Archaic Food Uses of Large Graminoids in Agro Peligno Wetlands (Abruzzo, Central Italy) Compared With the European Ethnobotanical and Archaeological LiteratureShow others and affiliations
2022 (English)In: Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.), ISSN 0277-5212, E-ISSN 1943-6246, Vol. 42, no 7, article id 88Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Large graminoid species, which often dominate wetland ecosystems with extensive and dense formations, are among the most indicative plants from the first human settlements, where they have been used (even transformed) for various functions ranging from food, cordage, weaving and other utilities. Wetland large graminoid foraging today represents one of the rarest and most archaic customs still in existence, as they have frequently disappeared following changes in society or the disappearance of marshes. These customs have (almost) disappeared in Europe, especially in Italy, following socio-economic changes and wetland reclamation; remaining uses can generally only be found in prehistoric traces. This research in Agro Peligno documents and describes for the first time the remains of these prehistoric uses, which are related to the ancient Peligni (or Paeligni) people. The data collected in the current field study were later compared with food uses of graminoids arising from a large spectrum of archaeological, ethnobotanical, and folkloric literature from other European areas, in a large sense. Problems and outlook regarding the loss of this traditional knowledge are also briefly discussed.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2022. Vol. 42, no 7, article id 88
Keywords [en]
Agro Peligno, Archaic food, Ethnobotany, Global changes, Graminoids, Habitat conservation, Heritage, Peligni people, Prehistorical, Reedbed, Traditional knowledge, Wetlands
National Category
Environmental Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-487668DOI: 10.1007/s13157-022-01590-2ISI: 000866201700004OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-487668DiVA, id: diva2:1707828
2022-11-012022-11-012022-11-01Bibliographically approved