Agrarian innovations in oasis environments
Résumé
The Antique Period (4th century BC-4th century AD) in the Arabian Peninsula witnessed important trade activities, which can be monitored through the archaeobotanical analyses of oasian agrarian sites. In this presentation , oasis is considered as a hub connecting local agrarian producers with transport and travelers who brought in and exchanged plant products. Oasis systems are mainly defined by irrigated mixed farming of Near Eastern annual crops (wheat, barley, lentil) and perennial fruit plants (date palm, grapevine, olive, pomegranate). The oasis thus offered an adaptive and durable response to environmental constraints while ensuring economic autonomy. This is especially evident where we can observe crop selections for which innovation processes and resilience dynamics should have been involved. The archaeobotanical dataset, especially with regards to seeds and fruit remains coming from antique sites, shows the presence of new products originating from tropical regions. The record shows that some of these plants were gradually integrated into the oases systems. Based on the archaeobotanical results from Madâ’in Sâlih, the antique Nabataean Hegra (northwestern Saudi Arabia) and Mleiha (U.A.E.), two sites linked with important ancient trade routes, this contribution aims to describe these new plant products and their occurrence chronology, to discuss their potential acclimatization and to examine the associated economic, ecological and technical components.