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Choose 10 objects/tools made from non-plant material from your everyday life. Find which plants were used in the past to create similar objects/tools.

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In conclusion , plant based objects are replaced by new non-natural ones .
Due to the never ending need of human consumption , industries have taken a step forward to create and mimic the use of the plant based  objects with new hybrid and less costly raw materials (synthetics). However, this act  has taken a huge impact towards nature since the amount of waste that is being produced is way too much leading to abnormalities in the ecosystem .

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Georgia Samara
georgiasm@yahoo.com

Department of Biological Applications & Technology

University of Ioannina
Iraklis Spyridopoulos

padlet :
paoktsis97@yahoo.gr
biotalent: mst1251@edu.materials.uoc.gr
Undergraduate student of Materials Science and Technology at University Of Crete

Θεμιστοκλής Κωνσταντινόπουλος thkonstantin@gmail.com
MSc student, department of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Constantina-Eleni Christofilea fns17133@fns.aegean.gr
Undergraduate Student of University of Aegean , Food Science and Nutrition department
Maria Skepetari maske72003@gmail.com
Biology teacher
Eleni Koulouridi elkoulouridi@yahoo.gr
No affiliation. Graduated from National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

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Plants and plant parts have been used throughout human history to make tools, weapons, containers, ritual objects, clothing etc. Plant material are mainly composed of cellulose. The deterioration or breakdown of cellulosic materials is mainly due to factors such as light, acids, atmospheric pullutants as well as insects, fungi and other microorganisms.
This is the reason why, nowadays, the use of plant material in crafting such objects or tools is restricted, as new synthetic materials have taken their place.
The aim of the following study is to present ten common objects or tools that were once made of plant materials. Now, these objects are mainly manufactured by artificial material that resist decay. This study also focuses on historical information about the use of plant material by different human societies around the world.

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Many objects we use in our everyday life used to be made out of plant materials. For this project, we analyzed ten of them as described below.

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Baskets were and are used for carrying various things such as fish, fruits, eggs, grapes or for storing food or bottles of wine.
In Greece, village Volax of island Tinos is well-known for its hand-made baskets.
Plants used for making various baskets:
- Vitex agnus-castus (vernacular name: ligaria). Characteristic: flexibility of branches.
- Myrtus communis (vernacular name: Mirtia).
- Pistacia lentiscus . (vernacular name: Schinos) Characteristic: durability.
- Acer sempervirens. (vernacular name: (Sfendamos)
- Phragmites australis. (vernacular name: Kalamia)
-  Zea mays. (vernacular name: Kalampoki). Part of the plant used for baskets: Leaves.
- Cornus mas. (vernacular name: Krania).
- Corylus wood (vernacular name: Fountoukia).
- Salix wood.(vernacular name: Itia)
All the plants should be flexible and resistant in order to be used for baskets

Extra info:
A unique museum in Europe is the Roma Basketry Museum in Komotini, Greece. Its collection consists of various baskets made by Roma from different countries such as Greece, Egypt and India.
For a virtual visit, please click on the link provided (there are also brooms):
http://romagr.gr/museum/5
Credits for the photo (& more photos available at):
https://www.ypaithros.gr/arxaia-texni-kalathoplektikis-kommati-ellinikis-taytotitas/

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Brooms are tools for the cleaning of houses and yards. In the past, brooms were made from plants. The "head" of the broom was made by tying together many dried plants and the handle by using another part of the same or other plant (usually the handle was a tree branch).
1) A plant used to make brooms in Crete is Bassia scoparia (Kochia).
2) Another one is  Sarcopoterium spinosum. It is usually found on island Crete, north Greece and on other Greek islands.
3) Sorghum scoparion. Photos with the procedure of making a broom from this plant are available at: http://www.zafirakidis.gr/en/sarothron (No conflict of interest)
At Kalavrita region, this plant was used a lot for brooms for the yards and the house and for very large brooms in order to clean the ceiling from spiders and other insects. It was used after preparation of the plant (dried, cleaned from seeds and leaves).
4) Hypericum Crispum (Island Tinos).
These plants share some characteristics such as flexibility and, after proper preparation, are presenting a high degree of durability.

Brooms from Spain (Madrid):
A study revealed (22) plant species used for making brooms, which presented flexibility and resistance.  The most used were: Chondrilla juncea, Mantisalca
salmantica, and Odontitella virgata.

Credits for the photos: Wikipedia

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Organic fibers coming from plants have been used for many centuries to make cloth. Today and since 1930 when the first fully artificial fiber, nylon, appeared, the presence of plant-originated fibers declined rapidly making our clothes in many cases fully synthetic.

