Ancient Evidence of Plant Processing in Human Communities at the End of the European Pleistocene: The Martinarri Mortar (Treviño, Spain)

Managed agroforests, swiddening, and the introduction of pigs in Pohnpei, Micronesia: Phytolith evidence from an anthropogenic landscape

Acute poisoning through consumption of plants picked from the wild is not uncommon in Hong Kong. Gelsemium elegans Benth. is one of the most poisonous native plants which can cause toxicities ranging from dizziness to respiratory depression and muscle paralysis after ingestion. We report three cases of gelsemium poisoning in a family after consumption of a homemade herbal soup made of a plant believed to be Cassytha filiformis Linn. collected in the countryside. All of them presented with dizziness, nausea and generalised weakness and bilateral ptosis about 1 hour post-ingestion. C. filiformis is generally regarded as non-toxic and it does not contain gelsemium alkaloids. The exact origin of the gelsemium was not known in this case. This case highlighted the potential public health threat posed by the practice of picking and consumption of wild plants. Emergency physicians should also be aware that the plant species reported by the patients may not always be the ones causing clinical toxicities. (Hong Kong j.emerg.med. 2015;22:60-63)

Aim To reconstruct the history of a Holocene sand dune using pollen and phytolith analyses, and to identify the strengths, weaknesses and compatibility of these two methods in the interpretation of Quaternary coastal environments.Location Great Barrier Island, northern New Zealand.Methods Pollen and phytolith analyses were carried out on a sequence through a Holocene sand dune containing a palaeosol.Results Phytoliths were present throughout the sequence. Grass phytoliths increased at the expense of tree phytoliths following fire disturbance. Pollen (and spores) was preserved only in the palaeosol part of the profile. Pteridium fern spores increased at the expense of tall tree pollen following the fire disturbance.Main conclusions Lack of phytolith production by many species and problems of taxonomic specificity in many others restricts the usefulness of phytolith analysis to defining only broad vegetation types. In New Zealand, gymnosperms are invisible in the phytolith record and ferns are extremely under‐represented. In contrast, pollen analysis usually provides a great deal of information regarding the composition of a particular vegetation type. The loss of microscopic charcoal fragments during the phytolith extraction process is a disadvantage in the reconstruction of environments where fires have occurred. The greater durability of phytoliths compared with pollen means that phytoliths may be found in sediments where pollen has not been preserved. The phytolith record may also provide evidence of wetter environments that are not apparent in the pollen record. Unlike grass pollen, which is widely dispersed and therefore blurs the spatial record, the presence of grass phytoliths in sediments indicates a local source. The simultaneous application of both methods potentially provides a powerful tool in ecological interpretation and the reconstruction of Quaternary coastal environments.

Wild food plants play an important role in the diet of inhabitants of Oyam District. Some of these plants are drought -resistant and gathered throughout the year . These wild foods are an important source of nutrients. However, there is a lack of comprehensive data re garding the nutrient content s of these indigenous plants. The purpose of this study was to document and assess the nutrient and mineral content s of the selected food plants. Ethnobotanical surveys were used to collect data through formal and informal inter views and focused group discussions. Voucher specimens were collected during field excursions and taken to Makerere Herbarium for proper identification . Nutrients and mineral analyses of wild and cultivated fruits, seeds, underground organs and vegetables from Ngai and Otwal sub counties were carried out using known procedures. They were analysed for mineral nutrients such as calcium, iron, potassium, and phosphorus concentrations. Additionally nutrients such proteins, beta carotene, vitamin C and dietary fibre were determined . On average, vegetables were found to be richer in organic nutrients and minerals followed by fruits and seeds in that order . Generally the wild food plant species were found to be richer sources of mineral nutrient than their cultivated relatives. F or example , the highest concentration of calcium 867.59 mg/100g was found in Acalypha bipartita leaves compared to 294.18 mg/100g in Cleome gynandra . Plant species that showed high iron contents [>30% ] were leaves of swamp hibiscus , African spider flowers , fruits of Tamarind , Black night shade and Jews mallow . It was also noted that among the food plant species analysed, fruits were low in nutrients and mineral elements. Some of these food plants were also considered to have medicinal properties by the locals such as African spider flower, Rattle pod among others. However, it should be noted that there is a general decline in the consumption of wild plants , despite the apparent high nutritional values . T he conservation of wild food plants is not taking place among the communities in the study area, thus the poor rural communities who are limited on balancing their diet could be faced with diseases associated with nutrient deficiencies .

