October 2007
While we tend to think of livestock mainly as a source of meat and milk, in practice they produce more dung than anything else. -B. Sillar (2000:46).
Keyword organization:
Country; Site; Archaeological relevance: e.g., fuel/fertilizer/feature;
Focus if not archaeological; Animal
and thanks to Örni Akeret (OA) for providing a bunch of references
added October, 2007
di Lernia, Savino
2001 Dismantling Dung: Delayed Use of Food Resources among Early
Holocene Foragers of the Libyan Sahara. Journal of Anthropological
Archaeology 20: 408-441. on-line
Libya/Uan Afuda Cave/droppings/micromorphology/macro/pollen/fodder
Fenton, Alexander
1985 A Fuel of Necessity: Animal Manure. In The Shape of the
Past. Essays in Scottish Ethnology, pp. 96-111. John Donald,
Edinburgh.
Scotland/fuel
added
August, 2007
van der Veen, Marijke
2007 Formation Processes of Desiccated and Carbonized Plant Remains -
the Identification of Routine Practice. Journal of Archaeological
Science 34:960-990.
Egypt/Sudan/fodder/fuel/temper
added September, 2006
Shahack-Gross, Ruth, Fiona Marshall, and Steve Weiner
2003 Geo-Ethnoarchaeology of Pastoral Sites: The Identification of
Livestock Enclosures in Abandoned Maasai Settlements. Journal of
Archaeological Science 30: 439-459.
Kenya/boma/stable litter/cattle/caprine/micromorphology/phytolith
Shahack-Gross, Ruth, Rosa-Maria Albert, Ayelet Gilboa, Orna
Nagar-Hilman, Ilan Sharon, Steve Weiner
2005 Geoarchaeology in an Urban Context: The Uses of Space in a
Phoenician Monumental Building at Tel Dor (Israel). Journal of
Archaeological Science 32: 1417-1431.
Israel/Tel Dor/1M/feature/micromorphology/phytolith
Entire listing Akeret, Örni, Jean Nicolas Haas, Urs Leuzinger, and
Stéfanie Jacomet Akeret, Örni and Stéfanie Jacomet Akeret, Örni, and Philippe Rentzel Anderson, Seona M. Anderson, Seona and Füsun Ertuğ-Yaraş Argant, Jacqueline Bottema, Sytze Brinkkemper, Otto Brochier, J.-E. Buurman, Janneke Canti, M.G. Carrion, Jose S., Louis Scott, Tom Huffman, and Cobus
Dreyer Charles, Michael Charles, M. and A. Bogaard Courty, M. A., R. I.
Macphail, and J. Wattez Crawford, Patricia di Lernia, Savino Drescher-Schneider, Ruth Guelat, Michel, Olivier Paccolat and Philippe Rentzel Haas, J.N. Hadorn, Philippe Hall, A. and H. Kenward Hastorf, Christine A. and Melanie F. Wright Hellwig, Maren Hillman, G.C., A.J. Legge, and P.A. Rowley-Conwy Jones, John G. and Duccio Bonavia Jorgensen, Grethe Karg, Sabine Kenward, Harry and Allan Hall Körber-Grohne, Udelgard Kühn, M. and P. Hadorn Madella, Marco Matthews, Wendy Matthews, W., C.A.I. French, T. Lawrence, D.F.
Cutler, and M.K. Jones Miller, Naomi F. Miller, Naomi F. Miller, Naomi F. Miller, Naomi F. Miller, Naomi F. and Tristine Lee Smart Neef, R. and S. Bottema Pawlikowski, Maciej Pemberton, S. George
and Robert W. Frey Perkins, Sid Rasmussen,
Peter Rasmussen, Peter Rasmussen, Peter Reddy, Seetha N. Richard, Herve Riehl, Simone Robinson, David
and Bent Aaby Robinson, David and Peter Rasmussen, Peter Rosen, Steven A., Arkady B. Savinetsky, Yosef
Plakht, Nina K.
