In fact, such an analysis could illustrate a shift in the proportion of smaller to larger seeds, demonstrating an increase of out breeding. And even if such an increase could be demonstrated, it still remains to be seen whether the increase of out breeding, which is responsible for the increase in seed size, could be considered as the result of artificial pollination or of a more favorable proportion of male palms to female ones in a population. The interpretation of the variation in seed size may be further obscured by the presence of palms that have been propagated by seeds. Both seeds and basal suckers are used for propagating the date palms, as is, for example, mentioned by Theophrastus . Preference is given to the basal suckers, as they guarantee both the sex of the tree and the quality of the dates . In contrast, a seed will either produce a male or a female plant and because cross-fertilization has occurred, an unpredictable genetic variability will be produced. The combination of outbreeding pollination and vegetative propagation has resulted in many local varieties and just as many date varieties. The size of the seeds from Berenike proved to be quite variable. Seeds that were retrieved from the 1995 season measured 2.27 cm . This indicates that the dates originated from groves that were at least partly propagated by seeds.
The smallest seeds possibly even originated from unfertilized flowers. Trees developing from discarded seeds appear to be half female and half male specimens. If plants are intentionally propagated by seed, plastic growers pots several seeds might be put together to ensure the appearance of female plants. According to Täckholm and Drar , this is especially practiced in the Aswân province. It has also been observed by the author in the southern part of the Eastern Desert. Theophrastus gives another explanation for planting several seeds together. Both roots and stems will become entangled and in this way prevent the development of a weak tree. Theophrastus does not take into consideration the dioecy of the date palm, although he is aware of this character. A concrete building near the old settlement of Berenike was established, which is used as a working space, a temporary stockroom for archaeological finds, and it also offers accommodation to a museum in which a standing ethnographic collection of the Ababda nomads is displayed. After the building was finished, an experiment followed to grow some date palms. Permanent guards were to take care of the water supply. Unfortunately the young trees died, probably because the soil was over manured and not watered enough. That dates were highly prized by the Romans is evidenced by the number of dates that have been found at Berenike and Shenshef. The sugar content of ripe dates ranges from 70 to 80 percent, making it a tasty and nutritious food. It also lends itself well to preservation, a favorable condition in a desert environment. Spread over 284 samples, some 2,700 seeds of date palm have been found.
As this amount of seeds only represents the proportion that has been sub-sampled from a small area of both Roman settlements, it is clear that dates have to be considered as one of the staple foods. It is even possible that dates were partly used as a ballast commodity. From more recent periods, it is known that dates were used as ballast by ships on their way to India, Africa, and southeast Africa . Judging by the huge amount of dates found at Berenike and Shenshef, it seems likely that most of these fruits originated from the Nile Valley. It may not be excluded, however, that groves in the Eastern Desert also were exploited in an opportunistic way. In this respect the substantial grove in the Wadi Gimal estuary may have been visited, as it is located along the coastal route that connected Berenike with Quseir al-Qadim. Furthermore, import from northern Sudan may not be ruled out. Despite the huge production of dates in Egypt today, which are partly meant for export, Egypt also imports dates from northern Sudan . Only a fraction of the recovered sub-fossil seeds are charred. They were not concentrated or found near ovens or fireplaces, ruling out the possible use of date seeds as charcoal. Their use as fuel could be demonstrated in a monastery at Kom el-Nana in the Nile Valley, where charred date rachilla and perianth were found in an oven . The use of date seeds for making charcoal is recorded from Iraq, were they are in demand by silversmiths . It is noteworthy to mention that this practice had already been described by Strabo for the bronzesmiths of this area.The emblic is a member of the spurge family . The Latin name Phyllanthus, which means “leaf-flower,” is in fact misleading because the sessile flowers, and at a later stage the fruits, are not attached to the stalk of a pinnate leaf, but to a branch that bears many small leaves that are arranged in two rows. Wild fruits have a diameter of 1.5 to 2.5 cm; cultivated ones are larger.
