The presence of green vegetables in present-day kitchen gardens in the Eastern Desert of Egypt suggests that such vegetables were also grown in Roman times. Only four species from Berenike and Shenshef are characterized as vegetables: beet, garlic , and a still-unknown type . Garlic has only been found at Berenike and it is most likely that it was locally grown. The unidenti- fi ed bulbous plant does not permit a suggestion on its origin. Considering the beet as a vegetable is still open to debate. Beet is frequently found in both Berenike and Shenshef, and it is possible that we are dealing with a weed plant, which might additionally have been exploited for its edible leaves. Today, beet is a common winter weed plant in Egypt and is found, for example, in cereal fields, faba bean fields, and Egyptian clover fields . The wild beet is a successful invader of fields, which can be explained by its seed dispersal in relation to its growth form. Wild beet plants have a long, erect main stem, which may reach a height of 80 cm, horticulture solutions and several decumbent stems. Both types of stems produce many fruit clusters. Those from the decumbent stems fall off as soon as they are ripe and, despite their large size, may easily become buried in the mud cracks that are formed in the soil surface during the weeks prior to the harvest since no irrigation water is brought into the fields anymore.
It is striking that beet rather than other food items that were delivered to Berenike is among the very few plant commodities that are mentioned in the Berenike ostraka; onions and an unknown medical herb are the other ones . All these three plant commodities are only mentioned once on an ostrakon, and it is assumed by Bagnall et al. that the beet was probably pickled and could be used as a food for long sea voyages. If beet was delivered as a pickle indeed, the fruit clusters that were found would certainly have belonged to weedy plants. A fourth group of plants found at Berenike and Shenshef concerns those with edible fruits. With 28 different species, including both herbs and trees, this is the best-represented group. The plants are diverse with respect to origin, period, and number of fruit remains. Predominant plants are the olive , the date palm , the Egyptian plum , the caper bush , the nabq , the grape , and the stone pine . The stone pine is an exclusive Mediterranean plant, whereas the olive, the Egyptian plum, and the grape may have been imported from either the Mediterranean area or the Nile Valley. The date palm, the caper bush, and the nabq are Egyptian species and originate from the Nile Valley or from the Eastern Desert. In the latter case, such plants may have grown even locally, as is suggested for the caper bush and the nabq. The number of fruit remains from these indigenous plants is considerable during the second habitation period. A similar increase in the number of plant remains is shown by the doam palm , Cordia nevillii/sinensis, and Grewia. The doam palm fruits would have been collected from trees growing in the Eastern Desert, whereas fruits from the other two plants most probably were obtained from the southerly Gebel Elba area and beyond. Three other species that point to import from the south are the tamarind , the baobab , and Cocculus pendulus.
A relatively large number of tamarind seeds have been unearthed from early deposits, and the possibility of Indian import may, therefore, not be excluded. The single seed from the baobab, dated to the fourth and fifth centuries AD, makes one wonder about the extent of its trade. Limited supplies, possibly dictated by opportunistic purchasing, may point to import from north Yemen or the Horn of Africa. More substantial quantities, however, would probably have been imported from east tropical Africa. Fruit remains of C. pendulus have been found in small quantities in both early and late deposits from Berenike as well as from Shenshef and indicate trade connections with the Gebel Elba area. Conclusive evidence of Indian import is represented within this category by the coconut and the emblic . So far, both species are only evidenced from Berenike, with fragments of the coconut frequently found in both early and late deposits, whereas the emblic is only represented by a few remains from an early context. The watermelon , the bottle gourd , and the cucumber are also arranged under this heading and could have been cultivated in local kitchen gardens. The group of condiments and spices is represented by nine plant species. Coriander , fennel , cumin , fenugreek , ajowan , and dill would have been obtained from the Nile Valley or could have been grown in kitchen gardens. Coriander is conspicuously represented by its large number of fruits and seeds in early and late deposits. Sesame is also found in early and late deposits, though in small numbers, and it was probably obtained from the Nile Valley. Berries of juniper are only represented by small numbers of seeds from fifth and early sixth centuries AD contexts at Shenshef and are considered as an import from the Mediterranean area. The most exotic spice is also the best represented one: huge quantities of peppercorns , including well over 7.5 k of desiccated black peppercorns inside a large dolium of Indian origin, testify to the importance of the pepper trade during the whole Roman period.