Kisseleva, Bulat F. Khassanov, Andrey M. Pereladov, and
Mordecai
Haiman Sareiya, K.P.
and P. Venkataramany Schelvis, Jaap Shahack-Gross, Ruth, Rosa-Maria Albert, Ayelet Gilboa, Orna
Nagar-Hilman, Ilan Sharon, Steve Weiner Shahack-Gross, Ruth, Fiona Marshall, and Steve Weiner Sillar, B. Stika,
Hans-Peter Therkorn, L. L., R. W. Brandt, J. P. Pals and M. Taylor Thompson, G.B. Tomescu, Alexandru Mihail Florian, Valentin Radu, and Dragos
Moise Troels-Smith, J. Troels-Smith, J. van der Veen, Marijke Warington, K.
Wasylikowa, Krystyna Wilson,
D.G. Winterhalder, B., R. Larsen, and R. B. Thomas Wright, Milt Wright, Milt Zapata Peña;, Lydia, Leonor Peña-Chocarro, Juan
José Ibá ñez Esté, and Jesús
González Urquijo
1999 Plant Macrofossils and Pollen in Goat/Sheep Faeces from
the Neolithic Lake-Shore Settlement Arbon Bleiche 3,
Switzerland. The Holocene 9: 175-182.
Switzerland/Arbon Bleiche 3/fodder/sheep/goat/OA
1997 Analysis of Plant Macrofossils in Goat/Sheep Faeces from the
Neolithic Lake Shore Settlement of Horgen Scheller - An Indication of
Prehistoric Transhumance? Vegetation
History and Archaeobotany 6: ¼hn, M. and P. Hadorn
2004 Pflanzliche Makro- und Mikroresten aus Dung von Weidek235-239.
Switzerland/Horgen Scheller/sheep/goat
2001 Micromorphology and Plant Macrofossil Analysis of
Cattle Dung
from the Neolithic Lake Shore Settlement of Arbon Bleiche 3.
¼hn, M. and P. Hadorn
2004 Pflanzliche Makro- und Mikroresten aus Dung von WeidekGeoarchaeology
16: 687-700.
Switzerland/Arbon Bleiche 3/fodder/cattle
1994/5 Faeces: An Ethnographic and Botanical Study of Dung Fuel Use in
Central Anatolia [M.Sc.].University of Sheffield.
Turkey/fuel/ethnoarch/sheep/goat/cattle/OA
1998 Fuel Fodder and Faeces: An Ethnographic and Botanical Study of
Dung Fuel Use in Central Anatolia. Environmental Archaeology 1: 99-109.
Turkey/fuel/ethnoarch
1990 Climat et environnement au quaternaire dans le bassin
du Rhôned'après les données palynologiques. Documents du Laboratoire
de Géologiede Lyon 111.
France/Neolithic cave/pollen (ancient)/sheep/goat (pp.
132-140)/experiments in modern sheep dung (pp. 32-47)/OA
1984 The Composition of Modern Charred Seed Assemblages. In
Plants and Ancient Man, eds. W.
van Zeist and W.A. Casparie, pp. 207-212. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.
Syria/fuel/sheep/ethnoarch
1991 Wetland Farming in the Area to the South of the Meuse Estuary
during the Iron Age and Roman Periond. An Environmental and
Palaeo-economic Reconstruction. Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 24.
Leiden
Netherlands/macro/goat/sheep faeces (pp. 84/89, Table 24)/OA
1983 Combustion et parcage des herbivores domestiques. Le point de vue
du sédimentologue. Bulletin de la Société
Préhistorique Française 80(5): 143-145.
spherulite
1998/1999 Archaeobotanical Investigations of a Middle and Late
Bronze Age
Settlement Site at Westwoud (West-Friesland). Berichten van de
Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek 43: 99-140.
(esp. pp.
