Evidence For Use Of Plants Research Articles

The Ice Age diet of the La Quina 5 Neandertal of southwest France

The La Quina 5 Neandertal individual, dated to late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 or early MIS 3, lived during a particularly cold and arid Ice Age interval, hunting mostly reindeer in open steppe habitats. Stable isotopes indicate the importance of hunted resources for Neandertals, although evidence of plant use also has been discovered. To address the plant food signature in the diet of La Quina 5, we marshal multiple methods, including dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) and plant microremains analysis. For the DMTA, La Quina 5 is compared to Neandertals from MIS 5 – MIS 3, including Malarnaud, Spy I, Kůlna 1, Švédův stůl 1, and several individuals from Hortus cave (n=5), Krapina (n=19) and Vindija (n=4), as well as human foragers, farmers and pastoralists (n=150). La Quina 5 presents a low value for anisotropy implying the use of heterogeneous masticatory regimes like those characterizing foragers of the Americas. La Quina 5 also has a low complexity value indicating a plant-poor diet, and may have relied significantly on hunted resources perhaps necessary in the cold glacial interval of lower temperatures during Heinrich Stadial 6. Nevertheless, plant microremains are preserved in the dental calculus, including starch grains from grass seeds and plant underground storage organs, demonstrating the importance of plant foods in Paleolithic diets even if temporally or spatially dispersed.

Paleomedicine and the Evolutionary Context of Medicinal Plant Use.

Modern human need for medicines is so extensive that it is thought to be a deep evolutionary behavior. There is abundant evidence from our Paleolithic and later prehistoric past, of survival after periodontal disease, traumas, and invasive medical treatments including trepanations and amputations, suggesting a detailed, applied knowledge of medicinal plant secondary compounds. Direct archeological evidence for use of plants in the Paleolithic is rare, but evidence is growing. An evolutionary context for early human use of medicinal plants is provided by the broad evidence for animal self-medication, in particular, of non-human primates. During the later Paleolithic, there is evidence for the use of poisonous and psychotropic plants, suggesting that Paleolithic humans built on and expanded their knowledge and use of plant secondary compounds.Graphical

Millets in eastern Sudan: an archaeobotanical study

ABSTRACTCharred botanical remains and plant impressions in pottery sherds and baked clay pieces recovered during survey and archaeological excavation mainly at Mahal Teglinos (Kassala, K-1), Sudan, were examined for botanical remains. Archaeobotanical analyses were undertaken on these and similar artefacts recovered during surveys of the same site and its surrounds (Kashim el-Girba and Shurab el-Gash). The studied samples yield evidence for plant use and cultivation of millets and the presence of different edible and non-edible plant species. This paper focuses primarily on the varieties of small seeded millets recovered from archaeological contexts. Previous archaeobotanical reports from the region lack detailed reports on the early history and agricultural value of small seeded millets, except for a focus on sorghum and pearl millet. The recovered millet varieties include Paspalum, Setaria, Brachiara, Echinochloa and Pennisetum. The identified taxa were both morphologically wild and cultivated. They date to between the mid-fourth millennium BC (Butana Group) and the mid-first millennium AD (Hagis Group). The results of the study indicate that alongside sorghum were small seeded millets likely used for human consumption and/or animal fodder in settlement contexts dating back to the mid-fourth millennium BC. Unlike previous reports on seed impressions and glumes, this study also relies on analysis of desiccated and charred small seeded millets.

Second Impressions: Expanding the Range of Cereals from Early Neolithic Franchthi Cave, Greece

The southern Greek archaeological site of Franchthi Cave, with occupation dating from the Upper Paleolithic, remains the only site in southern Greece that both spans the shift from foraging to farming and has produced systematically recovered plant remains associated with this important transition in human prehistory. Previously reported archaeobotanical remains from the site derive exclusively from the cave interior, as none were recovered from outside the cave on the Franchthi Cave Paralia. This article reports the first evidence for plant use in the settlement area outside the cave, as provided by five seed impressions in Early Neolithic ceramic sherds from the Paralia. Significantly, this new data expands the range of crops represented at the site during the Early Neolithic to include einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum L.), pushing back its appearance at Franchthi by several centuries.

Pleistocene dental calculus: Recovering information on Paleolithic food items, medicines, paleoenvironment and microbes.

