Abstract
Macroscopic plant remains found in pisé material (clay or mud used in building), used as lining in pits at the Upper Egyptian Predynastic site of Adaïma were investigated. Comparison with assemblages from the sediment fills of these pits and with assemblages from other contexts in the same site demonstrated the taphonomical importance of pisé as a building material for the formation of the site’s archaeological sediment. In particular, the influence of the pisé plant temper on the composition of plant assemblages in the sediment fills of the pits was brought to the fore. The choice of specific plant materials for their use as temper in pisé or mud bricks is shown, in particular that of barley (Hordeum vulgare) threshing remains. The importance of cereal processing by-products as construction material is also assessed in a wider economic context and compared with later Egyptian mud brick plant contents.
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Acknowledgements
I thank Béatrix Midant-Reynes for giving me the opportunity to study the material from Adaïma. For the technical side, I thank the IFAO and Michel Wuttmann for the use of microscopes belonging to the conservation laboratory. I am thankful to George Willcox and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive remarks, and to Art Newton for correcting the language. This work was made possible by a PhD grant from the French Ministry of Education and Research (allocation de recherche), and by travel grants from the IFAO.
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Newton, C. Plant tempering of Predynastic pisé at Adaïma in Upper Egypt: building material and taphonomy. Veget Hist Archaeobot 13, 55–64 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-003-0025-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-003-0025-4