Plant bedding
Lecho de plantas aromáticas (cama)
- Date
- c. 77 ka · confidence high
- Place
- Sibudu Shelter, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Credited to
- Homo sapiens
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Layers of rushes and Cryptocarya leaves with insecticidal properties, burnt periodically for hygiene. The first domestic bedding and the first pest management.
Border Cave has grass bedding with ash dating back as far as 200 ka, which would push back the origin.
What it led to
- Camp hygiene and health: a lower parasite burden
- Applied ethnobotanical knowledge: domestic medicine
- A defined resting area within the dwelling
Built on
- Structured central hearth and domestic spacec. 300 ka
- Structured central hearth and domestic space
Made possible
- Basketryc. 27 ka
- Woven plant-fibre textilesc. 27 ka
- Raised wooden bed with rope-woven basec. 2600 BCE
- Basketry
- Woven plant-fibre textiles