Researchers have often equated ethnobotanical knowledge collected through interview questions with actual uses of plants, but knowledge and uses of plants might or might not move in lockstep. Using data from 132 adults living in two villages of a foraging-farming society in the Bolivian Amazon, the Tsimane´, we compare ethnobotanical knowledge with uses of wild and semi-domesticated plants. Villages differed in proximity to the market town and in dependence on forest resources. We find that people in the more remote village knew and used more plants than did people in the accessible village. We also find that individual ethnobotanical knowledge correlates positively with uses of plants in the pooled sample and in the isolated village, but not in the village with less dependence on forest resources. Researchers could use the gap between ethnobotanical knowledge and actual uses of plants to study erosion of ethnobotanical knowledge.

This article explores the Late Bronze Age agrarian intensification in the south-east Baltic. In recent years several studies have illustrated that to date there is no solid evidence on Neolithic farming and that the agricultural history of the region was probably distinctly different in comparison to other parts of northern Europe. The recently excavated Kukuliskiai settlement (887–406 cal bc) in coastal Lithuania provides new data, which contribute to the discussion on the development of early farming in the south-east Baltic. Archaeobotanical analysis revealed that local Late Bronze Age communities cultivated a wide range of cereals and pulses, with consumption of wild plants being of minor importance. We also report the earliest finds of Lens culinaris in the region and the earliest AMS 14C dates on grains of Vicia faba and Avena sp. The composition of botanical assemblages also has some indications of manuring and landscape maintenance, presenting a possibility of permanent fields. Finally, we suggest that adoption and intensification of farming alongside other social, economic and technological innovations could have reached the region from the Nordic and Lusatian cultures via the Baltic Sea communication network.

Wild food plants play an important role in the diet of inhabitants of Oyam District. Some of these plants are drought-resistant and gathered throughout the season. These foods are an important source of nutrients. However, there is a lack of comprehensive data regarding the nutrient content of these indigenous plants. The purpose of this study was to document and assess the nutrient and mineral content of some of these plants. Ethnobotanical surveys were used to collect data through formal and informal interviews and focused group discussions. Voucher specimens were collected during field excursions and deposited at Makerere Herbarium. Nutrients and mineral analyses were carried out through known laid down procedures. Wild and cultivated fruits, seeds, underground organs and vegetables from Ngai and Otwal Sub counties were analysed for mineral elements that is; calcium, iron, potassium, and phosphorus concentrations. Also nutrients such proteins, beta carotene, vitamin C and dietary fibre were determined. A total of 20 plant samples were analysed comprising both wild and domesticated food plant species so as to give a basis in comparison in nutrient and nutrient element. On average, vegetables were found to be rich in nutrients and minerals compared to seeds, fruits and roots. The wild food plant species were rich sources of nutrient element for example the highest concentration of calcium was found in copper leaves 867.59 mg/100g compared to 47 mg in broccoli or 77 mg in okra. Plant species that showed high iron contents [>30%] were leaves of swamp hibiscus, African spider flower, fruit of Tamarind, Black night shade and Jews mallow. It was also noted that among the food plant species analysed, fruits were low in nutrients and mineral elements. Some of these food plants were also considered to have medicinal properties by the locals such as African spider flower, Rattle pod among others. However, it should be noted that there is a general decline in the consumption of wild plants, despite the apparent high nutritional values. The conservation of wild food plants is not taking place among the communities in the study area, thus the poor rural communities who are limited on balancing their diet could be faced with diseases associated with nutrient deficiencies. Keywords : Wild food plants; Nutrient; Mineral African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development , Volume 13 No. 2 April 2013