128-131)
Netherlands/Westwoud
1997 An Investigation of Microscopic Calcareous Spherulites from
Herbivore Dungs. Journal of Archaeological Science 24: 219-231.
spherulite
2000 Pollen Analysis of Iron Age Cow Dung in Southern
Africa. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 9: 239-249.
South Africa/fuel/pollen/cow
1998 Fodder from Dung: The Recognition and Interpretation of
Dung-Derived Plant Material from Archaeological Sites. Environmental
Archaeology 1: 111-122.
fodder
2005 Identifying Livestock Diet from Charred Plant Remains: a
Neolithic Case Study from Southern Turkmenistan. In Diet and
Health in Past Animal Populations, eds. J. Davies, M. Fabis, et al., pp.
93-103. 9th ICAZ Conference, Durham 2002. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Turkmenistan/Jeitun/fodder/Neolithic
1991 Soil micromorphological indicators of pastoralism; with special
reference to Arene Candide, Finale Ligure, Italy. Rivista di Studi Liguri
57: 127-150.
Italy/Arene Candide/Neolithic cave/micromorphology/cattle/sheep-goat/OA
2003 Weeds as Indicators of Land-use Strategies in Ancient Egypt.
In Food, Fuel and Fields. Progress in African Archaeobotany,
eds. K. Newmann, A. Butler, and S. Kahleber, pp. 107-121. Heinrich Barth
Institut, K&0uml;ln.
Egypt/2M/fuel
2001 Dismantling Dung: Delayed Use of Food Resources among Early
Holocene Foragers of the Libyan Sahara. Journal of
Anthropological Archaeology 20: 408-441. on-line
Libya/Uan Afuda Cave/droppings/micromorphology/macro/pollen/fodder
1997+ Ergebnisse der pollen- und grossrestanalytischen Untersuchungen
im Gebiet der Plankenalm, Dachstein (Osterreich). In Vier
Jahrtausende Almen im Hochgebirge, Band 2, eds. G. Cerwinka, and F.
Mandl, pp. 46-61. Haus i. E.: Verein ANISA.
Austria/post AD 1300/pollen/macro/cattle/sheep/goats/pigs)/OA
1998 Une étable gallo-romaine à Brigue-Glis VS/Waldmatte.
Évidences
archéologiques et micromorphologiques. Annuaire de la
Société
Suisse de Préhistoire et d'Archéologie 81: 171-182.
Switzerland/Iron Age/Roman/micromorphology/cattle/sheep-goat/OA
2004 Mikroskopische Analyse von Schaf-Ziegenkoprolithen. In
Die jungsteinzeitliche Seeufersidlung Arbon Bleiche 3. Umwelt
und Wirtschaft, eds. S. Jacomet, U. Leuzinger, and J. Schibler,
pp. 43-49. Archäologie in Thurgau 12. Frauenfeld, Kanton
Thurgau.
Switzerland/Arbon Bleiche 3
1994 Saint-Blaise/Bains des Dames, 1. Palynologie d'un site
néolithique et historique de la végétation des derniers
16,000 ans.
Archéologie neuchateloise 18. Musée Cantonal
d'Archéologie,
Neuchâtel.
Switzerland/pollen/sheep-goat (p. 55-57)/OA
1998 Disentangling Dung: Pathways to Stable Manure. Environmental
Archaeology 1: 123-126.
1998 Interpreting Wild Seeds from Archaeological Sites: A
Dung
Charring Experiment from the Andes. Journal of Ethnobiology
18:
211-227.
Bolivia/Peru/Argentina/experimental
archaeology/camelid/goat/guinea pig
1997 Plant Remains from Two Cesspits (15th and 16th Century) and a
Pond (13th Century) from Gottingen, Southern Lower Saxony, Germany.
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 6: 105-116.
Germany/pollen in 1 sheep-goat dropping/OA
1997 On the Charred Seeds from Epipaleolithic Abu Hureyra: Food or
Fuel? Current Anthropology 38: 651-655. (reply to Miller, CA 1996).
