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The use of Cornus sanguinea L. (dogwood) fruits in the Late Neolithic

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Abstract

Numerous fragments of Cornus sanguinea (dogwood) fruit stones were found in the cultural layer of the Late Neolithic pile dwelling site Strojanova voda at Ljubljansko barje, Slovenia, which indicate the Late Neolithic use of dogwood fruits. While these fruits are considered to be inedible, the research question about their use arose. Ethnobotanical and archaeobotanical sources were examined and experimental work on processing and using fresh C. sanguinea fruits was done, followed by chemical analyses of modern fruits (endocarps, mesocarps and exocarps) and archaeological fruit stones from the site. All these various approaches together suggest some possible uses. Fresh dogwood fruits can be crushed to give a soapy, creamy and oily emulsion with an exfoliant effect on the skin, which proved to be applicable, besides for oil, for cleaning and washing bodies, clothes and/or dishes. It can be concluded that Late Neolithic pile dwellers had a great knowledge of wild plants and their properties, and not only for food, and that the use of C. sanguinea fruits, at least south of the Alps, has been undervalued until now.

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Acknowledgements

The project was financed by Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije (ARRS) (the Slovenian Research Agency) Funding Nos. P6-0064, J7-6857 and P1-0005. We thank Vesna Glavnik and Alen Albreht for helping with chemical analyses. Many thanks to technical assistants Dragotin Valoh and Tamara Korošec for preparing figures, and to James Greig for improving the English language. Many thanks also to Michael Machatschek and two unknown reviewers who provided us with much useful not published ethnobotanical information and gave us hints on some important published works on dye and mordant plants.

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  1. Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), Institute of Archaeology, Novi trg 2, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Tjaša Tolar

  2. Department of Food Chemistry, National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Irena Vovk & Urška Jug

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  1. Tjaša Tolar
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Tolar, T., Vovk, I. & Jug, U. The use of Cornus sanguinea L. (dogwood) fruits in the Late Neolithic. Veget Hist Archaeobot 30, 347–361 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-020-00788-w

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