Summer crops and spice trade on the Indian Ocean (10th-16th c. AD): first archaeobotanical data from Sharma (Yemen) and Qalhât (Sultanate of Oman)

Résumé En

This paper deals with the diffusion of summer crops and the spice trade in the western part of the Indian Ocean during medieval times. The excavations carried out by Dr. Axelle Rougeulle (CNRS) on the port sites of Sharma (Yemen) and Qalhāt (Sultanate of Oman) have provided new archaeobotanical data relating to the presence of exotic plant species. The seed and fruit analysis shows notably the presence of tropical plants such as pepper (Piper nigrum), rice (Oryza sativa), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), finger millet (Eleusine coracana) and Sawa millet (Echinochloa colona). For the two last species, this discovery constitutes the earliest evidence so far of their presence in the Arabian Peninsula. These results raise issues about the food supply of the inhabitants of harbour sites along the Arabian coasts. Whereas the origin of pepper from the Indian sub-continent is not being questioned, the others species such as rice, sorghum and millets might either have been imported or resulted from local cultivation. In this matter, written sources are used in order to discuss their significance and their possible origin.