Syria/Abu Hureyra/fuel-not
1992 Analysis de coprolitos de llama (Lama glama) de precermico
tardio
de la costa nor central del Peru. Bulletin de l'Institut Français des
Études Andines 21(3): 835-852.
Peru/llama
1986 Medieval Plant Remains from the Settlement in Mollergade 6.
In Analyses of Medieval Plant Remains, Textiles and Wood from
Svendborg. The Archaeology of Svendborg, Denmark 4, ed. H. M. Jansen, pp.
45-84. Odense University Press, Odense.
Denmark/cattle? (p. 75-77)/OA
1998 Winter- and spring-foddering of sheep/goat in the Bronze Age Site
of Fiave-Carera, Northern Italy. Environmental Archaeology 1: 87-94.
Italy/Fiave-Carera/pollen/macro/sheep-goat/OA
1997 Enhancing Bioarchaeological Interpretation using Indicator
Groups: Stable Manure as a Paradigm. Journal of Archaeological Science
24: 663-673.
OA
1982 Der Schacht in Fellbach-Schmiden aus botanischer und
stratigraphischer Sicht. In Eine neuentdeckte keltische
Viereckschanze in Fellbach-Schmiden, Rems-Murr-Kreis, ed. D. Planck, pp.
154-168. Germania 60.
Germany/Iron Age/pollen/macro/sheep-goat/OA
2004 Pflanzliche Makro- und Mikroresten aus Dung von Weidekäuem.
In Die jungsteinzeitliche Seeufersidlung Arbon Bleiche 3. Umwelt
und Wirtschaft, eds. S. Jacomet, U. Leuzinger, and J. Schibler, pp.
327-350. Archäologie in Thurgau 12. Frauenfeld, Kanton Thurgau.
Switzerland/Arbon Bleiche 3
2003 Investigating Agriculture and Environment in South Asia: Present and Future
Contributions from Opal Phytoliths. In Indus Ethnobiology, eds. S.A. Weber and
W.R. Belcher, pp. 199-249. Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland.
Pakistan/Harappa/phytolith
1999
Micromorphology Archive Report. Çatal Höyük 1999
Archive Report. See especially sections 4.2, 4.3.4, 4.4, 4.5.2.3 (on
line)
Turkey/Çatalhöyük/stable litter/fuel
2001 Microstratigraphic Analysis of Depositional Sequences
in Areas FS and SS. In Excavations at Tell Brak, vol. 2: Nagar in
the Third Millennium BC, by D. Oates, J. Oates, and H. McDonald, pp.
353-367 (especially 363-365). McDonald Institute Monograph,
Cambridge.
Syria/Tell Brak/feature/soil micromorphology/spherule
1982 Economy and Environment of Malyan, A Third Millennium City in
Southern Iran. Ph.D. Dissertation, Anthropology, The University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Iran/Malyan/fuel
1984 The Use of Dung as Fuel: An Ethnographic Example and an
Archaeological Application. Paléorient 10(2): 71-79.
Iran/Malyan/fuel/ethnoarch
1984 The Interpretation of Some Carbonized Cereal Remains as Remnants
of Dung Cake Fuel. Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture 1: 45-47
Iran/Malyan/fuel
1996 Seed-Eaters of the Ancient Near East: Human or Herbivore? Current
Anthropology 37: 521-528. (also reply to Hillman et al., CA 38: 655-659)
Iran/Syria/Ali Kosh/Abu Hureyra/fuel
1984 Intentional Burning of Dung as Fuel: A Mechanism for the
Incorporation of Charred Seeds into the Archeological Record. Journal of
Ethnobiology 4: 15-28.
Iran/Malyan/U.S./Black Mesa/ethnoarch/bison
1991 Mest als Bron voor Verkoold Plantaardig Materiaal uit Opgravingen
in het Nabije Oosten. Waarnemingen en Experimenten.
Near East/fuel/experimental arch
1992 Mineralogical Description of a Coprolite from Uan
Muhaggiag Rock Shelter, SW Libya. Origini 16: 153-156.
