DateBack, an evolving open-access repository of Phoenix archaeobotanical data supporting new perspectives on the history of date palm cultivation

  1. Margot Besseiche
  2. Elora Chambraud
  3. Vladimir Dabrowski
  4. Elisa Brandstatt
  5. François Sabot
  6. Charlène Bouchaud
  7. Muriel Gros-Balthazard

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Abstract

The date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera L.) has been a cornerstone of oasis agrosystems in West Asia and North Africa for millennia, yet the timeline and processes of its domestication and spread remain poorly documented. Archaeobotanical remains provide critical insights into its cultivation history, but no comprehensive review or dedicated platform currently exists to synthesize and analyze these data. To address this gap, we conducted an extensive literature review and developed DateBack ( https://cloudapps.france-bioinformatique.fr/dateback ), a digital open-access repository of archaeobotanical remains of Phoenix (L.) spp. In its first version, DateBack records macroremains (e.g., seeds, fruits, stems, petioles) from prehistoric to Late Antiquity contexts in Southwest and South Asia. We assembled 154 entries from 110 archaeological sites across 123 references, along with a separate table of 74 radiocarbon-dated entries from 20 sites, refining chronological assessments. Most entries comprise charred seeds (58.4%), with a smaller proportion of charred vegetative parts or desiccated remains. Our findings highlight regional disparities in the distribution of remains, with concentration in the Levant and the Gulf region, while Saudi Arabia and southern Iran are underrepresented. There are also disparities in data reliability, particularly in dating resolution, which complicate the reconstruction of date cultivation history. Our evidence shows that the earliest securely dated macro-botanical remains, indicating date consumption, appear in the Gulf region around 5000 BCE, while cultivation emerges later, first in southern Mesopotamia and the northern Gulf in the 4 th millennium BCE, then in eastern Arabia and the Indus Valley in the 3 rd millennium BCE. The Levant presents challenges, with numerous presumed early finds but significant uncertainties, with secure evidence of cultivation only appearing by the late 2 nd millennium BCE, as in northwestern Arabia, while in the southern Arabian Peninsula, it is not attested until the 1 st millennium BCE. By compiling and standardizing archaeobotanical data, DateBack facilitates advanced spatiotemporal analyses of date palm history and supports additional archaeobotany-based research including ancient DNA studies. Moreover, the platform is dynamic, scalable, and collaborative, enhancing data integration and refinement, with future expansions planned to include additional periods (Islamic era and beyond), geographic regions (North Africa), and new types of evidence, such as plant microremains and iconography.

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  1. Version published to 10.24072/pcjournal.561
  2. Peer Community in Archaeology

    I wholeheartedly recommend the publication of "DateBack, an evolving open-access repository of Phoenix archaeobotanical data supporting new perspectives on the history of date palm cultivation" (Besseiche et al. 2025). This work emerges at a crucial moment in archaeobotanical research, responding to calls for more integrative, open-access data infrastructures (e.g. Lodwick 2019; Reiter et al. 2024) that enable comparative studies across time and space.

    The authors address a key question in agricultural and environmental history: how, when, and where did humans shape the distribution and cultivation of Phoenix dactylifera? They hypothesize that only through standardized, large-scale archaeobotanical data, long-standing narratives of domestication and dispersal can be assessed. To test this, they introduce DateBack, a curated database that aggregates published and unpublished archaeobotanical evidence, including seed morphometrics, radiocarbon dates, and contextual metadata.

    The methodology is rigorous and transparent, involving systematic data collection, harmonization, and open-source publication following FAIR principles. The database’s preliminary results already suggest regionally distinct cultivation trajectories and long-distance interactions shaping date palm history, particularly in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

    I recommend the paper because it sets a new standard for data sharing in archaeobotany, moving beyond isolated case studies toward reproducible, collaborative science. The project fills a critical infrastructure gap and will likely catalyze new cross-disciplinary research. Its relevance extends from archaeology and botany to digital humanities and heritage data management.

    In sum, DateBack is a timely and necessary resource, and I wish its publication will have a lasting impact on the field.

    References

    Margot Besseiche, Elora Chambraud, Vladimir Dabrowski, Elisa Brandstatt, François Sabot, Charlène Bouchaud, Muriel Gros-Balthazard (2025). DateBack, an evolving open-access repository of Phoenix archaeobotanical data supporting new perspectives on the history of date palm cultivation. bioRxiv, ver.2 peer-reviewed and recommended by PCI Archaeology https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.21.639487

    Lodwick, L. (2019). Sowing the Seeds of Future Research: Data Sharing, Citation and Reuse
    in Archaeobotany. Open Quaternary, 5, 7. https://doi.org/10.5334/oq.62

    Reiter, S. S., Staniuk, R., Kolář, J., Bulatović, J., Rose, H. A., Ryabogina, N. E., ... & Timpson, A. (2024). The BIAD Standards: Recommendations for Archaeological Data Publication and Insights From the Big Interdisciplinary Archaeological Database. Open Archaeology, 10(1), 20240015. https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2024-0015

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2025.02.21.639487 on bioRxiv