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Nuts for dinner?Cladium mariscusin the Middle Stone Age at Sibudu, South Africa
- Source :
- Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 70:213-218
- Publication Year :
- 2015
- Publisher :
- Informa UK Limited, 2015.
-
Abstract
- The sedge, Cladium mariscus, has been identified in Middle Stone Age deposits at the shelter Sibudu, South Africa, where the leaves were used as “bedding” – an informal floor covering for various activities. Cladium mariscus nutlets were recovered from layers 73 000–39 000 years old and are likely to have entered the shelter on the plants harvested for bedding. This paper explores the possibility that, in addition to the use of Cladium mariscus leaves for bedding, the nutlets were collected for food. The underground storage organs and nutlets of many sedge species are eaten by contemporary people and they are known to have been eaten in the past at other sites. Nutritional analysis of the nutlets and rhizomes of Cladium mariscus indicates their potential as a food source, notwithstanding the small size of the nutlets. Although there is no evidence for the preparation of Cladium mariscus for consumption at Sibudu, the abundant nutlets produced by the plants, their nutritional value and the ease of harvesti...
- Subjects :
- Cladium mariscus
biology
Ecology
General Medicine
biology.organism_classification
Plant foods
Floor covering
Geography
Underground storage
Botany
General Earth and Planetary Sciences
Nutritional analysis
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Middle Stone Age
General Environmental Science
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 21540098 and 0035919X
- Volume :
- 70
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........b8cfaee69a73a1f273013eafb9c0960a