Authors
Youngblood D.
Title
Identification and quantification of edible plant foods in the Upper
(Nama) Karoo, South Africa
Source
Economic Botany. 58(Suppl S):S43-S65, 2004 Win.
Author Keywords
Wild edible plants. Foragers. Ethnobotany. Karoo. South africa.
KeyWords Plus
Phytolith. Agriculture. Neotropics. Artifacts.
Abstract
More than 18 000 archaeological sites have been identified, and a dozen
rock shelter sites investigated in the Zeekoe Valley, Upper Karoo, South
Africa, but no work has been performed to date regarding edible plant
remains. A baseline for understanding potential contribution of plants to
the Zeekoe Valley diet is crucial for developing models of land use and
mobility patterns for Late Stone Age (LSA) inhabitants, particularly since
ethnographically known foragers in Botswana, some 800 km to the north, are
as much as 80% dependent on plant foods for their survival. Since native
foraging groups are long extinct in this semi-arid region with abundant
natural springs, a rigorous investigation of botanical and ethnohistoric
literature forms the groundwork for field investigations where direct
ethnographic observation is no longer an option. First, edible species in
the study area are identified in the literature. They are then sought on
the ground with the aid of local informants whose families have resided in
the valley for generations. It appears as though some knowledge of local
plants gained from native foragers 150 years ago or more has remained in
Afrikaans families passed down from landowning parent to child. On the
ground, collection and middle range experimentation was followed by basic
nutritional analysis. These measures were then used to compare foraging
efficiency to measures from extant foraging groups. While dozens of edible
species were identified, five plant species formed the focus of this
study: Slymstock Uintjie (Albuca canadensis); Boesman Uintjie (Cyperus
usitatus, Cyperus fulgens); Jakkalsbosberry (Diospyros austro-africana);
Rooi wortel (Pelargorium sidoides); and Osbossie (Talinum caffrum).
Results suggest native foraging groups, now extinct in the vicinity, may
have been 60% or more dependent on plant food resources, despite abundance
of game in the area and in the archaeological record. [References: 62]
Institution
Reprint available from:
Youngblood D
So Methodist Univ, Dept Anthropol
Dallas, TX 75275
USA
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