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Why is Chasmanthe spp. absent from the archaeological record of the south-western Cape?
In the archaeological record of the south-western Cape one finds corm residues in deposits mostly in the form of the netting which surrounds the corm. These plant residues seem to be a widespread feature in the archaeological record of Later Stone Age sites in Southern Africa. Corm residues nave bee...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Biological Sciences
2017
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| _version_ | 1867613142113058816 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Hesse, Heidi |
| author2 | Parkington, John |
| author_browse | Hesse, Heidi Parkington, John |
| author_facet | Parkington, John Hesse, Heidi |
| author_sort | Hesse, Heidi |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | In the archaeological record of the south-western Cape one finds corm residues in deposits mostly in the form of the netting which surrounds the corm. These plant residues seem to be a widespread feature in the archaeological record of Later Stone Age sites in Southern Africa. Corm residues nave been identified as mainly representative of the Iridaceae family. The most common geophyte corms identified are those of Watsonia, Babiana, Hexaglottis, Moreae and Gladiolus. Interestingly, Chasmanthe spp. commonly found growing on the west coast, have not been found in archaeological deposits of this area. The carbohydrate-rich corms follow seasonal growth patterns and mainly flowering in spring and early summer and growing during the winter months. Hunter-gatherers must have been familiar with their growth patterns and their palatability so that they could exploit these plants when corms were at their optimum and harvest them before the stored carbohydrates were used up by the plant. Utility plant indices for varying plant-resource components and mineral content analysis for N, P and total non-structural carbohydrates of the corms were calculated. From the results it appears that the reason for Chasmanthe spp. not appearing in the archaeological record is due to choices made by foragers regarding field processing of low utility plant parts (i.e. plant waste), rather than its relative importance or more precisely lack thereof, in the diets of early foragers. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/25620 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:31:26.417Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Department of Biological Sciences |
| publisherStr | Department of Biological Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/25620 Why is Chasmanthe spp. absent from the archaeological record of the south-western Cape? Hesse, Heidi Parkington, John Stock, WD Botany In the archaeological record of the south-western Cape one finds corm residues in deposits mostly in the form of the netting which surrounds the corm. These plant residues seem to be a widespread feature in the archaeological record of Later Stone Age sites in Southern Africa. Corm residues nave been identified as mainly representative of the Iridaceae family. The most common geophyte corms identified are those of Watsonia, Babiana, Hexaglottis, Moreae and Gladiolus. Interestingly, Chasmanthe spp. commonly found growing on the west coast, have not been found in archaeological deposits of this area. The carbohydrate-rich corms follow seasonal growth patterns and mainly flowering in spring and early summer and growing during the winter months. Hunter-gatherers must have been familiar with their growth patterns and their palatability so that they could exploit these plants when corms were at their optimum and harvest them before the stored carbohydrates were used up by the plant. Utility plant indices for varying plant-resource components and mineral content analysis for N, P and total non-structural carbohydrates of the corms were calculated. From the results it appears that the reason for Chasmanthe spp. not appearing in the archaeological record is due to choices made by foragers regarding field processing of low utility plant parts (i.e. plant waste), rather than its relative importance or more precisely lack thereof, in the diets of early foragers. 2017-10-12T08:37:23Z 2017-10-12T08:37:23Z 1999 2017-02-07T09:17:35Z Bachelor Thesis Honours BSc (Hons) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25620 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Botany Hesse, Heidi Why is Chasmanthe spp. absent from the archaeological record of the south-western Cape? |
| thesis_degree_str | Bachelor's / Honours |
| title | Why is Chasmanthe spp. absent from the archaeological record of the south-western Cape? |
| title_full | Why is Chasmanthe spp. absent from the archaeological record of the south-western Cape? |
| title_fullStr | Why is Chasmanthe spp. absent from the archaeological record of the south-western Cape? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Why is Chasmanthe spp. absent from the archaeological record of the south-western Cape? |
| title_short | Why is Chasmanthe spp. absent from the archaeological record of the south-western Cape? |
| title_sort | why is chasmanthe spp absent from the archaeological record of the south western cape |
| topic | Botany |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25620 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hesseheidi whyischasmanthesppabsentfromthearchaeologicalrecordofthesouthwesterncape |