Lecture 17 Insects, oils and fibers Flashcards
some more fruit and vegetable information
FABACEAE (LEGUMES)
Alfalfa, beans (common, lima, fava), clover, fenugreek, lupin, peas,
trefoil, lentils, chickpeas, mesquite, carob, soybeans, peanuts,
tamarind
FABACEAE (LEGUMES)
Fix atmospheric nitrogen through Rhizobia in roots
* Produce nitrogen rich seeds, fertilizes soil
Rich source of dietary protein (17 -25%)
Typically matured, dried, and ground into flour (‘pease’ porridge)
Common bean staple in the Americas, but grown as ornamental plants in 16C Europe(later).
Fava (broad) bean staple in Medieval Europe
ROSACEAE & RUTACEAE
Rose family:
Apples, apricots, cherries,
quinces, pears, plums, peaches,
nectarines, medlars, loquots,
almonds, strawberries,
blackberries,
Drupe: a fleshy fruit with
thin skin and a central stone containing the seed, e.g., a plum, cherry, almond, or olive
Citrus Family: Kumquots, orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine, bergamot, Sichuan pepper,
WOODY FRUIT PATHWAY
Conscious selection (directed)
* Prior knowledge of domestication
* Rapid selection of desirable types (clones)
Domestication Syndrome
* Increase in edible portion (fruit/seed size)
* Increase in annual productivity
* Decrease in toxicity
* Little genetic change from wild population(?)
FRUIT TREE DOMESTICATION
Postdates cereal domestication
* Near East: ca. 6500-3500 BC (Mesopotamia)
* China: 4000-2500 BC (Longshan & Liangzhu cultures)
Coincides with rise of urbanism
* Long-term investment in agricultural
landscapes
* Craft specialization, expanded trade
SOLANACEAE (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY)
- Peppers
- Tomato
- Nightshade
- Tobacco
- Potato
- Peppers
- Eggplant
SOLANACEAE (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY)
Widely distributed
* Greatest diversity in Central and South America
* Morphological diversity, fleshy stalks and fruits
* Adapted for extreme conditions (deserts to rainforest)
Alkaloid producing
* Atropine (Deadly nightshade): combats convulsions/ allergic reactions, dry mouth, dilated pupils, ataxia, urinary retention, hallucinations, convulsions, coma, death.
* Solanine (Potatoes): gastrointestinal disorders, hallucinations and headache.
* Nicotine (Tobacco, potato, peppers, tomatoes): stimulant (mammals), insect neurotoxin
* Capsaicin (peppers): Stimulates pain receptors of oral mucosa in mammals (not birds)
RECEPTION IN EUROPE
Resemblance to deadly nightshade; not necessarily recognized as food
* Grown as ornamentals, failed to see usefulness in Europe (e.g. Chuño)
* for decoration
TOMATOES & POTATOES
Tomatoes:
Wide variety of shapes and colours
available at Tlatelolco market, 1519.
Aztecs ate sacrificial victims with
chimole sauce, made with chilli
peppers, tomatoes, wild onions
(xonacatl), and salt
Star-shaped in Europe, usually yellow
Difficult to store
Potatoes:
Quickly adopted in Ireland
Vitamin C important for staving off
scurvy
Spread during times of famine (1740s) – credited for fueling industrial
revolution
Irish potato famine (Phytophthora
infest
FRUIT & VEGGIE ‘WRAP’-UP
Fruits, nuts and vegetables have culinary, cultural and botanical definitions
Domesticated for food, ornament,
medicinal properties, etc.
Few plant families contain the majority of domesticates
Selection for different edible parts: leaves, roots, fruits, etc.
Many different forms of propagation: seeds, suckers, division, grafting, etc.
OILS, FATS & WAXES
Range of plants and animals produce fats, oils and waxes:
* Seeds: sesame, mustard, poppy, flax, camelina, etc.
* Nuts: coconut, hazelnut, peanut, walnut, etc.
* Animals: ruminants (sheep, goat, cattle)
* Insects: beeswax
Few charred macroremains compared to cereals
Organic residue analysis of pottery to detect preserved fats
* Gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS)
ANALYZING POTTERY FORM AND FUNCTION
GC-MS of 6thC pottery from Sagalassos, Turkey
Ruminant fats in cooking pots
Both animal and vegetable oils in jars & amphorae
Primarily vegetal products in unguentaria
found out:
ceramic type
how they were used
OLIVES (OLEA EUROPEA)
Adapted to Mediterranean
Long summer drought, semiarid climate
Selection for olive trees with larger fruit size and higher oil content
OLIVES
Food, wood, oil (cooking, ointment, lighting)
**Early Bronze Age: **olives, grapes, and figs emerge as important additions to cereals and pulses throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin.
Arboriculture: 10-12 years to bear fruits (can be tended for centuries).
of their use: Presses, pollen, stones, woods
DIRECTED
FIBER PATHWAY
- Bast Fibers: flax, hemp, nettles, papyus
- Leaf Fibers: sisal, yucca, Abacá
- Seed Fibers: cotton, milkweed, coir
- Other: Bamboo, mulberry
FIBERS & TEXTILES
Flexible, 2D material produced from interconnecting fibers
Animal fibers:
* Sheep, goat, horse, camelid, and dog hair
Plants fibers: inner bark, seed, leaves
* Flax, hemp, nettle, Spanish broom, Linden, Oak and willow, cedar, cotton
Other Fibres:
* ** Byssus or sea-silk:** Pinna nobilis mollusc secretion
* Silkworm
* Asbestos – silicate mineral
FIBER CROPS
Conscious selection
(directed)
* Prior knowledge of cereal domestication
Domestication Syndrome
* Varied
* Frequently selected for
food and fiber
Conscious selection (directed pathway)
Prior knowledge of cereal domestication
Frequently selected for food and fiber
FIBER PROPAGATION
Annual crops – sexual reproduction
* Cotton, flax, hemp
* Luffa, jute,
Vegetative propagation
* Sisal (bulbils, suckers)
* Basket vine (cuttings)
Arboriculture
* Mulberry (silk worms)
* Coir (coconut tree)
FLAX
(LINSEED)
Evidence for flax seeds in the Upper Paleolithic
Among first founder crops of Fertile Crescent
Selection for both seed and fiber varieties
- we see morpholical changes between selection for seed and for fiber
Fast growing plant –fibers ready in 100 days
LINEN
Retting: microorganisms
break down pectin and cellular tissue around fibers
Breaking: brittle portion of
straw broken
Scutching: separates fibers
from seeds, and woody stem
Spinning: spins and binds the
fibers into thread
Weaving: threads interlaces at
right angles to form textiles
not fiber
SILK & SILKWORMS
Silk moth Bombyx mori domesticated from wild progenitor B. mandarina
Domestication Syndrome: increased cocoon size, growth rate, digestion efficiency, tolerates
human handling, breeds in crowded conditions, lacks fear of predators, cannot fly.
Dependent on white mulberry tree
Early finds in Mediterranean and Asia can be confused with wild tussah spinning moth (Antheraea pernyi)
SERICULTURE
the silckworm that produceses silk
COCHINEAL
- is a beattle that lives in cactuses
- and is used to produce dyes
- its a substance they produce/ maybe like blood?
- they die so people can get the extract/dye (primaery product)
- it produces red,(fade resistent
