Food plants in pollen records from ancient Southern Arabia: The evidences from Sumhuram (southern Oman)

Archaeological excavations of the ancient city of Sumhuram (2nd century BC- 5th century AD), a port along the
frankincense trade route in Dhofar, Southern Oman, offered the chance to gain new insights into the diet of the
inhabitants. In spite of the mainly sandy nature of the sediments in the site, which does not favour good pre
servation of plant materials, pollen analyses and sporadic findings of starch grains, seeds and fruits allowed
evidence of food plants to be gathered. Pollen and starch grains of cereals at Sumhuram attested to the con
sumption of major crops, like wheat and barley, as well as minor crops, such as the millets. Cereal pollen from a
pit in the city helped strengthen the archaeological interpretation of this structure as foodstuff storage. Both date
palm pollen and stones recovered in two rooms testified to the use of this plant, largely diffused in Arabia. Even
though the provenance of these foodstuffs remains dubious- they could have been locally cultivated/gathered or
imported from other territories- the outcome of our Modern Analogues study in wadi estuaries enabled us to
attribute varying origins to pollen sources in the past record