Dental calculus is now widely used to recover information on items ingested in the past. It is particularly valuable in the earlier Paleolithic, where recovered data may represent the only evidence for plant use. Several recovery methods are used and each one produces different results. Biomolecular markers and genetic material recovered from dental calculus is providing new data on identifiable dietary and medicinal items and human microbial communities. The recovery of microfossils, in particular, starch granules, has triggered a new awareness of the role of plants in the diet throughout the Paleolithic. However, the minute amount of material recovered has little relationship with food eaten during a person's life, while salivary amylase breaks down cooked starch. Therefore, broader dietary interpretations and detection of cooked food are problematic. The study of ancient dental calculus holds great potential to recover information about past lives, within realistic parameters.

Plant use in the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic: Food, medicine and raw materials

There is little surviving evidence for plant use in the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic periods yet the evidence there is, clearly indicates the importance of plants in the diet, as medicines and as raw materials. Here, the current evidence for plants is summarised, and the way this can be used to enrich perceptions of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic are explored. The evidence for plant food fits well with basic nutritional requirements while the presence of medicinal plants correlates with plant-based self-medication by animals. Many plant-based technologies are likely to have developed early in the Palaeolithic. Though investigating this is challenging due to a lack of evidence, the extensive evidence for use of plant materials as tools by chimpanzees provides a broad backdrop. The ecological knowledge carried by all hominins would have provided a safety net when moving into new regions, while varying levels of neophobia would have enabled adaptation to new environments as hominin populations moved and climates changed. Recent plant use among traditional societies in high latitudes shows that even in locations with reduced biodiversity, plant resources can fulfil essential dietary requirements.

The shining piece of the puzzle: evidence of plant use in the Late Palaeolithic

The Late Glacial site Lubrza 10 yielded new archaeological and use-wear data for discussing the development of plant-based technologies long before the occupation of the European Lowlands by Neolithic societies. More than 4000 Federmesser and Swiderian lithic artefacts were collected from the site, which is located on sandy kames adjacent to former water bodies. Use-wear analysis showed that abandoned tools were engaged in the activities well recognised as Palaeolithic ones, such as hunting, working hide, bone and other soft and hard materials. Microscopic observations have also produced some of the earliest evidence of processing non-woody plants in the North European Plain. There is a considerable number of artefacts with plant-like polish. Tools were used for whittling, splitting, scraping or stripping plant materials—motions that could have also been made while extracting of fibres and other raw materials necessary for making crafts. Morphological parameters of tools suggest a selection of flint implements, and their distribution shows the locations of processing plants. Results of previously conducted pollen and macro-remains analysis demonstrate the presence of a great variety of plants, including high silica content herbaceous species that covered the nearest vicinity of the site both during the Allerod and the Younger Dryas.

Diet and environment 1.2 million years ago revealed through analysis of dental calculus from Europe's oldest hominin at Sima del Elefante, Spain.

Sima del Elefante, Atapuerca, Spain contains one of the earliest hominin fragments yet known in Europe, dating to 1.2Ma. Dental calculus from a hominin molar was removed, degraded and analysed to recover entrapped remains. Evidence for plant use at this time is very limited and this study has revealed the earliest direct evidence for foods consumed in the genus Homo. This comprises starchy carbohydrates from two plants, including a species of grass from the Triticeae or Bromideae tribe, meat and plant fibres. All food was eaten raw, and there is no evidence for processing of the starch granules which are intact and undamaged. Additional biographical detail includes fragments of non-edible wood found adjacent to an interproximal groove suggesting oral hygiene activities, while plant fibres may be linked to raw material processing. Environmental evidence comprises spores, insect fragments and conifer pollen grains which are consistent with a forested environment.

The potential of paleoethnobotanical evidence for the study of Teotihuacan foodways

Macro- and microscopic plant remains recovered from excavations at Teotihuacan over several decades contribute to an understanding of the subsistence resources available to the city’s inhabitants. However, associated contextual evidence may be inconclusive regarding the specific uses of the plants in question and, particularly, whether their presence or relative abundance indicates processing and consumption or the consequence of depositional processes. While the analysis of archeological plant remains is necessarily an interdisciplinary endeavor, involving aspects of botany, ecology, ethnography and history among other disciplines, contextual archeological evidence provides the matrix for interpretation. In this paper, we explore direct archeological evidence for plant use, considering the significance of appropriate contextual evidence (e.g., activity areas, associated ceramics, lithics, etc.) and the potential complementary role of analytical techniques such as residue analyses, and carbon isotope signatures in faunal and human osteological remains as well as stratigraphic sediments.

Risk, Reliability and Resilience: Phytolith Evidence for Alternative 'Neolithization' Pathways at Kharaneh IV in the Azraq Basin, Jordan.

