Center of Excellence

Botany Research Sub-Group

Projects - Evidence of fire

Although most of the botanical remains are waterlogged, a minor amount of wood fragments as well as fruits were found to be burned. Among the burned wood fragments, Syrian ash (Fraxinus syriaca) and wild olive (Olea europaea) were the most abundant. Wood pieces of Greek silk-vine (Periploca graeca), probably mesquite (Prosopis?), wild grape (Vitis sylvestris) and willow/poplar (Salix/Populus) were less abundant. In addition to wood, bedstraw (Galium sp.) fruitlet, oat (Avena sp.) awns, and grains of ovate goatgrass (Aegilops cf. geniculata), sharp-awned feathergrass (Stipa bromoides) and wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) were also identified as burned. These burned items are direct evidence of fire, and together with the spatial distribution of burned flint indicate that the fire was human-controlled (Goren-Inbar et al., 2004).

Ovate goatgrass (Aegilops cf. geniculata), SEM photographs of a burned grain fragment, dorsal view (scale bar, 1 mm.).

A transverse view from the top: During carbonization, the fire vaporized the natural moisture in the grain. The hot vapor destroyed some of the cell walls (A), producing holes (B) that are larger than the cells. Despite the heat, some areas of the cell tissue were preserved almost intact, whereas other areas are visibly deformed. Scale bar is 0.5 mm.