Apart from some undocumented fruits stored in the Florence Museum, the only other records are from Roman Mons Claudianus and Islamic Kom el-Nana . This might indicate that fennel was only introduced into Egypt since the Greek or Roman conquest. Further archaeobotanical research is, however, needed to confirm this suggestion. Once cultivated, fennel can run wild easily, as has been, for example, recorded from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Yemen. The genus Grewia includes some 150 tropical species that are found widely in Africa, Asia, and Australia. Unfortunately, no modern taxonomical treatment of this genus is available. As a result, a flora can only present provisional distinctions and descriptions, as is explicitly mentioned for the flora of Yemen . For Egypt, three Grewia species are recorded: the clearly distinctive G. villosa Willd. and the more complex species G. tenax Fiori and G. tembensis Fresen. All three species are recorded from the Gebel Elba area, located south of Berenike in the Hailab. Schweinfurth, who was not allowed by the Bisharin nomads to visit the Gebel Elba, only mentions the presence of G. tembensis in the coastal area of Mirsa Elei, east of the Gebel Elba . According to Drar , both G. villosa and G. tenax are recorded from the Gebel Elba proper, in which the latter is considered to be quite common. G. tenax also grows in the Eastern Desert,blueberry production including the coastal area, and the Sinai . Only the stony endocarps of the Grewia fruits have been found at Berenike.
An identification of these remains to the level of genus is based on a drawing resembling the endocarp of G. ogadensis Seb., which grows in Oman . An identification beyond the level of genus is not yet possible because of the controversial status of some of the described taxa; the restrictive fruit descriptions, which do not include possible differences of the endocarp; and the lack of reference material of the fruits from species being considered. Fruits of G. tenax and G. villosa are edible and can be eaten unripe, ripe, and dried, so it might be possible that the fruits from Berenike belong to either of them. In the case of G. tenax, the most likely area of origin would have been the Gebel Elba area. The only other records of Grewia from ancient Egypt originate from the Neolithic site Nabta Playa and from Tutankhamen’s tomb. Those from Nabta Playa could not be positively identified and do not match the species found at Berenike and Shenshef . In Tutankhamen’s tomb, several baskets filled with fruits were found among the foodstuffs. A sample of this supply is kept at Kew, and these fruits were initially identified as Grewia cf. javescens Juss. Schiemann, who was able to study a sample from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, rejected the identification made by Chandler and accepted by Lucas, as this species is native to northern Rhodesia. She identified these fruits instead as the Egyptian species G. tenax, which is also accepted by Hepper . de Vartavan and Amorós , of whom the former also had the opportunity to study the specimens kept in Cairo, are however right in arguing that the identifications to the level of species of the Tutankhamen’s specimens are still in need of confirmation. Recently, the author was able to check the concerning sample at the Agricultural Museum in Cairo, but could also not suggest an identification beyond the genus level since no reference material was available.One of the main staple food crops at Berenike and Shenshef was six-row hulled barley. Contrary to naked cereals, the fruits of hulled cereals are tightly enclosed by their husks . In six-row barley , all three single-flowered spikelets present at one node produce a grain, so that the alternate position of the spikelets along the rachis forms six vertical rows.
Although hulled barley is less digestible than naked wheat, it can be used for human food and stock feeding. When grains are used for making bread or porridge, it is necessary to remove the indigestible husk by grinding. In this way, the aleurone layer is removed, too, which is rich in proteins. The remaining endosperm of barley has a high starch content, but the protein content is low. The absence of gluten makes barley grains less suitable for bread making. However, the high starch content works well for the purpose of beer making. During the malting process, the first stage of beer making, the grains are allowed to germinate for some days, in which the starch of the endosperm is converted into simple sugars. This process is stopped after about one week by a special heating process. At a later stage, the remains of the husk are separated from the malt by sieving. Although dehusking is not a necessary pretreatment if hulled barley is used for fodder, whole grains are not completely masticated, and feeding animals with crushed or cracked grains will help their digestion . It could be demonstrated by Neef and Bottema that, depending on the individual animal, 17 to 40 percent of hulled two-row barley grains were recovered undigested in cow dung. The presence of whole barley grains in camel dung from Berenike indicates that this cereal was used, at least partly, as camel fodder, as can be seen from these undigested barley specimens. Camels were crucial in the transport of commodities and staple food between Berenike and the Nile, and additional fodder would have been given when grazing in the wadis was not sufficient. Other plants that could have been used as forage for camels are sorghum , Johnson grass , kodra millet , and even the date palm . I once saw a couple of tended camels browsing dates hanging down from a young palm tree, much to the annoyance of the local farmer. In Berenike and Shenshef, barley has been con- firmed by many grain kernels and threshing remains. Occasionally, some intact ears and large fragments of ears have been found in trench BE00-33, dated to the first century AD. Of special interest are some rachis segments of barley that are infected with the fungus “covered smut” . Covered smut leaves the outer part of the fruit intact and eventually parts of the palea, lemma, and glumes.
