Description:
<jats:p>Abstract : The analysis of more than 24000 charcoal fragments from the Bronze Age layers at Emar allow palaeobotanical reconstructions. The charcoal fragments suggest that during the Bronze Age, the riverine gallery forest was more extensive than today and consisted of a greater variety of taxa, including Populus (poplar)/Sa\ix (willow), Tamarix (tamarisk), Alnus (alder) during the Early Bronze Age, Fraxinus (ash) in Early Bronze Age layers, Platanus (plane) and Ulmus (elm). The discovery of Olea (olive) in Early Bronze Age layers, Vitis vinifera (grapevine) within Late Bronze Age strata and Ficus (fig) wood in Early and Late Bronze Age layers may indicate their cultivation. There is little evidence for the potential Pistacia-a/mowi woodland steppe away from the Euphrates, which suggests that it was probably degraded. Coniferous wood, like Cupressus (cypress), Cedrus (cedar) and Pinus brutia/halepensis (Calabrian/ Aleppo pine) were probably imported. It is of note that pine planks used for Early Byzantine coffins were of a different species than the attested Bronze Age pine fragments.</jats:p>