Libya/Uan Muhaggiag/cattle
1991 William Buckland and his Coprolitic Vision. Ichnos 1: 317-325.
paleontology
2003 A Human Migration Fueled by Dung? Science News
Online 164(6): 94, week
of
Aug. 9, 2003 [Siberians follow dung across Beringia]
1989 Leaf Foddering in the Earliest Neolithic Agriculture. Evidence
from Switzerland and Denmark. Acta Archaeologica 60: 71-85.
Switzerland/Neolithic/fodder/experimental/cattle)/OA
1989 Leaf-foddering of Livestock in the Neolithic: Archaeobotanical
Evidence from Weier, Switzerland. Journal of Danish Archaeology 8: 51-71.
Switzerland/Neolithic/fodder/experimental/cattle)/OA
1993 Analysis of Goat/Sheep Faeces from Egolzwil 3, Switzerland:
Evidence for Branch and Twig Foddering of Livestock in the Neolithic.
Journal of Archaeological Science 20: 479-502.
Switzerland/Egolzwil 3/fodder
1998 Fueling the Hearths in India: The Role of Dung in
Paleoethnobotanical Interpretation. Paléorient 24 (2): 61-70.
India/ethnoarch
1986 Analyse pollinique des niveaux archéologiques et des
coprolithes.
In Les sites littoraux néolithiques de Clairvaux-les Lacs,
Jura.
I.: Problématique generale. L' exemple de la station III, ed.
Petrequin,
P., pp. 149-153. Edition de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris.
France/Neolithic, pollen/sheep-goat (pp. 152-153 )/OA
1999 Tierhaltung
und Ökologie in Tell el 'Abd.
sheep/goat (nice photo, too!)
1994 Pollen and Plant Macrofossil Analyses from the Gedensby Ship - a
Medieval Shipwreck from Falster, Denmark. Vegetation History and
Archaeobotany 3, 167-182.
Denmark/cattle (horses?)/OA
1989 Botanical Investigations at the Neolithic Lake Village at Weier,
North East Switzerland: Leaf Hay and Cereals as Animal Fodder. In
The Beginnings of Agriculture, eds. A. Milles, D. Williams, and N.
Gardner, pp. 149-163. BAR International Series 496, Oxford.
Switzerland/Weier/fodder/fertilizer
2005 Dung in the Desert: Preliminary Results of the Negev
Holocene
Ecology Project. Current Anthropology 46:317-327.
Israel/Negev/rockshelter/sheep/goat
1962 Use of Cattle-Dung as Manure and Domestic Fuel. Indian Forester
88: 718-724.
India/fertilizer/fuel/ethno
1992 The Identification of Archaeological Dung Deposits on the Basis
of Remains of Predatory Mites (Acari; Gamasida). Journal of
Archaeological Science 19: 677-682.
Netherlands/entomology/OA
2005 Geoarchaeology in an Urban Context: The Uses of Space in a
Phoenician Monumental Building at Tel Dor (Israel). Journal of
Archaeological Science 32: 1417-1431.
Israel/Tel Dor/1M/feature/micromorphology/phytolith
2003 Geo-Ethnoarchaeology of Pastoral Sites: The Identification of
Livestock Enclosures in Abandoned Maasai Settlements. Journal of
Archaeological Science 30: 439-459.
Kenya/boma/stable litter/cattle/caprine/micromorphology/phytolith
2000 Dung by Preference: The choice of fuel as an
example of how Andean pottery production is embedded within
wider technical,social and economic practices.
Archaeometry 42(1): 43-60.
1995 Fuente Alamo. Die archäobotanische Untersuchung einer
bronzezeitlichen Siedlung in Südostspanien. In Res
archaeobotanicae, International Workgroup for Palaeoethnobotany,
Proceedings of the Ninth Symposium, Kiel 1992. eds. H. Kroll and R.
