Veget Hist Archaeobot (2005) 14:341–361 DOI 10.1007/s00334-005-0089-4 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Natàlia Alonso Martinez Agriculture and food from the Roman to the Islamic Period in the North-East of the Iberian peninsula: archaeobotanical studies in the city of Lleida (Catalonia, Spain) Received: 24 September 2004 / Accepted: 1 June 2005 / Published online: 21 July 2005  Springer-Verlag 2005 Abstract The urban archaeological excavations carried out in the city of Lleida (Catalonia, Spain) have opened the way for an interdisciplinary project on the ancient landscape, agriculture and food. Here we present the re- sults of the archaeobotanical study of seeds and fruits from this project, centred on the Roman and Islamic pe- riods of the city, between the 2nd century B.C. and the 11th century A.D. During the whole of this period the cultivation and consumption of cereals was found. The most important cereals were hulled barley and naked wheat. This was already known from the later prehistoric era in the area and is similar to findings at other sites from the same period in the western Mediterranean. These cereals are accompanied by some leguminous crops and the presence of grapes and figs is very significant. The expansion of vine cultivation, together with a certain amount of tree growing was one of the basic contributions of the Roman world to proto-historical (Bronze- and Iron Age) agriculture in western Catalonia, as in other parts of Europe. In the Islamic period, there seems to have been an increase in the number of fruit tree species; however for taphonomical reasons this has to be confirmed by future investigations. Flax, already known in prehistoric times, and Gold-of-pleasure must be added to the finds. Also since the Roman period some other taxa, such as celery or fennel, might have been grown. During the time period considered in this paper, there was a wide range of plants grown and consumed. This clearly contrasts with every- thing known about earlier periods in western Catalonia, during which the only cultivated plants were cereals and flax. Keywords Archaeobotany · Agriculture · Lleida · Spain · Roman period · Islamic period Introduction The city of Lleida is in western Catalonia, in the middle of the western Catalan plain, a zone with its own phys- iographic, historical and archaeological characteristics (Fig. 1). This plain, dissected by the rivers Segre and Cinca and their tributaries, is the eastern termination of the great plain of the middle Ebro. The climate is Mediterranean continental and very dry. The soils are calcareous and often saline or gipseous. The landscape is mainly maquis of kermes oak (Quercus coccifera) and blackthorn (Rhamnus lycioides), Quercetum cocciferae, with scrub-types of Salsolo-Peganion, Agropyro-Lygeion, etc. (Conesa 1994; Folch et al. 1984). The situation of the city of Lleida, on the banks of the Segre, contains several elements that complement each other in the functional terrain. These are the main bed of the river, narrowed by the abandoning of a secondary branch that made crossing easy, some stepped terraces crowned by a scarp spur (Turó de la Seu) that overlooks the river and controls the crossing and a good part of the plain with its low lying, easily irrigated land (SolØ Sabaris 1968, p. 37). The city dates from the Middle Iberian period, towards the end of the 5th or during the 4th century B.C. Its Iberian name was Iltirta. It was the ciuitas of the Ilerget ethnic group, and controlled a wide territory (Junyent 2003, p. 18). Although the proto-history of this territory and the western Catalan plain is well known, little ar- chaeological data has been found from this first period of the city. The first irrefutable proof of its existence comes from the later decades of the 3rd century B.C., when the first coins with the name of Iltirta were minted in Iberian characters, which confirms beyond doubt its status as a city (PØrez 2003, p. 189). Since that time, the city has been continuously in- habited. Indeed it has remained the main urban centre in western Catalonia up until the present. Furthermore it is a bridge-city, which, given the ease of crossing the river Segre, has always been a crossroads. It is in a key position on the natural route from the Mediterranean coast to the N. Alonso Martinez ( ) ) Grup d’Investigació Prehistòrica, Universitat de Lleida, Pça, Victor Siurana 1, E-25003 Lleida, Spain e-mail: nalonso@historia.udl.es