Figure 14

Plant imprints in melted roofing clay from the palace. (a) The upper surface of a 19-cm-wide piece of roofing clay, melted and distorted at high temperatures; (b) lower surface of the same object, showing imprints of silicified plant material; (c) closeup of the lower surface with numbered yellow arrows pointing to ribbed imprints of leaves pressed into the bottom of roofing clay (#1 through #3); (d) artist’s depiction, re-creating possible leaf structures before combustion; (e) yellow arrow points not to a plant imprint, but rather to a cylinder-like silica-rich pyromorph of plant stem embedded in roofing clay. From the destruction layer in the palace (Field UA, Square 7GG).