It is only at maturity that these covering tissues split open. Liberated spores become attached to other grains or contaminate the soil and infect new grains when they germinate . Covered smut may cause considerable yield losses.Infected rachis segments are found in early deposits and late deposits from Berenike and in late deposits from Shenshef . Although this fungus has a wide distribution and is found everywhere in the world where barley is cultivated,blueberry in container including the whole of Egypt today , the co-occurrence in both Roman settlements strongly supports that they originated from the same area. The degree of infection can be deduced from the proportion of infected rachis nodes, the place where the three grains are attached to the axis of the ear . In trenches BE96-13 and BE96-14 only 0.3 and 1.3 percent of the rachis nodes were infected respectively. The percentage in Shenshef deposits was, however, considerably higher: 11.7 percent. The original percentages may have been even higher, since infected ears are easily detected and removed from the field. Although the high percentage from Shenshef may support the hypothesis of local cultivation, it is still possible that the infected barley was imported from the Nile Valley. Infected ears or spikelets can withstand transport, even if this was done by camel . Recently, the author had the opportunity to check the botanical remains in the Dokki Agricultural Museum in Cairo. It turned out that two samples of hulled six-row barley from Karanis also contained a few rachis fragments that were infected with covered smut . Also, a few infected rachis fragments have been found from Roman contexts at Quseir al-Qadim . Other archaeobotanical references to covered smut are related to bodies that have been found in European bogs. Huge quantities of spores were found in the stomach contents of the Tollund Man and Grauballe Man and spores identified as “similar to” U. hordei were recorded from the stomach of one of the Lindow Man bog bodies . Fragments of barley were also found in the intestines of these bog bodies. Both Theophrastus and Pliny mention rust, which is in fact another kind of fungal disease caused by the Puccinia species. According to Theophrastus, barley is more vulnerable to this disease than wheat. Pliny states that rust is especially prevalent in fields that are subjected to morning dew and are out of the wind. From their limited descriptions, it cannot be concluded, however, that they were actually referring to covered smut instead of rust. The record of covered smut in ancient Egypt seems to indicate that this plant disease was introduced into Egypt by the Romans, but this suggestion can only be a tentative one as the record is still rather scanty. It is most likely that the infected rachis fragments were not recognized in previous archaeobotanical research. More research of pre-Roman plant material, including the reexamination of earlier-studied material, is necessary to decide upon the history of covered smut in Egypt.
The doam palm is one of the three palm trees native to Egypt, and in a strict taxonomic sense, this palm species only occurs in Egypt and Sudan. It is easily identified by its fan-shaped and deeply lobed leaves and the dichotomous branched trunk, the latter feature a rare phenomena among palm trees. The doam palm is recorded from the Eastern Desert, including the coastal area, the oases in the Western Desert, the Sinai, and the Nile Valley. Large populations are present in the El-Kharga oasis and in the Qena and Aswân provinces in the Nile Valley . It does not grow in the Gebel Elba area. The archaeobotanical record of the doam palm for ancient Egypt is extensive, starting in the late Paleolithic and ending in the Islamic period. The number of fruits that have been found at Berenike and Shenshef indicates that there must have been a reasonable supply. The doam palm grove in Wadi Gimal, the nearest one to Berenike, is probably too small for an exploitation on this scale. The most likely area of origin, therefore, is the Qena province in the Nile Valley. Located immediately north of Qift, one of the two terminals of the caravan tracks that connected Berenike with the Nile, doam palm fruits could easily have been delivered from Qift as a return cargo. Two forms of fruits exist: bitter and sweet ones. The sweet form is easily distinguished as it has a pleasant, gingerbread smell and taste, and the seed is not so loosely embedded in the fruit that it rattles if shaken . The seed is only edible when the fruit is still young. Once ripe, the seeds are as hard as ivory and only the pulpy mesoderm can be eaten. An advantage of old doam palm fruits is that they are easily stored and can be prepared whenever needed. Both whole doam palm fruits and fragments of the mesocarp are still sold in markets in Egypt. The sweet mesocarp can be pounded into a meal or made into a syrup. Nevertheless, its taste is not highly appreciated. Wood reports that in Yemen it is mostly eaten by children. Doam palm fruits as well as a powdered extract of its fruits were offered as food during one of the excavation seasons of Berenike, but were not eaten. Besides its use as food, the fruits are also exploited for their ivory seeds. Ababda nomads used to make containers to keep kohl from lead sulphide, although it seems as if this is no longer practiced, and such containers are substituted with modern equivalents made of wood. Such kohl containers have a small opening at the top that is plugged by a piece of cloth or something similar. The kohl is taken out by a small rod made from bone, metal, or plastic and is used as an eyeliner. The containers can be decorated with leather and beads . Fruits with an aberrant shape are of special interest. It happens that a single fruit develops two extra particles, which may even become full grown. Such tripartite fruits are used by the Turkanas in northern Kenya for making dolls .