Some of the most common plant-materials used for making clothes are:

Cotton
The cotton fibre is produced from plants of the genus Gossypium of the mallow family, Malvacae.

Cotton was used for clothing in Ancient India from 5th millennium BC. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote of cotton in India in 440 BC, “There, too, wool more beautiful and excellent than the wool of sheep grows on wild trees; these trees supply the Indians with clothing”

Linen

Linen fabric is produced from fibre extracted from the stems of the plant Linum usitatissimum and was an important textile before wool and cotton.

Ramie

Ramie is grown in East Asia, and is known as China grass. The farmers in ancient China are known to have used the fiber to weave clothing.

Hemp

Hemp comes from the Cannabis sativa plant and has been used to make cloth since ancient times. Hemp cultivation for fibre was recorded in China as early as 2800 BC.

Suggestion:
"Forget about cotton, we could be making textiles from banana and pineapple"

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/sustainable-fashion-blog/2015/mar/03/wearable-pineapple-banana-fruit-fashion-material

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The use of cosmetics dates back 12,000 years ago, when the beneficial properties of essential oils were discovered in ancient Egypt.

Women in Ancient Egypt used kohl, a substance containing powdered galena (lead sulphide—PbS) to darken their eyelids, and Cleopatra is said to have bathed in milk to whiten and soften her skin. By 3000 B.C men and women in China had begun to stain their fingernails with colours according to their social class, while Greek women used poisonous lead carbonate (PbCO₃) to achieve a pale complexion. Clays were ground into pastes for cosmetic use in traditional African societies and indigenous Australians still use a wide range of crushed rocks and minerals to create body paint for ceremonies and initiations.

During the Crusades, the ingredients used in the cosmetics industry became a real commodity. Exotic ingredients, whether flowers, powders, oils, fruit seeds, etc. could easily be considered exchange currency, because they were very valuable.

Advances made in the chemistry and pharmacy industry made it possible to use natural ingredients and to develop synthetic ingredients used in the modern beauty industry. Some of those ingredients come from :

1. Aloe Vera
2. Roses
3. Calendula
4. Lavender
5. Jojoba
6. Tea tree
7. Chamomile
8. Geranium
9. Basil
10. Rosemary

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The Egyptians used a variety of wood to build their furniture and other objects. The wood came from native acacias, local sycamore, and tamarisk trees. However, when deforestation occurred in the Nile Valley starting from the Second Dynasty, they began importing cedar, Aleppo pine, boxwood, and oak from various parts of the Middle East.
Archaeologists found furniture crafted from wood inlaid with bone, ivory or metal that dated as far back as 800 B.C. at Gordion, the alleged home of the mythical King Midas.
The Roman Empire also had its share of skilled woodworkers. Roman woodworkers used a variety of woods for their wooden creations. Wood species included ilex, beech, maple, elm, olive, and ash. The most prized wood in the Roman Empire was the African wood Thyine (Tetraclinis articulata, Cupressaceae family), which was believed to have mystical powers. It was used by both the Romans and Greeks to make furniture.

Photo of Tetraclinis articulata by Cs california - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4133919

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In traditional Aboriginal societies (ancient Australian societies), spears were sometimes made from reeds but they were also made from the roots of certain trees. To straighten them they were chewed then placed in hot coals to be hardened.  Different heads were attached to the spears to kill different animals.
Clubs and boomerangs were often made from She-oaks (Casuarina species and Allocasuarina species) and wattles. Both were used in hunting.
Resins were used to glue wood to wood during weapons fabrication. Resins are obtained from Porcupine Grass (Triodia species) and Grass Trees (Xanthorrhea species). Gums were also used as adhesives. They are obtained from a number of trees including wattles and eucalypts.
Bamboo was also used in ancient Pacific Island societies to make knives.

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It is a well-known fact that people used paint colors since the Stone Age 100.000 years ago. They used to paint in caves by using natural dyes from nature as it was the only option then. Later in history as they moved in houses they were coloring objects like vessels and cookware, the clothes they were wearing or the furnishings.

Natural paint colors were usually extracted from plants. That includes using their leaves, flowers or even the tree roots and barks. The main paint colors found in ancient times were black, yellow, green, purple, red, blue and brown.

So what kind of plants were they using to create each color?

To create black color they were heating tree barks to make charcoal. Charcoal has a characteristic black color that is indelible.

To create yellow color they were using mountain tea and the flower of the plant Crocus sativus. When they wanted to create a dye with a yellow-green color they were preferring the plant Hypericum perfotarum.