‘Neolithization’ pathway refers to the development of adaptations that characterized subsequent Neolithic life, sedentary occupations, and agriculture. In the Levant, the origins of these human behaviors are widely argued to have emerged during the Early Epipaleolithic (ca. 23 ka cal BP). Consequently, there has been a pre-occupation with identifying and modeling the dietary shift to cereal and grains during this period, which is considered to have been a key development that facilitated increasing sedentism and, eventually, agriculture. Yet, direct evidence of plant use in the form of macrobotanical remains is extremely limited at Epipaleolithic sites and the expected ‘Neolithization’ pathway has not been robustly demonstrated. However, new direct microbotanical phytolith evidence from the large aggregation site of Kharaneh IV, in the Azraq Basin, suggests that increasingly settled occupation was not the result of wild grass and cereal use, but rather the result of a typical hunter-gatherer balance, based on the use of mostly reliable resources supplemented by some risky resources. Moreover, and illustrating this balance, the direct botanical evidence emphases the importance of the wetlands as an under-recognized reliable plant resource. Significantly, the use of these reliable wetland plant resources at Kharaneh IV represents an unexpected ‘Neolithization’ pathway.

First preliminary evidence for basketry and nut consumption in the Capsian culture (ca. 10,000–7500 BP): Archaeobotanical data from new excavations at El Mekta, Tunisia

This paper aims to explore the presence of macro-botanical remains and to assess the role of food plants in sites from the Capsian culture (ca. 10,000–7500BP). Previous research on the Capsian diet has emphasized the role of land snails and animal resources, but little attention has been paid to the consumption of plants. Here we present the results from the first systematic analysis of charred macro-botanical remains (other than wood charcoal) from a Capsian site. As a case study we have used the data from El Mekta in Tunisia occupied during both the Typical and Upper Capsian periods. Macro-botanical remains were scarce and the evidence of plant use is limited. We identified three taxa including Pinus halepensis, Quercus sp., and Stipa tenacissima. Archaeobotanical and ethnographic evidence suggests that P. halepensis and Quercus sp. could have been used for human consumption while S. tenacissima may have been utilized as a source of fiber for basketry. Decreasing frequencies of Quercus sp. from the Typical to the Upper Capsian levels match well with paleoclimatic proxies pointing to a slow process of desiccation in the region. Capsian populations could have adapted to this environmental change by focusing on the gathering of P. halepensis. We propose that both acorns and pine nuts could have played an important role in the Capsian diet, providing a highly nutritious food source which could also be stored. Archaeobotanical data is limited and definitive conclusions are still at an early stage but we encourage the application of systematic and complete sampling at other Capsian sites in order to test this hypothesis.

Early and Middle Holocene evidence for plant use and cultivation in the Middle Cauca River Basin, Cordillera Central (Colombia)

This paper presents the latest results of research done in the Colombian Andean region known as Middle Cauca River Basin, an important location for the study of the origins of plant use and the dispersal of domesticates throughout the Americas due to its geographical position in northwest South America. We discuss human–environment interactions during Pleistocene/Holocene transition to middle Holocene (ca 10,000–4000 BP), specifically human–plant interaction and environmental factors that led to the adoption of horticultural practices. Three lines of evidence are analyzed: archaeological stratigraphy, lithic technology, and microbotanical remains. Our results suggest that early Holocene environmental stability allowed Middle Cauca settlers to use the diverse local resources for several millennia, altering the local vegetation, and leading to the development of horticultural practices that included the use of both local and foreign plants. These results inform the ongoing debate about the antiquity and nature of plant domestication and dispersals in the Americas.

Plants traditionally used individually and in combination to treat sexually transmitted infections in northern Maputaland, South Africa: Antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity

Ethnopharmacological relevanceAlthough medicinal plants are used extensively to treat sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in rural northern Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, the efficacy and safety of these plants have not previously been evaluated. Aim of studyA study was designed to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity profiles of a selection (individual plants and selected combinations) of traditionally used plants in this study area. Materials and methodsAqueous and organic (dichloromethane: methanol, 1:1) extracts were prepared. Antimicrobial activity was assessed using the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay against the STI associated pathogens; Candida albicans ATCC 10231, Ureaplasma urealyticum clinical strain, Oligella ureolytica ATCC 43534, Trichomonas vaginalis clinical strain, Gardnerella vaginalis ATCC 14018 and Neisseria gonorrhoeae ATCC 19424. For the combination study, interactions were assessed using the fractional inhibitory concentration (ΣFIC). The plant species were assessed for safety using the 3-[4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazol-yl]-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) cellular viability assay on the human embryonic kidney epithelial (Graham, HEK-293) cell line. ResultsFor the antimicrobial studies, U. urealyticum was the most sensitive of the six test organisms, with the aqueous extract of Ranunculus multifidus (0.02mg/ml) and the organic extract of Peltophorum africanum (0.04mg/ml) being the most antimicrobially active plant species studied. Sclerocarya birrea was found to have the broadest spectrum of activity (mean MIC of 0.89mg/ml). The only plant species to exhibit some degree of cytotoxicity against the kidney epithelial cell line was Kigelia africana (100µg/ml), with 22% and 16% cell death for the aqueous and organic extracts, respectively. Of the 13 combinations studied, several synergistic combinations were evident, the most prominent being the combination of Albizia adianthifolia and Trichilia dregeana (aqueous extract) with an ΣFIC value of 0.15 against O. ureolytica. Synergistic interactions were observed regardless of the ratio of the aqueous mixtures of the two plants. Syzygium cordatum and S. birrea (aqueous extract) was also a combination of interest, demonstrating synergistic (ΣFIC=0.42) interactions against O. ureolytica. This combination, however, also displayed some cytotoxicity towards the human epithelial cell line. ConclusionThis study demonstrated that anecdotal evidence of plant use does not always correlate with in vitro activity. Furthermore, the toxicological profiling is of utmost importance as if not combined in its correct ratio can lead to potential adverse effects.

Plant exploitation of the last foragers at Shizitan in the Middle Yellow River Valley China: evidence from grinding stones

China is one of the few centers in the world where plant domestication evolved independently, but its developmental trajectory is poorly understood. This is because there is considerably less data from the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene documented in China than in other regions, such as the Near East and Mesoamerica, and previous studies on Paleolithic subsistence in China have largely focused on animal hunting rather than plant gathering. To resolve these problems the current research investigated the range of plants used by late Paleolithic hunter–gatherers in the middle Yellow River region where some of the earliest farmers emerged. We employed usewear and starch analyses on grinding stones to recover evidence for plant use in a hunting–gathering population at a late Paleolithic site, Shizitan Locality 9 in Jixian, Shanxi (ca. 13,800–8500 cal. BP). The usewear analysis shows that all artifacts preserved a range of usewear patterns best matching multiple tasks and indicating multi-functional use. Starch remains recovered from these tools indicate that the Shizitan people collected and processed many types of grass seeds (Panicoideae and Pooideae subfamilies), acorns ( Quercus sp.), beans (Phaseoleae tribe) and yams ( Dioscorea sp.). The Shizitan people represented some of the last hunter–gatherers in the middle Yellow River region. Their broad spectrum subsistence strategy was apparently carried on by the first Neolithic farmers in the same region, who collected similar wild plants and eventually domesticated millets. The trajectory from intensified collection of a wide range of wild plants to domestication of a small number of species was a very long process in north China. This parallels the transition from the “broad spectrum revolution” to agriculture in the Near East.

Seeing red: the use of Congo Red dye to identify cooked and damaged starch grains in archaeological residues

Starchy plant foods are significant in the diet of almost all peoples. Archaeologically, however, preservation of such plants is limited, and direct evidence of plant use by past people is also rare. Although starch grains can be preserved on artefacts used to process starchy plants, it is very difficult to identify grains damaged by processing methods such as milling or cooking. We present a method for identifying such damaged starch grains using Congo Red staining to identify cooking or milling activities in the past subsistence behaviour of Aboriginal people of southeast Queensland, Australia.

The Exploitation of Plant Resources by Neanderthals in Amud Cave (Israel): The Evidence from Phytolith Studies

The depositional environments of Amud Cave indicate that phytolith assemblages retrieved from the cave's sediments are an integral part of the Middle Palaeolithic sequence. As such, they provide direct evidence for plant use. The Amud Neanderthals emphasized both wood and grass exploitation. Ligneous parts of trees and shrubs were used mainly for fuel. Herbaceous plants were used for bedding, possibly fuel, and for food. There is clear and repetitive evidence for the exploitation of mature grass panicles, inferred to have been collected for their seeds. These findings suggest that, as with the pattern recently discerned for faunal resources, a broad spectrum of plants has been exploited from at least the end of the Middle Palaeolithic. Phytolith analysis now provides a tool for testing models explaining subsistence and mobility patterns during the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic and for better understanding the role of vegetal resources in shaping these patterns.

