Bryonia is rare in archaeobotanical lists. The red and white bryony are not easy to distinguish
by their seeds. Both bryonies are extraordinary plants and are always said to have medical
effects.
See the archaeobotanical bibliography: www.archaeobotany.de
Best wishes,
Am 20 Sep 2004 um 10:01 hat Vaughan-Williams Alys geschrieben:
Hello
I'm analysing a site in London, and have a Roman layer dated to 130-140AD.
It has produced 500+ waterlogged seeds of Bryonia cretica dioica (white
bryony). I was wondering if anyone else has come across such a
concentration in their work. I have done the usual research in journals and
on the web, but only found contexts with one or two seeds. It does have
some medicinal properties, but i don't hold a lot of hope by that, as it
seems to be of a rather violent nature.
I would be interested to hear if anyone has come across a similar
assemblage, or has any thoughts on uses. The remainder of the assemblage
was composed of fairly bog-standard species such as Rumex acetosella,
Stellaria gramineae and Rubus sp.
Thanks
Alys
Alys Vaughan-Williams
ArchaeoScape
Royal Holloway University London
Egham
TW20 0EX
Tel: 01784 443566
Dr. Helmut Kroll
Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der
Christian-Albrechts-Universität
D 24098 Kiel
Tel. 0049 431 880-2338; -3654; Fax -7300
Please visit the archaeobotanical bibliography:
http://www.archaeobotany.de
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