Plant exposures are among the most frequently reported cases to poison control centres worldwide. This is a growing condition due to recent societal trends oriented towards the consumption of wild plants as food, cosmetics, or medicine. At least three general causes of plant poisoning can be identified: plant misidentification, introduction of new plant-based supplements and medicines with no controls about their safety, and the lack of regulation for the trading of herbal and phytochemical products. Moreover, an efficient screening for the occurrence of plants poisonous to humans is also desirable at the different stages of the food supply chain: from the raw material to the final transformed product. A rapid diagnosis of intoxication cases is necessary in order to provide the most reliable treatment. However, a precise taxonomic characterization of the ingested species is often challenging. In this review, we provide an overview of the emerging DNA-based tools and technologies to address the issue of poisonous plant identification. Specifically, classic DNA barcoding and its applications using High Resolution Melting (Bar-HRM) ensure high universality and rapid response respectively, whereas High Throughput Sequencing techniques (HTS) provide a complete characterization of plant residues in complex matrices. The pros and cons of each approach have been evaluated with the final aim of proposing a general user's guide to molecular identification directed to different stakeholder categories interested in the diagnostics of poisonous plants.

Functional Foods or Food Medicines? On the Consumption of Wild Plants Among Albanians and Southern Italians in Lucania

[Resesarch Article]Recent archaeological examinations include an increasing amount of natural science analyses. They are often carried out by external specialists and their results are often accepted by archaeologists without question. This may lead to incomplete integration of the results into an archaeological context. One of those methods, increasingly employed in the field of archaeology, is phytolith analysis. Phytoliths, microscopic silica bodies from genera-specific plant cells, allow searching for traces of plant material in archaeological contexts where methods based on macroscopic analysis have reached their limits. This paper combines natural science approaches with archaeological data by examining the social life of artefacts via phytolith analyses that can provide data to precisely determine the interpretation and variety of grinding stones, which are often misinterpreted. In this pilot study, the analyses confirmed the macroscopic observations for grinding plant material in some cases, but also opened new areas of study such as mineral-related activities, possible use of wooden implements and the connection between the different archaeological and botanical information. The analysed objects are grinding stones from Monjukli Depe, a small village in modern southern Turkmenistan that was occupied in the Neolithic and Aeneolithic periods. The site was excavated in the 1960s by Soviet archaeologists and restudied since 2010 by a team from the Free University Berlin.

Evolutionary ecology provides a rich pool of models from which archaeologists derive expectations about prehistoric human behavior. Signaling Theory (ST) has been applied successfully in ethnographic and certain archaeological contexts. Other applications have fallen prey to post-hoc explanation of aberrant archaeological patterns. This paper evaluates the claim that big-game hunting was a costly foraging behavior when traveling great distances, and therefore was undertaken as a form of costly signaling. The central place foraging model is used in conjunction with caloric expenditure formulae, derived from human energetics and locomotion research, to evaluate the cost of travel and transport versus the returns for large and small prey items. It is shown that big game continues to yield significant energetic returns even in situations where travel costs are comparatively high (i.e., 100-200 km round-trip). Small game hunting becomes energetically costly when a forager makes a procurement round-trip of more than ca.10 km. Large game animals are the highest return prey items even when procurement distances are comparatively great because humans are physiologically well-adapted for carrying objects over long distances. While the capture of big game animals may have bestowed prestige upon prehistoric hunters or served as some other signal of individual quality, these prey animals were not overly costly in terms of energetic efficiency—even under increased travel costs. These results emphasize the difficulty of separating social prestige from optimal foraging as the basis for big-game hunting in archaeological contexts.

A significant number of Maori waterlogged wooden artefacts have been found in New Zealand. Although some were associated with occupations, many were deliberately buried in wetlands. These wetland finds are a small subset of the full range of wooden artefacts found in occupation sites. Unfortunately, they tend to be found by chance during farm drainage; consequently archaeologists seldom see the finds in context. Only a small percentage of wetland sites have been investigated and the reports have largely been uncritical in their approach to interpretation and terminology.We advocate further research of wetland sites, employing three methodological approaches: contextual archaeology, scientific and experimental studies, and ethnographic analogy as ways of interpreting the behaviour and processes involved. Using these methods, analysis of the limited data suggests that Maori may have buried objects for either permanent interment or temporary burial.These reasons are predominantly functional, which contrasts with some European interpretations of buried objects. We suggest that there are advantages to studying such sites in New Zealand, as there has been less landscape change, ethnographic analogy can be used (with care), and the archaeological record, being recent, is well preserved.

