grasses known fromancient Egypt

The following list is mainly compiled Vartavan & Asensi Amoros (1997): Tausch Aegilops ventricosa Aeluropus lagopoides (L.) Trin. ex Thwaites Agrostis stolonifera L. Huds. Alopecurus myosuroides Arundo donax L. Avena sp. after de

equally in theafte-r-life. abundantsupply

Brachiaria sp.

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Bromus diandrus Roth Bromus japonicus Thunb. Cenchrus sp. Centropodiaforskaolii (Vahl)Cope
Crypsis capitatus Vend. Cutandia sp.

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