Flora in the Latin East: Archaeobotanical Remains from Crusader Arsur

Archaeobotanical analysis in Crusader-period sites in the Southern Levant is rare, and the plant finds from Arsur (Apollonia-Arsuf) add new data to the scarce Crusader botanical material. The fills of refuse from one cesspit from the 12th and 13th centuries CE have revealed mineralised plant finds seldom uncovered in the Southern Levant. Together with the carbonised plant material from other loci of Crusader-period contexts, this plant assemblage forms a comprehensive picture of the diet of the site inhabitants. The analysis of Crusader crop material shows a diet of typical Southern Levantine character that was based on the cultivation and use of indigenous crops also known from other contemporaneous sites.