Research suggests they understood the benefits of using ash underneath the grass to repel insects and pests.
There is a fair amount of archaeological evidence that indicates complex behavior among our ancestors. For instance, there are bone tools that were used as hunting projectiles, for working leather or processing plants. Ochre remnants were used for body and rock painting. But plants and their products have rarely been reported to embody this type of complex behavior.
Now a multidisciplinary, international team of archaeologist has presented evidence that more than 2,00,000 years ago, at the dawn of our species (Homo sapiens sapiens) groups of humans inhabiting a cave in South Africa used grasses to create comfortable areas for sleeping and working. They also, our research suggests, understood the benefits of using ash underneath the grass to repel insects and pests.
Before this, there was tentative evidence of bedding being constructed using tree leaves some 1,85,000 years ago at Misley cave in Israel. Groups of Neanderthals from the Iberian Middle paleolithic also used grasses to build their beds and rest areas about 400,000 years ago at Esquilin cave (Cantabria, Spain). In South Africa, plant bedding has been observed at several sites but never studied or published in detail.
Until now, the oldest bedding in South Africa came from Sivudu cave. in the KwaZulu-Natal province, when modern humans used sedges (Cyperaceous) to build sleeping beds about 70,000 years ago.
Our research, led by Professor Lyn Wadley of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg,
now shows that before 2,00,000 years ago- close to the origin of our species- people preferred the use of board-leaved grasses to build their beds and resting areas. They also used fire, ash medicinal plant to maintain clean, pest-free camps.
Archaeological record
Plants are the most common resource exploited by hunter-gatherers. They provide a source of food and water, beverages, medicines, poison and firewood, tools for hunting, fishing, storage and transport food and goods, shelter and protection. plants can also be used for numerous other purposes related to social beliefs and rituals, such as making ornaments from seeds, to make musical instruments, statuary and other decorative and symbolic objects.
This high phytolith concentration is due to their good state of preservation and an international and intensive accumulation of grasses for bedding construction. These phytoliths tell us about the bedding our ancestors used in the cave.
In South Africa, interest in studying botanical remains peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A few archaeobotanical studies have been conducted since then. There is a need for a better understanding of prehistoric plant use in South Africa.