Fig 1.
The context of study and the sites mentioned in the texts.
(a) The regional setting. (b) the location of the site of Ahihud. (c) Archaeological sites in the southern Levant where remains of legumes were found. For details on the type of findings and the chronology of the sites, see paragraph ‘Legumes in the southern Levant: the archaeobotanical findings’. The dotted line represent the 300 mm of annual rainfall threshold.
Fig 2.
The EPPNB area in Ahihud with the distribution of the most important Loci.
(a) a detail of the silo L 450 and the floors L 433 and L 476. (b) the storage pit L 398. The individual in this figure has given written informed consent (as outlined in PLOS consent form) to publish these case details.
Fig 3.
Infrared spectra of sediments from different locations at Ahihud.
All the spectra show typical peaks of unaltered clay, such as those of the structural water (3695 and 3620 cm-1) and the peak at 1032 cm-1.
Table 1.
List of identified seeds from Ahihud.
Fig 4.
Photographs of the most common taxa in Ahihud and modern comparisons.
(a) Lathyrus inconspicuus (Ahihud); (b) Lathyrus inconspicuus (modern); (c) Pisum sp. (Ahihud); (d) Pisum elatius (modern); (e) Lens sp. (Ahihud); (f) Lens orientalis (modern); (g) Lathyrus hierosolymitanus (Ahihud); (h) Vicia sp. (small type) (Ahihud).
Fig 5.
(a) specimen from L 450; (b) modern faba bean.
Fig 6.
Archeological and modern Vicieae.
(a-b) ventral and lateral views of Vicia narbonensis (Ahihud); (c-d) ventral and lateral views of Vicia narbonensis (modern); (e) Vicia ervilia (Ahihud); (f) Vicia ervilia (charred modern).
Table 2.
Results of the biometric analysis of Vicia faba, Lens sp. and Pisum sp.
Fig 7.
Histograms plot showing the distribution of the size of (a) 96 seeds of Lens sp.; (b) 96 seeds of Pisum sp. Each bar represents the frequency of diameters occurring at interval of 0.25 mm.
Fig 8.
Curves of the calibrated dates.
The 14C ages were calibrated to calendar years BP using the r.5 IntCal13 atmospheric curve [38] using the software OxCal v 4.2.4 [39].
Table 3.
Radiocarbon dating.
Table 4.
The species found in Ahihud divided according to the type, the plant height and the seed maximum length.
Table 5.
Summary of the identified legumes found in prehistoric sites of the southern Levant.
Table 6.
Summary of the identified legumes found in protohistoric sites of the southern Levant.
Table 7.
Summary of the identified legumes found in protohistoric and historic sites of the southern Levant.