Fewet (Libya, Central Sahara) and the archaeobotanical research on Garamantian times

The site of Fewet, located in the south-western part of the Fezzan region (Libya), was inhabited by a clan or a tribe of ancient peoples of the Sahara who, exploiting oases and controlling the Saharan caravan routes, have flourished in this region in the period c.500 BC - 500 AD. By the ancient Greek and Roman sources they are known with the name of the Garamantes. The site includes a little agricultural compound (200 BC - 0) and an adjacent necropolis (650 BC - 350 AD). The research on plant macroremains and charcoals has allowed to know the “mature phase” of the Garamantian culture and economy in a territory at the edges of their mythical kingdom, where it is possible to follow better the transition from the Late Pastoral period to this culture. Phoenix dactylifera, in the form of stones, fruits and charcoals, is the best represented plant in the archaeobotanical record. The biometrical and morphological data of date palm stones are important markers of domestication and cultural cares. Cereals, above all Hordeum vulgare, are always in association with pulses suggesting a complementary use of these crops in Central Sahara. So the landscape of the oases was already like a garden in the Garamantian times, with trees for fruits, fuel and timber, and herbaceous plants cultivated in the shadow of tree leaves. Many of these plants together with plants from spontaneous desert vegetation were used by the Garamantes in many ways, like weaving mats and baskets.