The fruit is classified as a drupe. The thick mesocarp is edible. The hard endocarp consists of six carpels that form three compartments, each of which contains two seeds. A total of eight endocarp fragments were found in a trash dump of Berenike. The genus Phyllanthus comprises some 500 tropical and subtropical species. Three species of this genus are native to Egypt: P. reticulatus Poir, P. maderaspatensis L., and P. rotundifolius Willd. All three species grow in the Gebel Elba area and the last one also in other parts of Egypt . The fruit fragments found at Berenike are similar to those of the edible fruits of the emblic , which are much larger than those of the Egyptian species of the genus Phyllanthus. Emblic grows in the Maskarenen, India, China, Indochina, and Malaysia. It is common in most parts of India, extending from the base of the Himalayas to Sri Lanka. It is especially abundant in deciduous forests of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar, located in central India . As a sacred tree for the Hindus, emblic is associated with Vishnu, Shiva, Parvati, and Lakshmi . For this reason, it is also planted on the south side of a temple or home. But most fruits of emblic are today gathered from wild populations. Another edible species is P. acidus Skeels. Although this species is cultivated in gardens today throughout India, it is considered to be native to the coastal region of northeast Brazil and has erroneously been ascribed to Indian, Madagascar, and Malaysian origin . The fruits of emblic belong to the ones with the highest content of vitamin C: 100 g of juice contains 600 to 1,300 mg vitamin C . A similar amount of orange juice, for example, only contains 35 to 50 mg vitamin C. The extremely high vitamin C content is responsible for its acidic, astringent, and somewhat acrid taste and is expressed in its Indian name amlika, which means “acid, sour.” Fresh fruits are almost too sour to eat raw but can be made into pickles, preserves, and candy. Pickling, however, results in the loss of much of the vitamin C, although most can be retained by boiling the fruits and adding a large amount of salt . Due to the presence of tannin, blueberry in pot the oxidation of vitamin C is prevented or retarded. Probably, the consumption of emblic during the long sea voyages protected sailors against scurvy. Scurvy was successfully treated in the Indian army in Rajputana in 1837 with fruits of the emblic . Unripe fruits, bark, and leaves of the emblic are used for tanning. The pulp of unripe fruits may contain up to 35 percent tannin, which is more than the concentration in the other parts of the tree. The fruits of the emblic are often used as a tanning material in combination with fruits of two other so-called myrobalans: beleric myrobalan and black myrobalan . All three species have the same distribution area. In India this mixture of fruits is known as triphala or tinepala, which means “three kinds” . Triphala is also a well-known medicinal preparation of the Ayurvedic system, which developed during the Vedic period, about 500 BC . In present-day bazaars with a good assortment of herbal drugs, including ones in Khan al-Khalili in Cairo, emblic is still offered for sale. It is traded as dried fruit, known as Myrobalani emblicae.
A whole dried fruit consists of 40 percent gray-blackish mesocarp, 40 percent endocarp, and 20 percent seeds. As only the mesocarp of the fruit is of economic importance, Myrobalani emblicae samples predominantly consist of mesocarp particles, endocarp fragments being only a minor contamination. In a sample of 100 g, obtained from an India-Pakistan shop in Amsterdam, only seven carpels were found corresponding with 1 1/6 fruit. The total number of fruit specimens of that sample was estimated at 70. Assuming that the emblic at Berenike was also traded with the endocarps and seeds removed, this implies that the eight carpels found stand for a more substantial number of fruit specimens. Today, perishable emblic fruits are also sold in tins or pickled in glass jars, in which most specimens are still intact. So far, emblic is only known from Berenike and four other archaeological sites in India: Neolithic Budihal, Chalcolithic Inamgaon and Navdatoli, and from Narhan in historical times .Many pine species are of economic importance, especially valued for their wood, which gives good timber, and their resin, which can be used as an adhesive, as an ingredient of perfumes, and was formerly used in mummifi cation. Only a few species yield edible seeds rich in proteins and oil, including the stone pine with its characteristic, umbrellashaped crown. In fact, the quality of the wood from this particular pine is poor and was therefore not used much in antiquity . The stone pine occurs in the northern and eastern coastal part of the Mediterranean area, extending into Syria, and the southern coastal part of the Black Sea. In Egypt, only a few specimens are present in gardens . Mature cones of the stone pine are about 10 to 15 cm long and 10 cm across. On the upper side of each cone scale, two unwinged seeds develop. One cone consists of about 100 scales so that it produces some 200 seeds. Cones can be harvested when they are still green and have to be exposed in the sun for further ripening. In this way the yield is maximized since no seeds are lost during harvesting. Alternatively, seeds can be gathered easily under the trees because the unwinged seeds are not dispersed over long distances. Most archaeological finds of the stone pine date back to the Roman period and are frequently reported from countries where the tree is not indigenous, such as Egypt and England . Kislev points to the religious significance of the tree on the evidence of archaeological contexts and literary sources. In Egypt, as well as in England, whole cones and scales have been found in connection with temples. It is possible that at Berenike the stone pine was also used in religious ceremonies. However, in trenches BE95-4 and 7 in a putative temple area and BE95-6 in which religious effects were found , no remnants of this species were recovered. Besides its religious use, whole cones or seeds of the stone pine also may have been traded for consumption. The nuts were not only used as garnish or filling, but also as a substitute for the expensive condiment asafoetida, obtained from the roots of the Persian umbellifer Ferula assa-foetida L. The Romans used asafoetida as a substitute for the highly valued North African plant laserpitium , after laserpitium became extinct in the second half of the first century AD due to intensive gathering. In order to make use of the desirable taste on a larger scale, Apicius recommended mixing some asafoetida with pine seeds so that the latter could absorb the flavor of asafoetida . The Roman predilection for the taste of laserpitium and asafoetida could explain the concentration of pine nuts from archaeological contexts dated to the Roman period. After the fall of the Roman Empire, it seems that pine nuts ceased to be used as a substitute for these condiments. Today, shelled seeds of the stone pine are offered for sale as a rather expensive delicacy.