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Plants are an integral part of our culture and lives. Besides consuming them as food, we also use materials derived from various plants in the production of medicine, cosmetics, dyes, tools, and other goods, as well as in construction. This relationship with plants is very old, even dating back to prehistoric times. After humans began cultivating grains like wheat and barley, they established their first settlements near the areas where they practiced agriculture. Perhaps many of the plants we cultivate and use today were used for similar purposes by people who lived in ancient times.
There are many different branches of science that study plants. One of them is "archaeoethnobotany." This branch of science tries to uncover how people in the past used plants and the place of plants in their lives. What plants did people in the past cultivate? How did they use these plants? What did they eat? Did they use any plants as medicine? Were the plants they used in dyeing, weaving, or construction similar to the plants we use today?
Archaeological sites offer so many clues about the role of plants in the lives of ancient people. Some of these clues can only be examined under a microscope, such as pollen residue. There are also other clues, such as seeds, plant stems, remnants of plants used as building materials, plant remains inside ancient pottery, and fruit pits. But to examine them, you first have to find them!
Finding plant remains in a vast excavation site is no easy task. Archaeoethnobotanists work like detectives at the site. After finding the remains or traces of certain plants, they try to identify them and determine their connections to plants used today. In this way, they uncover the history of plants and how humans utilized them. These studies show that it is difficult to imagine many past human civilizations without plants such as corn, barley, oats, wheat, olives, grapes, walnuts, figs, papaya, lentils, and flax.
Did you know that the fig tree is one of the first plant species to be domesticated? Around 11,000 years ago, people living around the Mediterranean planted fig trees in their settlements and harvested their fruit. This discovery is based on findings from various archaeological excavations in the Jordan Valley. Archaeologists found fig remains at a settlement dating back to the Neolithic period. Subsequent examination revealed that the biological characteristics of these fruits were similar not to wild figs, but to those of a domesticated fig tree cultivated today.
It has been revealed that it resembles a certain variety. In these excavations, alongside figs, harvested wild barley, oats, and millet were also found. This means that people at this time were not yet cultivating these plants; they were consuming barley, oats, and millet that grew naturally in the wild. Researchers conclude from these findings that the relationship between humans and nature began to change in the Neolithic period. For the previous 2.5 million years, humans had lived by hunting and gathering. But during this period, they discovered agriculture and began to domesticate various plant species.
Flax: A Thousands of Years Old Weaving Plant
Flax fibers have been used to weave fabrics since ancient times. For example, in ancient Egypt, around 5000 BC, flax was cultivated in fields for weaving. In fact, flax wasn't native to Egypt; it was most likely brought from the eastern Mediterranean. After harvesting, the flax plants were first left to dry. The seeds were separated and collected for the next planting. Then, to soften the fibers, the plant was soaked in water, dried in the sun, beaten, and combed. This prepared it for spinning. The plant fibers were spun to produce yarn. Weavers used looms similar to those still used by carpet weavers today. In ancient Egypt, linen fabrics of various thicknesses were woven, and everyone wore clothing made of linen.
You too can weave like people from ancient times.
Weaving fabric isn't difficult, but it requires patience. You can weave a small piece of fabric yourself using a piece of cardboard as a loom. First, decide on the size of the piece you will weave and the thickness of the yarn you will use. You can use wool or cotton yarn for weaving. On a piece of cardboard of suitable size, wrap a section of yarn around the stretched strings side by side as shown in the first picture. Take the end of the remaining yarn in your hand. Weave the end of the yarn by passing it under and over the strings stretched on the cardboard, as shown in the second picture. When you reach the end of the cardboard, cut the yarn in your hand. Turn the cardboard over and cut the strings stretched on it from the back. Knot the ends of all the free strings.
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