Bulbs and Bouquets
Jane McGary (Sat, 17 Jun 2006 10:27:11 PDT)
The answer to the question of when flowers were first gathered by humans
for ornament is archaeological, and as usual, we know only as far back as
there are graphic depictions. These extend back into the early pharaonic
period in Egypt, the Minoan culture of Crete, and at least 4000 years ago
in China. Much earlier, the discovery of flower material in a Neandertal
burial is often adduced as evidence that these early humans possessed what
anthropologists call "mental culture," perhaps including death rituals and
belief in an afterlife. In the Americas, flower ornament was common in the
Mesoamerican culture area, especially among the Nahuatl (Aztecs), to whom
we owe, for example, the cultivated dahlia.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA
At 10:14 AM 6/17/2006 -0500, you wrote:
Dear Judy;
I agree with Kelly that the answers are more anthropological
than horticultural. Even birds and lower primates are attracted to
bright colors Maybe it is in the genome. I suspect some brightly
colored flowers ended up in a pile in a cave or around a camp fire
with the gathered bulbs and roots for dinner and set aside.