Pasternak, pp. 309-316. Oetker-Voges-Verlag, Kiel.
Spain/macro/fuel?/>100 carbonised sheep-goat droppings (p. 314)/OA
1984 An Early Iron Age Farmstead: Site Q of the Assendelver Polders
Project. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 50: 351-373.
Netherlands/pollen/fuel?/cattle/sheep-goat/OA
1996 Ethnographic Models for Interpreting Rice Remains. In The
Excavation of Khok Phanom Di, A Prehistoric Site in Central Thailand,
vol. IV. Subsistence and Environment: The Botanical Evidence, by G.B.
Thompson, pp. 119-150. Society of Antiquities, London.
Thailand/Khok Phanom Di/threshing floor/ethnoarch
2003 High Resolution Stratigraphic Distribution of Coprolites within
neolithic Middens, a Case Study: Harsova-Tell (Constanta County,
Southeast Romania. Environmental Archaeology 8: 97-109.
Romania/Harsova-Tell/coprolite/dog/pig/human
1955 Pollenanalytische Untersuchungen zu einigen schweizerischen
Pfahlbauproblemen. In Das Pfahlbauproblem, ed. W. U. Guyan, pp.
11-68. Monographien zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Schweiz 11.
Birkhauser, Basel.
Switzerland/pollen/3 sheep-goat droppings (pp. 28-32)/OA
1984 Stall-feeding and Field Manuring in Switzerland about 6000 Years
Ago. Tools and Tillage 5: 13-25.
Switzerland/fodder/fertilizer
2007 Formation Processes of Desiccated and Carbonized
Plant Remains - the Identification of Routine Practice.
Journal of Archaeological Science 34:960-990.
Egypt/Sudan/fodder/fuel/temper
1924 The Influence of Manuring on the Weed Flora of Arable Land.
Journal of Ecology 12: 111-126.
fertilizer/ethno
1992 Holocene Flora of the Tadrart Acacus Area, SW Libya,
Based on Plant Macrofossils from Uan Muhuggiag and Ti-nTorha/Two Caves
Archaeological Sites. Origini 16: 125-152, 157-159. (photograph)
Libya/Uan Muhaggiag/sheep/goat
1979 Horse Dung from Roman Lancaster. Archaeo-Physika 8: 331-350.
England/Lancaster/horse
1974 Dung as an Essential Resource in a Highland Peruvian Community.
Human Ecology 2: 89-104.
Peru/fertilizer/fuel/ethno/llama/alpaca/cattle/sheep
1986 Le Bois De Vache: This Chip's For You. Saskatchewan Archaeology
7: 25-28.
fuel/bison
1992 Le Bois De Vache II: This Chip's For You Too. In Alberta:
Studies in the Arts and Sciences, ed. J. Foster and D. Harrison. Vol. 3,
No. 2, pp. 225-244. The University of Alberta Press.
fuel/bison
2004 Ethnoarchaeology in the Moroccan Jebala (Western Rif): Wood
and
Dung as Fuel. In Food, Fuel and Fields. Progress in African
Archaeobotany, eds. K. Neumann, A. Butler, and S. Kahlheber, pp.
163-175. Heinrich-Barth Institut, Köaut;ln.
Morocco//fuel//ethnoarchaeology
Heat of dung-fueled fires (back
to top of page)
An edited exchange from the Archaeobotany List (Archaeobotany@ucl.ac.uk)
On Mon, 14 Apr 1997, Naomi Miller wrote:
Does anyone know how hot a dung-fueled fire burns? Or have a reference?
Several people have asked me this question in just the past month!
Clearly a hot topic.
From: GuildD@aol.com
It burns a lot cooler than a wood fire, with a steady low flame. In
India, it is used as fuel for cooking. Whomever does the cooking "puts
the pot on to boil" in the morning and leaves for the daily work. Upon
returning for lunch the meal is done. In addition, it's free. See Marvin
Harris, "Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches"
From: kealhofer lisa k
Rice's citations and discussions of open pit firing commonly include
grass, wood, and dung. The temperatures range from 550 C to 900 C.
