Although not on a regular scale, such aberrant fruits are also found in Egyptian markets and originate from Sudan. Seeds of the doam palm are made into beads. Strands of beads consisting of colored figs and whole as well as sliced seeds of the doam palm are currently offered for sale. Yet another use is making embroidered bed hangings from the hard seeds, as is mentioned by Theophrastus . This antique practice resembles the production of buttons, which started as a new industry in Egypt in the middle of the twentieth century, obviously relying mainly on imported seeds .Several trenches revealed fruits that have been purposely cut into halves with a sharp tool . Most of these worked fruits were recovered from the debris of trench 21 and date to the mid-fifth century AD and later. The solid construction of the endocarp makes it extremely difficult to cut the fruit into pieces. Unfortunately, only worked endocarp fragments have been found from which we cannot determine the end product. The only seeds that have been unearthed so far originate from Shenshef and concern one whole specimen and a small fragment of another. The few fruit mesocarp fragments from Shenshef were found in nearby trenches and were fragmented to such an extent that it could not be deduced if they also had originally been cut into halves. The seeds might have been discarded because they were broken during processing. Doam palm fruits that had been sawed open to extract the seed are also recorded from Quseir al-Qadim,plastic planters bulk though it is not mentioned if these specimens are dated to the Roman or Mamluk period .

A remarkable find concerns a part of a male infl orescence axis in trench BE96-10.008. Such plant parts are quite rare among the sub-fossil remains from Egypt. Fragments are recorded from Sheikhs Abd el-Qurna in the necropolis of Thebes and from Dra Abu el-Naga , formerly stored in the Botanical Museum of Berlin but destroyed during the Second World War . The doam palm is dioecious, which means that the inflorescences are unisexual and that male and female flowers are present on different plants. According to Täckholm and Drar , a single male tree is capable of fertilizing a great number of female trees, even if these trees are situated far apart. If doam palms are cultivated at an isolated spot, such as Berenike, one might expect that, for practical reasons, several specimens were grown to be sure that at least female trees would be among them. On the other hand, doam palms are difficult to cultivate and grow best in rich sandy loam, a condition not met in the brackish environment of Berenike. An alternative explanation for the presence of the male inflorescence could be that complete trees had been brought to the site. Its timber is more valued than that of the date palm and is applied in a variety of ways.The only juniper that occurs in Egypt is Phoenician juniper , which is recorded from some locations in the Mediterranean area and the Sinai. Up to 4,000 years ago, the now-isolated relict populations in the Sinai, which dominate the high altitudes of the Gebels Halal, El-Maghara, and Yalaq, had a widespread distribution in this peninsula . This species is also recorded from Jordan and some scattered locations along the northwest coast of Saudi Arabia . Junipers are valued for their wood and fruits. Both wood and berries have an aromatic resinous flavor, and branches as well as berries can be used in cooking. Juniper berries have also frequently been found in connection with mummies, either stored as a supply or used as an embalming agent together with salt, in both cases probably having a symbolic meaning .

Berries of the Phoenician juniper have also a tradition in medical application and fumigation. According to Täckholm et al. , berries of this juniper are nowadays imported from Europe. Täckholm, who checked the identification of many sub-fossil remains, including those used for mummification, came to the conclusion that all material identified as Phoenician juniper is in fact prickly juniper . This juniper is, strangely enough, not native to Egypt but its distribution area does include parts of North Africa , Italy, Aegean Islands, and Cyprus. Täckholm’s identification is based on the number of seeds present in the fruits. The Phoenician juniper contains 3 to 9 seeds, whereas those of prickly juniper have somewhat less. It seems, however, that the number of seeds per berry overlaps , and that probably no clear distinction between these species can be made relying on this feature only. Other juniper species that have been recorded for ancient Egypt are Syrian juniper , Grecian juniper and Savin juniper , all three based on identifications of berries and dated to the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom. As only single seeds were found at Shenshef, they could not be identified beyond the level of genus. Species identification is more problematic, the archaeobotanical record tentatively indicating Phoenician juniper or prickly juniper. Judging by the relict status of the Phoenician juniper in Egypt, which would have been the same during the Roman Conquest, it might be very well that those from Shenshef were imported from the Mediterranean area.The bottle gourd is a member of the bryony family , which is cultivated for its non-edible fruits. The fruit is called “gourd” or “calabash.” The word gourd is used in many common names of members of the bryony family, whereas the word calabash is also used for the calabash tree , a New World species that belongs to the Bignoniaceae.

