The Use of Wild Plants in the Palaeolithic and Neolithic of Northwestern Africa: Preliminary Results from the PALEOPLANT Project

Bone Tool Proxy Evidence for Coiled Basketry Production in the North African Palaeolithic

“…At Taforalt, the coils were likely constructed from Stipa teccanisima (esparto grass, Arabic '(h)alfa(h)' and Amazighe 'awri/ari/iwri' [Barton et al 2019c]), as inedible esparto stalks were uprooted with the root systems intact and transported into the cave in great numbers (Humphrey et al 2014;Morales 2019). Previous to this study, esparto has been hypothesised to have served as basketry material in the North African Palaeolithic, and at Taforalt specifically (Humphrey et al 2014;Morales et al 2015;Carrión et al 2018;Desmond et al 2018;Morales 2018;Barton et al 2019c;Gassin et al 2020). Traditional Moroccan esparto crafting has a known history dating back to the late Pleistocene and continues into the ethnographic present (Barton et al 2019c;Gassin et al 2020).…”

Cova de les Malladetes (Valencia, Spain): New Insights About the Early Upper Palaeolithic in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula

“…-A cultural selection of pine firewood could not be rejected; however, in most Palaeolithic sites, taxa diversity is higher than in Malladetes (Badal and Martínez Varea 2018;Martínez Varea and Badal 2018). We do not know the selection criteria of fuel of these human groups, but even when there is a preference for a plant, other species from the same biotope are always represented too, even though their use was more sporadic (Asouti et al 2018;Carrión et al 2018). -Most likely, prehistoric people also burned small-calibre plants, such as Erica sp., Fabaceae and Cistaceae, but precisely because of their small size and perhaps because they were used to light fire, they can more easily turn to ash.…”

An interdisciplinary approach to the combustion structures of the Western Mediterranean Iron Age. The first results

“…Both the seeds and leaves of palms are potential plant foods, although ethnographic research in the Mediterranean region illustrates the extensive use of these plants for basketry, matting and building materials (Peña-Chocarro et al, 2015, and references therein). Arecaceae leaf phytoliths and macro-botanical remains from seeds of the dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis) have been recorded at several sites across the Western Mediterranean from the Early/Middle Holocene onwards, and even earlier (Morales et al, 2013(Morales et al, , 2016Zapata et al, 2013;Carrión et al, 2018;Potì et al, 2019).…”