Dear Dorian,
many thanks for your helpful comments.
Do you have an idea whether there may be a chance to detect the
chemical components Cathinon and Cathin in bones, as e.g. the Nikotin
in Egyptian mummies?
Cheers,
Simone
Zitat von Dorian Fuller <[log in to unmask]>:
> Dear Simone,
> As far as I am aware there is no hard archaeobotanical evidence for qat. The
> rather patchy archaeobotanical evidence from the Arabian peninsula (focusing
> on the major crops) is discussed in the a recent overview on Holocene Arabia
> (attached). Ethiopian archaeobotanical is still even more limited with
> essentially nothing earlier than 1000 BC. Claims for the very long tradition
> of Qat use in Ethiopia (e.g. by Harlan), although probable, are purely
> speculation based on modern ethnographic importance. There may be a case to
> be made from historical linguistics, although I have not come across this in
> my (admittedly limited) reading in that literature.
>
> Of course it would be fascinating to find some evidence or make a case from
> prehistoric use in Arabia, as this species would be a clear candidate for
> early trade in high value non-subsistence plant products (equivalent to that
> of incense or spices).
>
> Cheers,
> Dorian
>
>
> --
> Dr. Dorian Q Fuller, FLS FSA
> Reader in Archaeobotany
> UCL Institute of Archaeology
> 31-34 Gordon Square
> London WC1H 0PY
>
> website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/profiles/fuller/index.htm
> blog: http://www.archaeobotanist.blogspot.com/
> Editor: Archaeological & Anthropological Sciences.
> http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9557
>
--
PD Dr. Simone Riehl
Institute for Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology
Ruemelinstrasse 23
D-72070 Tuebingen
Germany
Tel. / Fax +49 (0)7071 2978915 / 295717
http://www.urgeschichte.uni-tuebingen.de/index.php?id=132
http://www.cuminum.de/archaeobotany/
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