The bottle gourd is indigenous to tropical Africa, but has now a pantropical distribution that expresses the multifunctional use of its fruit. As is the case in many species of the white bryony family, both bitter and non-bitter mutants are known from the bottle gourd. The soft mesocarp of the bitter forms is inedible, and plants producing such fruits are especially cultivated for their dried fruits, which are called gourds. Bottle gourds have fruits that can reach a considerable length and diameter . All kinds of shapes are cultivated, varying from almost-globular ones to elongated cylinders and ones with long, constricted necks. Pliny states that mostly sheaths of plaited wicker were put over the young fruits after the blossoms had been shed in order to manipulate the shape of the fruits. The fruits are used in all kinds of ways, including household items, music instruments, and containers for transport and storage. Pliny mentions their use as containers in bathrooms and as jars for storing wine by the Romans. As the inner fruit pulp dries easily and shrivels when left in the sun, the gourds can also be used as floating devices. Especially in Egypt, such gourds were used to keep fishing nets afloat, and in Nigeria fishermen even ride on very large gourds while they are fishing . Their use as containers is extra valued because the hard, woody rind is impermeable to water. Even immature fruits can be harvested, after which the fruit can be modeled into a desired shape. Gourds can be decorated using various engraving techniques in combination with painting. There are several possible explanations for the presence of seeds of the bottle gourd in two trash trenches of Berenike, namely, BE97-13 and -16. One possibility is that we are dealing with the bitter form and that the fruit was used as a gourd indeed. In that case,collection pot the presence of seeds supports the idea of local cultivation. Gourds contain many seeds and these seeds, together with the pulp, have to be removed during the processing of the gourd. Only a small fraction of these seeds is needed as sowing seed for the next season, so most of the inner part would have been thrown away. It is also possible that the seeds originate from the edible, non-bitter fruit. Because such fruits are harvested when they are still unripe, we cannot be sure if these seeds have reached maturity. Although salted seeds of the bottle gourd are sold today as snacks in shops that have a good assortment of such food, this kind of use was probably not practiced in Berenike, judging from the recovery of seeds in trash deposits. The relatively few sub-fossil records from Egypt, including those from the Roman period, concern whole gourds or fragments of the thick rind, evidence of their use as containers.

Among the fruit fragments that were found by Täckholm in the Coptic monastery of Phoebammon, there is a discarded upper part of a gourd, which is necessary in order to clean out a gourd. Also, the bottle gourd has been recorded among the archaeobotanical remains from Roman France and Germany. The bottle gourd is also used for medical purposes. Pliny , for example, states that the pulp mixed with the ash of a deer’s horn or bull’s gall and cumin is prescribed for dysentery.The grass pea is native to southern Europe and western Asia, where it belongs to the early domesticated crops. Although it is still cultivated in parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia, it is now only considered a major crop in India, illustrated by its many local names, and Ethiopia. The grass pea can be grown both for human consumption and for fodder for livestock. In Egypt today, the grass pea is only a minor crop, whose cultivation is mostly restricted to southern Egypt . The main reason for the fact that today the grass pea is only grown as a minor crop is that it belongs to a group of 21 pulses that may cause lathyrism to develop in people and livestock. Lathyrism is a neurological disorder that especially affects the muscular activity of the lower limbs caused by the specific non-protein amino acid ODAP. This kind of disease occurs if such pulses are consumed for a considerable period, and extreme concentrations may even be lethal . The risk of lathyrism is greater in periods of famine, when the grass pea is grown after cereals have failed, and the people are more vulnerable to disease. Because this amino acid is water soluble, it can be extracted from the seeds by soaking them for 24 hours followed by sun-drying. This will result in a 90 percent reduction of the toxic compound, but also in a considerable loss of water-soluble nutrients . Additionally, boiling and baking will reduce their toxic properties. The grass pea has a well-developed root system and can grow under extreme drought conditions. It tolerates temperatures between 10–25°C, and the plant is therefore grown as a cold-season legume. The grass pea might have been grown on a small scale during the spring in local kitchen gardens in Berenike and Shenshef. Larger supplies would probably have been imported from the Nile Valley. Several trenches yielded only small amounts of this pulse, indicating that it was probably not a staple food in Berenike or Shenshef. Both people and animals might have consumed the seeds. Also, the whole plant can be fed to animals, but it is harmful to horses.Lentil is one of the founder crops that was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. From there it was introduced in ancient times into southern Europe, western Asia, and Egypt. Before the construction of the Aswan High Dam, lentils were grown on the Nile sludge deposited in the basin lands of southern Egypt . Lentils are available on the market as whole seeds, with their seed coat still present, and as split seeds. It is one of the most nutritious of the pulses. Due to the high protein content, which is about 20 percent in dried seeds, lentils can be used as a meat substitute. On the basis of their pods and seeds, two groups, sometimes even ranked as subspecies, are distinguished: microsperma and macrosperma. The small seeds are still popular in Egypt and are mainly used in soups. Lentil has been recorded for Egypt from the Neolithic period onward. Though mostly in small numbers, lentils were found in many loci of Berenike and Shenshef, and it can therefore be considered as one of the staple foods. It may be assumed that this pulse crop was imported on a regular scale from the Nile Valley.