NDLI: Collected seeds and fruits from herbs as prehistoric food

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Behre, Karl Ernst
Copyright Year	2007
Abstract	New investigations of two archaeobotanical finds are presented: a large assemblage of pure fruits of Polygonum lapathifolium from Bremen-Strom, Germany and the gut contents of a bog body from Kayhausen near Oldenburg, Germany. The general question is to find out for sure which herb species were intentionally gathered for human consumption. To accept species as such, they have to fulfil mainly two criteria: they must occur in large and pure assemblages, separated from other species, and they should occur regularly in the stomach or gut of dead bodies. To ensure this, the data from all bog bodies whose intestines have been examined were compiled and in addition to this, fossil assemblages of the species in question were put together. It turned out that apart from gathering in the wild, the collection of seeds and fruits from weeds in the process of crop cleaning was a major source of their edible diaspores. Obviously some common weeds, obtained in this way, were welcome as an addition to human diet and received the status of secondary cultivated plants. The following six species are regarded as having surely been deliberately collected and used in human diet: Polygonum lapathifolium, Chenopodium album, Spergula arvensis, Fallopia convolvulus, Bromus secalinus and Glyceria fluitans. Another two, Setaria sp. and Rumex acetosella probably complete this list.
Starting Page	65
Ending Page	73
Page Count	9
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09396314
Journal	Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
Volume Number	17
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	16176278
Language	English
Publisher	Springer-Verlag
Publisher Date	2007-06-19
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Archaeobotany Prehistoric food Seed gathering Bog bodies NW Europe Anthropology Geology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Plant Science Archeology (arts and humanities) Paleontology

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1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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