Oil-yielding plants are represented by safflower , flax , and bentree . Plants that yield oil have been valued since ancient times and are used for cooking as well as all kinds of technical uses, including its use in oil lamps and perfumes. The seeds, in particular, contain reasonable amounts of oil. Classifying plants with oily seeds is difficult and very often comes under discussion, as the recovery of such seeds in an archaeological context does not by definition point to their exploitation for oil. Moreover, plants with oily seeds may also have been used in another way, as could have been the case with safflower and fl ax. These plants are also cultivated for their dye-containing flowers and stem fibers respectively, but their archaeological contexts do not support such uses either. For the moment, it seems most likely that only the seeds of safflower and bentree were used for extracting oil, whereas fl ax seeds could also have been processed in other ways. Some other plants that have been found could also have been used for the production of oil, but their exploitation for oil is even less clear. They are the sugar date , yielding balanos oil; the olive , yielding olive oil; the colocynth , yielding colocynth oil; the almond , yielding almond oil; and the sesame , yielding sesame oil. The incense trade is only evidenced by the presence of fruit remains of the balsam tree . Resinous substances have been frequently found, and it is very likely that they include real incenses indeed. Unfortunately, it is only by chemical analysis that their true identity can be confirmed. Because the fruits of the balsam tree are a regular occurrence at Berenike and Shenshef, it is assumed that the fragrant fruits were obtained, at least partly, from the nearby Gebel Elba area. The last well-defined group of cultivated plants concerns plants used for dyeing and tanning. At least one species can be attributed unequivocally to this category: the Nile acacia . Other species that might have been used for tanning are the emblic , the pomegranate , grow benches and the Alexandrian senna . In the case of the pomegranate, the presence of peel fragments and seeds indicate that whole fresh fruits were imported. The use of the pomegranate for tanning purposes is then considered as secondary, but if it was used for tanning leather, indeed, it would have made more sense to import large quantities of the dried fruit rinds. That this group of tannin-producing plants, including an Indian import, might have been used as a source of tannin underlines the importance of leather in the everyday life of these former communities. This is well illustrated by the present-day Ababda nomads, who still use leather in the production of all kinds of objects, although the practice is decreasing. The fruits of the Nile acacia are used for the tanning of leather. The use of fruits as a source of tannin is preferable to other plant parts, such as the bark, which contains a much higher concentration of tannin than the fruits, as this kind of exploitation will not threaten the populations of the Nile acacia. Over exploitation of tannin-producing mangrove vegetation, for example, has been recorded from several parts of the world . A miscellaneous group of six cultivated plant species cannot be attributed to only one of the above-mentioned categories and includes four desert plants that might have been exploited for different purposes. Mangrove was, most probably, harvested in the near vicinity of Berenike during the first habitation period and used as fodder and for the production of charcoal. The many spines of the twisted acacia , in addition to its fruits and seeds, indicate that whole branches of this tree were brought to Berenike and Shenshef. Most probably, they were used for fencing in areas vulnerable to browsers such as gardens, which is still practiced by desert dwellers.
The many seeds of the colocynth that have been found are difficult to explain just by natural seed dispersal. Unripe fruits might have been gathered as fodder for donkeys, who can tolerate the extreme bitter taste of the fruits. Another possibility is that the seeds of the colocynth were used for oil extraction, to be used for the healing of wounds. Archaeological findings for such a use, for example, in the form of special ovens, have not been evidenced. The many fruits of the sugar date that have been unearthed do not show clear evidence of oil extraction. This implies that they were gathered for the sweet, outer layer of the fruit, but the way this was consumed remains obscure. The large numbers found in deposits that belong to the second habitation period indicate deliberate collecting, and they might have been eaten by humans or animals or used for making alcoholic drinks. The two other species from the miscellaneous group, Abrus and Job’s tears , concern exotic ones. Both the exact origin and the use of Abrus are problematic. Judging by the absence of a red spot, which is characteristic for the Indian rosary pea , it seems most likely that we are dealing with seeds from an African species. The use as a bead seems unlikely, as no piercings are present, leaving open other uses, such as medical applications or its use as a gold weight. Job’s tears , on the other hand, unequivocally points to an Indian origin, and its piercing shows that it was used as a bead indeed.The presence of plant species in relation to the habitation periods of Berenike and Shenshef is presented in Table 6. 2. The plant names are arranged in numerical order, in which the number of plant specimens is transformed into a range from 1 to 8. Basically, only seeds or fruits are quantified for this purpose. Plant remains that have been unearthed at Berenike represent an early habitation period and a late habitation period . The excavations at Shenshef, on the other hand, have only revealed plant remains of the fourth to fifth centuries AD, a period that coincides with the late habitation period of Berenike. A clear difference in early and late Roman occupation, including the difference between the late Roman occupation of Berenike and Shenshef, is demonstrated by the degree to which indigenous plant species are represented. It is of particular interest that certain Egyptian-Sudanese species are rare or even completely absent in the first to second centuries AD. Sorghum is conspicuous by its absence as a cereal, whereas fruits from Cordia nevillii/sinensis, the sugar date , the nabq , the doam palm the bentree , the Nile acacia , the balsam tree , and Grewia are dominant in, or even restricted to the fi fth and early sixth centuries AD.