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DILMN

aed onto a mixture of dates, sesame and ginger in a earthenware jar. Modabbas is
:ained like this and has to be lcft for five days bcfore bcing consumcd.

Importance of the date-palm and its produest

‫ ﺍ‬nof ithge daiter-pOalm ‫ﺍ‬nnd isoculitivta

e datc-palm (Phocnix dactylifcra) is a trce ٨aturally suitcd to hot, dry climates which
)wide strong light and ١ow humidity rcquircd for its growth''. If it needs man's care and
ention for its developnent, it nevertheless posscsses a great ability to adapt, and its
Itivation depends in thc final analysis on the local water resources being plentiful and
iable.

The origin of the datc-palm is not clearly cstablished, as all the tree fossils have been
and outside its prcscnt distribution area, in Europe in the Pleistocene Age. However
،erse the hypotheses on the subjeetl? the most probable is certainly that which locates its
igin in the hot deserts of the Middle Eagt!3 where wild palms grow today which are related,
d are even likened by botanists, to Phoenix dactylifera.

hese are the same regions which bear the carliest evidence of date-palm cultivation. The
١mestic use of this tree, like that of all fruit-trees, appeared long after that of graminaceae
١d there is no trace of it before the Chalcolithic period. The first cultivated date-stones
2re found in Mesopotamia at Eridu (beginning of the 4th millenium) in the Oman
:ninsula at Hili 8 (beginning of the 3rd millenium) and at Wadi Samad (end of the 3rd
illenium)« in Palestine at Teleilat Ghassoul (3700 3500 B.C.) and a٤ Nahal Mishmar
200 3000 B.C)٩ In Egypt in the Palaeolithic peirod wild dates were to form part of the
et of local populations; some primitive cultivation seems to have developed in the
،byan-Egyptian oases and to have been introduced into the Nile Valley in the pre-dynastic
:irod. From the Brone Age onwards this cultivation is well established in the warmest
aes of the Middle East: dates and date-palms are frequently mentioned in Egyptian and

Te date-palm and its modern technology are currently the subject of numerous studies:
publications later than 1973 are listed in "Abstracts on the Date-Palm''. See MNIER 1973
for a French reference work on the date-palm.
2 MNIER ٦974: in this atricle the author discusses the hypothesis that the date-palm
originated in Atlantis, a continent which, he claims, was situated off the African and
European coasts, and spread through Notrh Africa and Libya as far as Egypt.
3 2OHAR٧٦973, I١:632; 2OHARY and SPIEGEL R0٧ 1975, in which the authors, from
archaeological and botanical data (current wild species) locate the origin of the olive tree,
the vine, the date-palm and the fig-tree in the Middle East.
٩ CLE2IO 1981; CLEIO and CONSTANTIN١ 1980 and 1982. Besides a hundred of so
date-stones belonging to the period of building l١١ (circa 3000 B.C.) palm-tree wood has also
been found on the site. These traces of date-palm cultivation as well as the discoveyr of
irrigation remains and, at a leval dating from the middle of the 3rd millenium, impressions
of cultivated cereals (sorghum, barley and wheat) and of jujube, currently constitute the
oldest collection testifying to the existence of an oasis type of agriculture.
5 2OHARY and APIEGEL RO٧ 1975: 323.

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