Center of Excellence

Botany Research Sub-Group

Projects - The palaeobotanical assemblage

The excavations at GBY produced a rich assemblage of plant macrofossils, which were found together with many Acheulian artifacts (Goren-Inbar et al., 2000).

The investigators of GBY discussing problems in May 2007

This assemblage includes remains of dispersal units, such as seeds and fruits, of scores of species, including the edible plants oak, pistachio, grape, and jujube; sporangia of aquatic ferns and oospores of Characeae. In addition, there were hundreds of wood fragments, many of which were identified to the species level (Goren-Inbar et al., 2002; Melamed, 2003). Plant remains were obtained from a total of 31 major layers in the site. The ample botanical data include, up to date, a conservatively estimated number of more than 100,000 items that amounted to more than 30,000 grains, which belong to 130 different species, data that enabled us to reconstruct the site habitats and the vegetal diet of the inhabitants.