The analysis of microbotanical remains (starch grains and phytoliths) from food-related domestic contexts and artefacts has the potential to provide insights into daily plant preparation and consumption activities. In particular, pottery vessels offer an unparalleled comparative framework for the study of food preparation and consumption, since pottery is used for a variety of domestic food-related activities, including storage, processing and serving. This study illustrates the potential of microbotanical remains to provide a holistic approach to the plant food preparation and consumption cycle—from storage to disposal—through the analysis of starch grains and phytoliths from Late Minoan storage, cooking and serving vessels recently uncovered at the Knossian ‘neighbourhood’ of Lower Gypsades. The results show that starch grains and phytoliths are more abundant and diverse in cooking vessels, presumably reflecting a higher deposition of microbotanical remains as a result of the disturbance caused by cooking. The results further offer insights into Minoan storage and cooking practices at Gypsades, suggesting that cereals were stored de-husked in pithoi and, possibly, in palm leaf baskets, and later cooked together with non-staple plants. The virtual absence of microbotanical remains from serving vessels may be due to depositional factors and/or the fact that some of the vessels analysed in this study were used for serving/consuming liquids or animal products, and not plants.

The identification of fuel-related practices in archaeological contexts is almost always associated with the identification of fire-related structures. Charcoal analysis is the standard method of identifying wood use in the past; however, in many circumstances wood was not the primary source of fuel. In arid and semi-arid environments alternative fuels such as dung, chaff and straw and, in general, plant processing by-products were predominant. The study of these types of fuel often necessitates the application of multi-proxy analyses, involving botanical micro-remains and geochemistry. This paper presents the results of an integrated analysis of phytoliths and chemical elements of samples collected in a modern ethnographic context, a domestic compound, in North Gujarat, India. Alternative fuels have been and are still very important in this area due to the scarcity of wood and the recent ban on cutting trees imposed by the government. Within the house studied, three fireplaces were present where different types of activities were performed selectively. The differential use of fuels in the three fireplaces is highlighted by the results of descriptive and multivariate statistics. However, the opposite geochemical signals that the fireplaces produced, when they should have been similar, would be difficult to interpret in an archaeological context where the practices that had produced such signals are unknown. The combination of phytoliths and geochemistry, coupled with the ethnographic information on the activity, can help us to construct better models to help interpret the archaeological record.

Plant wax lipid molecules, chiefly normal (n-) alkanes and n-alkanoic acids, are frequently used as proxies for understanding paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic change. These are regularly analyzed from marine and lake sediments and even more frequently in archaeological contexts, enabling the reconstruction of past environments in direct association with records of past human behavior. Carbon and hydrogen isotope measurements of these compounds are used to trace plant type and water-use efficiency, relative paleotemperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration of leaf and soil moisture, and other physiological and ecological parameters. Plant wax lipids have great potential for answering questions related to human-environment interactions, being for the most part chemically inert and easily recoverable in terrestrial sediments, including those dating back millions of years. The growing use of this technique, and comparison of such data with other paleoenvironmental proxies such as pollen and phytolith analysis and soil carbonate and tooth enamel isotope records, make it essential to establish consistent, best-practice protocols for extracting n-alkanes and n-alkanoic acids from archaeological sediments to provide comparable information for interpreting past climatic, ecosystem, and hydrological changes and their interaction with human societies. © 2020 The Authors. Basic Protocol 1: Total lipid extraction Support Protocol 1: Weighing the total lipid extract Support Protocol 2: Cleaning the PSE extraction cells Alternate Protocol 1: Soxhlet total lipid extraction Alternate Protocol 2: Ultrasonic total lipid extraction Basic Protocol 2: Separation of lipids by aminopropyl column chromatography Basic Protocol 3: Separation of lipids by silver-nitrate-infused silica gel column chromatography Support Protocol 3: Preparation of silica gel infused with 10% silver nitrate Basic Protocol 4: Methylation of n-alkanoic acids Basic Protocol 5: Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) Basic Protocol 6: Gas chromatography isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS).