Dandelions & Early Man

One of my firm beliefs is that Dandelions and Man, especially Children have a deep symbiotic relationship that goes back before the dawn of history.
http://homepage.mac.com/steverinojohnson/iblog/C1930225131/E20070509204623/

It may quite well go back to the beginning, but let it suffice to claim it goes back to the End of the Last Ice Age. At that time the ice caps retreated quite rapidly, the real Global Warming, and after the first tundra and trees, the grass and flowers came out in abundance, especially Dandelions, as proven in northern lake/bog cores/pollens,

http://www.ipcc.ie/infopollenhist.html These may have been helped along by Human Activities, tree clearing and early agriculture for ranching and farming that was more sophisticated and widespread than in previous Interglacials.

http://www.iceage.org.uk/IA%20stages.htm Dandelions and Man go way back, Cromerian Interglacial of Middle Pliestocene in UK, ~480,000 BP !!! When Special Hand Axes For Smashing Dandelions in Lawns Were A Popular Gardening Tools ;-)

This led to the rapid return of wildlife to the higher latitudes and also to the higher altitudes like Switzerland. It was on the Italian Alps side of the range where the more evidence of this symbiosis was found. The "Ice Man", Otzi, thawed out and an amazing story started to unfold. Search Google and you can read quite a lot about him.

Among his affects was a small pouch kit for making fire, a special collection of little things. The key items were pieces of Flints and Pyrite (from Mt. Etna?), ideal for making sparks.

http://s8int.com/sophis19.html
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:qzflD2tDOiQJ:www.primitiveways.com/Iceman.html+iceman+fire+kit&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us
The other key items were highly flamable birch fungi. A small pinch of this fluff covered in a tiny 2 inch teepee of dry grass and straws would burst into flame with a spark or two. Dandelion Fluff could also have been used, as his last meal seems to have been deer meat, wheat, dandelions.

http://www.angelfire.com/me/ij/oetzie-lastmeal.html


Stexie