Hi Lieselotte and others,
Carbonised seeds of Hedera have also been found at another
Dutch riverdune (donk) site, this time late mesolithic, in a site
called Hardinxveld-Giessendam Polderweg. It is one of the 19
excavated sites in the track of the Betuweroute, a freight
railway to be built in the Netherlands.
Bakels & Van Beurden published the botanical results.
They mention the find of Hedera explicitly. Although they have
been found together with carbonised remains of apple, hazelnut
and Ranunculus ficaria, they state that Hedera berries are
poisonous to men, and therefore will not have been eaten, but
probably became carbonised together with firewood.
By the way, Allan Hall questioned the consumption of Ranunculus
ficaria tubers. Up to now, I haven't found any indication for
either their consumption or their poisonness, apart from several
meso/neo finds which were suggested to relate to consumption.
Is there any ethnographical data about these tubers??
Regards,
oTTo
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