Detection of palm fruit lipids in archaeological pottery from Qasr Ibrim, Egyptian Nubia

In modern times, the trees of the palm family have been of great economic a nd social importance to the people in Egypt, as in other parts of the world . There are various species of palm and although different parts of the tre e can be used, the fruit are of great value. In antiquity it is expected th at the palm fruit would also have been of great importance to people in the region. The chemical analysis of absorbed residues in archaeological potte ry is well established, and through the investigation of ceramic vessels (v ia gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromat ography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry) saturated carboxylic ac ids in the range C-12 to C-18 have been detected (with an unusually high ab undance of C-12) from vessels from the Nubian site of Qasr Ibrim. This is m irrored in the saturated fatty acid distributions detected from the kernels of modern and ancient date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) and dom palm (Hyp haena thebaica (L.) Mart.). Mixing in some of the vessels of the palm fruit with another lipid source is indicated through the delta C-13 values. Thes e results provide the first direct evidence for the exploitation of palm fr uit in antiquity and the use of pottery vessels in its processing.