The exploitation of wild plants in Neolithic North Africa. Use-wear and residue analysis on non-knapped stone tools from the Haua Fteah cave, Cyrenaica, Libya

Lucarini, Giulio; Radini, Anita; Barton, Huw; Barker, Graeme

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.109

Cited by 50 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 35 publications

(47 reference statements)

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“…A large collection of microremains from modern plants native to the central Balkans and the Mediterranean region collected at the Botanical Garden of Belgrade and stored at the University of Cambridge was used as an experimental reference. A collection of plants of north European, Mediterranean, and north African origin as well as nondietary items (e.g., plants used for crafts and occupational dust such as wood and pottery) hosted by the University of York was also consulted and successfully used before in other studies (35,46). Fresh and dry botanical samples were ground in agate mortar using distilled water.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dental calculus reveals Mesolithic foragers in the Balkans consumed domesticated plant foods

Cristiani

Radini

Edinborough

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Researchers agree that domesticated plants were introduced into southeast Europe from southwest Asia as a part of a Neolithic "package," which included domesticated animals and artifacts typical of farming communities. It is commonly believed that this package reached inland areas of the Balkans by ∼6200 calibrated (cal.) BC or later. Our analysis of the starch record entrapped in dental calculus of Mesolithic human teeth at the site of Vlasac in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans provides direct evidence that already by ∼6600 cal. BC, if not earlier, Late Mesolithic foragers of this region consumed domestic cereals, such as Triticum monococcum, Triticum dicoccum, and Hordeum distichon, which were also the main crops found among Early Neolithic communities of southeast Europe. We infer that "exotic" Neolithic domesticated plants were introduced to southern Europe independently almost half a millennium earlier than previously thought, through networks that enabled exchanges between inland Mesolithic foragers and early farming groups found along the Aegean coast of Turkey.Mesolithic foragers | starch analysis | domesticated cereals | forager/farmer interaction | human dental calculus

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dental calculus reveals Mesolithic foragers in the Balkans consumed domesticated plant foods

Cristiani

Radini

Edinborough

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Examples of studies include: the recovery of starch granules suggested to be from Typha spp. from around 30,000 years ago, during the Upper Palaeolithic and long before the arrival of farming [51]; root crop horticulture in Panama [21,33]; use of cereal grains [50,65]; seed grinding [66]; use of wild plants [44,65,67]; the use of stone tools [68]. This approach has also become popular in recent years in China [29,[69][70][71][72][73][74][75]).…”

Section: Residues From Grinding Stones and Potsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeological Starch

Copeland

Hardy

2018

Agronomy

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Abstract:This article reviews evidence of how starch granules associated with archaeological artefacts provide an insight into the use of plants by our ancestors for food, medicines and cultural activities. The properties of starch relevant to archaeological contexts, methods for examining ancient starch and the types of environmental conditions that would promote survival of starch granules over hundreds of thousands of years as part of the archaeological record, are considered. Starch granules identified in dental calculus are clear indicators of the individual having consumed starchy food as part of the diet. However, surviving starch granules may be only a tiny fraction of those consumed over a lifetime and not necessarily representative of foods that were in the diet. A hypothesis, based on a combination of archaeological, physiological and genetic evidence, that plant foods containing high quantities of digestible starch were essential for the evolution of the modern human phenotype, is discussed.

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“…Unfortunately, the coarseness of the lithic material that grinding-stones are often made from makes microscopic use-wear analysis challenging (Rowan and Ebeling 2008, p. 7). Such coarse-grained stone is amenable to residue and trace analysis, though, and progress made in isolating and identifying phytoliths and starch grains from grinding-stone tools found in archaeological contexts is encouraging (Ball et al 2016;Garciá-Granero et al 2017;Lucarini et al 2016;Mercader 2009;Radomski and Neumann 2011). Systematic sampling and analysis of sediments and trace residues from archaeological contexts will further expand understandings of processing activities in Africa through time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Back to the Grindstone? The Archaeological Potential of Grinding-Stone Studies in Africa with Reference to Contemporary Grinding Practices in Marakwet, Northwest Kenya

2017

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This article presents observations on grinding-stone implements and their uses in ElgeyoMarakwet County, northwest Kenya. Tool use in Marakwet is contextualized with a select overview of literature on grinding-stones in Africa. Grinding-stones in Marakwet are incorporated not only into quotidian but also into more performative and ritual aspects of life. These tools have distinct local traditions laden with social as well as functional importance. It is argued that regionally and temporally specific studies of grindingstone tool assemblages can be informative on the processing of various substances. Despite being common occurrences, grinding-stone tools are an underdiscussed component of many African archaeological assemblages. Yet the significance of grinding-stones must be reevaluated, as they hold the potential to inform on landscapes of past food and material processing.Résumé Cet article présente des observations ethnoarchéologiques sur les outils de pierre meulière et leur utilisation dans le comté d'Elgeyo-Marakwet, au nordouest du Kenya. En s'appuyant notamment sur des exemples issus de la période néolithique pastorale en Afrique de l'Est, il contextualise l'utilisation d'outils à Marakwet en termes d'études sélectionnées portent sur les pierres de meulage en Afrique. Nous soutenons que les études spécifiques à la région portent sur les assemblages d'outils de pierre meulière peuvent aider à avancer nos connaissances sur le traitement de diverses substances. Par ailleurs nous constatons que la pierre meulière fait partie non seulement de la vie quotidienne, mais aussi des aspects performatifs et rituels de la vie à Marakwet. Les outils de pierre meulière font partie des traditions locales distinctes, chargées d'importance sociale et fonctionnelle. Malgré le fait qu'ils soient banals, les outils de pierre meulière sont des composants significatif et pourtant peu discutés de nombreux assemblages archéologiques africains. Nous avançons que la signification de la pierre meulière doive-t-être réévaluée, car elle est essentielle pour mieux comprendre les circonstances de l'alimentation et du traitement des matériaux dans le passé.

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The exploitation of wild plants in Neolithic North Africa. Use-wear and residue analysis on non-knapped stone tools from the Haua Fteah cave, Cyrenaica, Libya

Cited by 50 publications

References 35 publications

Dental calculus reveals Mesolithic foragers in the Balkans consumed domesticated plant foods

Dental calculus reveals Mesolithic foragers in the Balkans consumed domesticated plant foods

Archaeological Starch

Back to the Grindstone? The Archaeological Potential of Grinding-Stone Studies in Africa with Reference to Contemporary Grinding Practices in Marakwet, Northwest Kenya

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