Temperatures in enclosed spaces, such as kilns, ovens, or even hearths
may be at the upper end of this range and higher. [Rice 1987:156,
164,165]
From: Alwynne Beaudoin
Milt Wright (1986) Le Bois De Vache: This Chip's For You. Saskatchewan
Archaeology 7: 25-28
Milt Wright (1992) Le Bois De Vache II: This Chip's For You Too. In
Alberta: Studies in the Arts and Sciences, edited by John Foster and Dick
Harrison. Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 225-244. The University of Alberta Press.
Milt, who was formerly a colleague of mine here at the Provincial Museum,
carried out a number of experiments with burning bison dung, and
comparing the temperatures with fires from wood (poplar and spruce). He
was concerned to investigate the effectiveness of dung fires. Although
serious science, the papers are also well worth reading for Milt's sense
of humour and writing style.
From: Delwen Samuel
Regarding temperatures of dung-fuelled fires, my experiment in Egypt with
local village-made dung cake fuel (using palm fronds for initial tinder)
produced a maximum of 640 degrees C in 12 minutes, falling to 240 degrees
C after 25 minutes and 100 degrees C after 46 minutes. These temperatures
were obtained without refuelling and without bellows etc. I'm not sure
what the dung consisted of exactly but was probably a mixture of water
buffalo, cow, and perhaps donkey dung. The full time/temperature records
are published on p. 276 in:
D. Samuel (1989) Their staff of life: Initial investigations on ancient
Egyptian bread baking In: B. J. Kemp, ed. Amarna Reports V, London: Egypt
Exploration Society, pp 253-290.
From: M. Madella
From our ethnographical observation in Pakistan, cow/buffalo dung is
also used to fire pottery. The kilns are prepared with layers of dung +
whatever organic thing that can burn (paper/straw/dead branches...) and
pottery. Then are sealed with soil, leaving some holes for the fumes and
to control the burning. In general dung is the principal source of fuel.
Of course it is the major source of fire for house cooking. In the
desertic areas dung from camel is also used.
The Baloochi tribes that live in the Thar during the winter use
sheep/goat dung to make fires with a lot of smoke outside their huts -
this keeps under control the mosquitos!
At the moment I am working on the phytolith content of such fires in
comparison with the fireplaces for cooking (where a mixture of camel/cow
dung and wood is used) and, although the results are very very
preliminary, it seems to be possible to discriminate between the two
different fires on the base of phytolith assemblages.
From: Ruth Shahack-Gross, e-mail Sept. 21, 2006
I conducted an experimental firing of dung in an open fire. Cattle dung
reached a maximum of 630 degrees Celsius and sheep dung a maximum of
570C. The pellets, especially those from the sheep, continue to smolder
for quite a long time and essentially have the same characteristics as
those of live embers. It is quite a good fuel material. This experiment
was done as part of my work published in the Tel Dor article
(Shahack-Gross et al. 2005)
Dung and World War II (back to
top of page)
The Secrets of
War, copyright 1998 Documedia group.
An interview with D. Fisher; here is an excerpt:
DF: ...They found uh, some forms of pigment, they found all kinds of...what they didn't find, what they couldn't find was something that would give the paint the right color. Uh, so eventually what they did was took camel dung, of which there was an abundance in the desert, and they mixed it into the paint and they created this camouflage paint that eventually for almost a year was the only thing that they used in the desert. And it created the right, obviously created the right color.
Q: So did they make a run on camel dung?
DF: So once they used camel dung, what happened was camel dung actually had a lot of uses in the desert, it was used to heat stoves, to bake bread, to do all kinds of things. Uh, so Maskelyn, because they needed massive amounts, sent out all his people with burlap bags, and they would walk along camels, and they would pick it up and uh, obviously among the Egyptians they would look and they would say, "Who are these strange British people who are fighting us for the camel dung?"
