Agricultural practices in the Bronze and Iron Age central Levant: Crop storage at Kamid el-Loz

• This is the first complete analysis of the available Kamid el-Loz (central Levant) archaeobotanical material. • For the central Levant not much archaeobotanical research is available, underlining the importance of this study. • Variations between the crop’s assemblage at inland and coastal sites are found. • A comparative dataset to analyze regional and chronological variations in the Levant during Bronze and Iron Age is created. Kamid el-Loz, an archaeological site in present-day Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, offers a rare opportunity to study ancient crop production in the central Levant, where archaeobotanical data, particularly from inland sites, remain limited. During the Middle Bronze Age II and Late Bronze Age, Kamid el-Loz functioned as an urban center exerting control over its hinterland and regulating movement, with its advantageous position along two major trans-regional trade routes. By the Early Iron Age, however, it had declined into a small rural settlement. We analyzed macro-botanical remains from Kamid el-Loz in relation to a comparative dataset drawn from 44 other Levantine sites, based on the ADEMNES database. Quantitative methods and multivariate statistical analyses were applied to identify patterns, reconstruct agricultural practices over time, and detect regional diversifications. First, the study discusses the archaeobotanical material of Kamid el-Loz. Secondly, this is compared with other central Levantine sites, highlighting differences in crop assemblages between coastal and inland areas, mainly linked to a focus on fruit tree cultivation or not. The study then assesses how patterns from Kamid el-Loz and the central Levant align with or diverge from those in the northern and southern Levant, emphasizing the region’s significance within ancient agricultural exchange networks. In general, the central Levant assemblages align more with the trends observed in the southern Levant, while Kamid el-Loz, an inland site, seems to rely more on cereals and pulses, which aligns more with northern Levantine traditions.