Macro-botanical evidence for plant use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük south-central Anatolia, Turkey

Analysis of charred plant macro-remains, including wood charcoals, cereals, seeds, tubers and fruits from the Neolithic site of Catalhoyuk has indicated complex patterns of plant resource use and exploitation in the Konya plain during the early Holocene. Evidence presented in this paper shows that settlement location was not dictated by proximity to high quality arable land and direct access to arboreal resources (firewood, timber, fruit producing species). A summary of the patterns observed in sample composition and species representation is outlined here together with preliminary interpretations of these results within their broader regional context.

Plant Remains From Waterlogged Sites In The Arawe Islands, West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea: Implications For The History Of Plant Use And Domestication

Plant remains in the Arawe Islands were found preserved in waterlogged beach sediments. Remnants of edible fruit and wild nuts were found together with Lapita pottery, stone artifacts, and other evidence of human settlement. Previous discoveries of fruit and nut remains in Lapita pottery sites have been interpreted as evidence for an arboricultural complex based on a variety of tree species. Here we report direct evidence for plant use, but are unable to recognise any particular system of plant cultivation or harvest. All the genera and species recognised in the Arawe plant remains are known to enter modern beach drift by natural processes, from wild and cultivated sources. The archaeological assemblages pose intriguing problems for interpreting the history of plant use and domestication.

Plant Use in the Mesolithic and its Role in the Transition to Farming

The purpose of this paper is to review the current evidence for plant use in Mesolithic Europe and to summarize its implications. In order to do so, four sources of data are examined: macrobotanical remains, palynological data, artefactual evidence, and the human biological record.A prelimary survey of palaeobotanical evidence for plant use in the Mesolithic indicates that the evidence is far more extensive than expected hitherto and that accumulations of plant food, especially of nuts, point to their regular and extensive use. In those areas such as Britain, where a large number of fine-resolution palynological studies have been carried out, the incidence of clearance and burning phases seems to be too high to be explained by acts of nature alone. A good case can be made for deliberate forest clearance and the maintenance of a more open landscape by Late Mesolithic groups as part of a promotional strategy to increase the productivity of nut and fruit trees and shrubs, wetland plants, and possibly native grasses.Artefactual evidence points to a widespread distribution of soil-working tools (hoes and antler mattocks), especially in temperate Europe, and to a greater than expected presence of reaping and grinding equipment, lending conditional support for the existence of a specialized plant processing tool kit for digging, reaping, and plant processing.Palaeopathological evidence indicates the existence of a dietary pattern in the west Mediterranean making extensive use of starchy and carbohydrate foods which resulted in a high caries rate among the Mesolithic population of that area.In discussing the signiftcanse of these four lines of evidence, it is argued that, by the Late Mesolithic, the patterns of plant use support the notion of wild plant food husbandry instead of the incidental and opportunistic use of plants for food which has implicitly been accepted as a norm for the Mesolithic in Europe. Three geographical areas can be identified with their specific pattern of plant use: temperate Europe, Mediterranean Europe, and the south-eastern Balkans/Pontic Steppe. The patterns of plant use suggested in this paper emphasize the additive nature of the adoption of the agro-pastoral Neolithic farming practices in Europe.

Plant Resources and Palaeobotanical Evidence for Plant Use in the Papua New Guinea Highlands

The natural vegetation of Papua New Guinea is extremely diverse, with many different plant communities occupying the varied terrain of coastal Strandlines and flats, lowland riverine and mountain swamps, drier plains, and moister foothills and mountain slopes (Paijmans 1976). Altogether 1465 plant genera (in 246 families) of widespread tropical, Malesian and Australian affinities are recorded (van Balgooy 1976) and many of them are used for various purposes by the local inhabitants (Powell 1976). The majority of the 3.4 million people living in New Guinea are subsistence agriculturalists, cultivating in swiddens with long-term fallows, or in particular garden types with specialized features and shortterm, often controlled fallows. As well, they tend plants in natural or semi-natural situations, and gather plant products from the forests, open woodlands, grasslands and swamps.1 A number of their crop plants are considered to have been domesticated in the area (e.g. sugarcane, sago, Cyrtosperma, Australimusa bananas, oil and nut Pandanus species, and the vegetables Saccharum edule, Setaria palmirolia and Rungia klossir, Warner 1962, Barrau 1958, 1959, Simmonds 1959, Yen 1971, in press, Powell 1976, in press), although the staples of most regions are exotic crops originating in areas to the north and northwest (taro, major species of yams, Eumusa bananas; Yen and Wheeler 1968, Burkill 1960, Simmonds 1959), or from America in the case of the sweet