Q: (unintelligible)
DF: The other thing with camel dung that was....(long pause)
Q: The other thing....
DF: One of the, Maskelyn really got involved, to prove his worth
Maskelyn
got involved in a lot of different projects very quickly after he arrived
in the desert. One of them was that the British were trying to make uh,
different sort of lines uh, trying to make different sort of mines to
blow up the Germans tanks, and at one point Maskelyn created, or
helped create small explosives that looked like camel dung because it was
known that Germans tank drivers, it was good luck to drive your tank over
camel dung. So Maskelyn made these small mines that looked like camel dung,
and the Germans would drive their tanks over it, they would blow up, they
would blow up the track, put the tank out of action, and it became known
that Maskelyn, that they were doing this, and there was an order that
went
out to the German tank drivers not to drive over camel dung. So then what
Maskelyn started doing is he started making these things that looked
like camel dung that a tank had already driven over, it had tracks in
it, so when the tank drivers saw these things that had already been
driven over, they knew they were safe, they drove over them, and again
the tracks exploded.
[NFM: Amazing what you find when you do a search for "camel dung"!]
And why did the Germans think camel dung was lucky? Maybe the answer is to be found at the microbial level; (relevant part in English).
Dung and the CIA
When the CIA's secret gadget-makers invented a listening device for the Asian jungles, they disguised it so the enemy would not be tempted to pick it up and examine it: The device looked like tiger droppings. The guise worked. Who would touch such a thing? The fist-size, brown transmitter detected troop movements along the trails during fighting in Vietnam, a quiet success for a little-known group of researchers at the intelligence agency.--Tim Bridis, Philadelphia Inquirer (January 4, 2004)
To see an attractive photograph (from Turkey) of this useful substance, click here, or link to some from ancient Syria! And some pix from Yassihoyuk: cakes, drying, and piles.
"Farm Uses Camel Dung for Environmental Clean-up" (Gulf News, Dubai, May 16, 2002)
In order to minimise the environmental impact of its oil-field
operations, BP Sharjah has been using camel dung and grass clippings to
clean up soil contaminated by oil or chemical spillage.
In a novel environmental exercise, BP Sharjah Oil Company has
established an on site 'bioremediation' farm, the company's regional
Outlook magazine has reported. Situated within the Sajaa Plant
operational area, the farm treats any soil contaminated by accidental oil
or chemical spillage.
"The treatment uses the natural bacteria found in the dung of locally
grazing camels to degrade the hydrocarbon content of the soil, eventually
leaving it non-hazardous," said a company statement.
See also
"Llama Dung May Be Used to Clean Bolivia Water Supply"
(National Geographic Society, April 18, 2003)
In Bolivia, water seeping from abandoned mines in the Andes is polluting
the main water supply of La Paz, the capital city. But a team of
researchers is developing a low-cost way to neutralize the acidic,
metal-laden water through a highly unusual filter: llama droppings.
In a pilot study, the scientists used llama dung to treat run-off from a tin and silver mine that has killed organisms in an alpine lake and continues to pollute the La Paz water supply.
Guts,
Germination, and Seeds
Andrew M. Sugden
Many plant species take advantage of the mobility of animals for the
dispersal of pollen and seeds. A common form of seed dispersal is
endozoochory, whereby animals ingest seeds and fruits and then pass the
seeds in their feces; the seeds of some plants actually require passage
through an animal gut in order to germinate. Pakeman et al. quantify this
phenomenon in an ecological context by recording seed dispersal by
rabbits and sheep in a variety of grazed habitats in Scotland, and by
germinating seed from dung collected during the summer months. The seeds of
almost 40% of the plant species recorded in these habitats were able to
germinate successfully after passing through rabbits or sheep--a
substantially higher proportion than previously thought. Regardless of
habitat type, species with smaller seeds and those capable of persisting
in a soil seedbank tended to predominate. -- AMS
Funct. Ecol. 16, 296 (2002)