Green color was made from plants like buckthorn which belongs in the Rhamnus genus or the leaves and flowers from a plant called Iris.

To create purple color they were using berry juices.

Red color was mainly created from boiled bamboo, boiled roots from the plant Gallium Rubiaceae, the red berries, Hibiscus flowers and Sumac. Last but not least they could create red color from certain vegetable husks such as onions.

To create blue color they were using the flower of Centaurea cyanus or Hyacinthus. Furthermore the bark of the dogwood tree Cornus can also be used for blue dye as well as the flowers of Saffron Crocus and the leaves of Indigofera tinctoria.

Brown color was made from the bark of birch tree, the dried leaves from Acer ginnala or broom sedge.

Nowadays, synthetic paint colors are common in our everyday life as they are used in the food industry, in cosmetics, in modern medicine and many other domains. Synthetic colors, include engineered molecules, calcined clays, blanc fixe, precipitated calcium carbonate, and synthetic pyrogenic silicas. Synthetic food coloring was originally made from coal tar but now comes from an unrefined fuel source, petroleum.

Paint colors production has been industrialized since 1800s and today we can find any color we can imagine thanks to the developments in science.

Colored wool:

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A rope is a bundle of flexible fibers twisted or braided together to increase its overall length and tensile strength. The first "ropes" were naturally occurring lengths of plant fibre, such as vines (e.g Hedera sp), followed soon by the first attempts at twisting and braiding these strands together to form the first proper ropes in the modern sense of the word. Egyptian rope dates back to 4000-3500 B.C. and was generally made of water reed fibers. Hemp (Cannabis sp.) was used in China for the same purpose since 2800 B.C. All plant species with high concentration in fibers can be used for the creation of ropes (e.g. date palms, flax, grass, papyrus). In modern times plastic as well as various metals are used for rope creation. Synthetic fibres in use for rope-making include polypropylene, nylon, polyesters, polyethylene, Aramids and acrylics.

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Shoes are the foundation of every outfit. They allow a person to move safely and comfortably on unforgiving surfaces, protect the foot from the elements, and add that final statement of panache.

The oldest surviving shoes date back around 10,000 years. These sandals made of rope were found in Oregon in the United States .
In addition, coconut (palm leaves) could be woven in order to make sandals, in ancient Pacific Island societies.

Today the main materials for shoe production are :
1. Leather
2. Textiles
3. Synthetics
4. Rubber
5. Foam

Knowing the various materials most prevalent in shoes helps immensely in choosing the right shoes to match everyone's needs at the time. Understanding the variations in type, considerations of quality and maintenance, and the prospective benefits and drawbacks of each type is a huge progress for shoe production activity .

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Reebok Making Shoe Entirely From Cotton And... Corn?

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Many vehicles and devices were used to be made out of plant materials. Boats have served as transportation since the earliest times. It is thought that the earliest boats were dugouts, which are boats made from a hollowed tree trunk, such as Pinus silvestris. Another type of boat used to be the reed boats. They were used mainly as fishing boats and were made out of plant materials such as papyrus reeds from ancient Egypt or reeds from other areas. Egyptians also used wooden planks to create ship hulls. This technique was used by many civilizations. The ability to construct ships from metal triggered an explosion in ship design during the industrial revolution. Nowadays synthetic materials such as polypropylene are used to create boats. Compasses were also used to be a needle on a cork, floating on water inside a wooden barrel. Modern navigation systems are using computers and satellites to inform the ship’s crew about their course.

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Plants have been used throughout human history to create various objects. Nowadays non-plant materials are used for the same purpose. The objects we present in this report are basketry, brooms, clothing, cosmetics, furniture, hunting tools, paint colors, ropes, shoes and objects of transportation. All the above have undergone significant changes concerning the raw materials used to create them.

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31st March 2019

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Introduction:
Konstanze Bachmann, 2012.

Conservation Concerns: A Guide for Collectors and Curators. The Smithsonian Institution.

Basketry:
https://www.britannica.com/art/basketry
IVth International Congres of Ethnobotany,  “BASKETS OF THE WORLD", 2005 available at:
http://www.alfonsotoscano.it/baskets.pdf

https://www.ypaithros.gr/arxaia-texni-kalathoplektikis-kommati-ellinikis-taytotitas/
http://romagr.gr/museum/204

Brooms:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassia_scoparia
http://www.haniotika-nea.gr/119903-ta-mustika-tou-kipou/
https://www.wwf.gr/forests/pdfs/Frygana.pdf
https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A3%CF%8C%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%BF
https://www.kalavrytanews.com/2015/10/blog-post_72.html
http://www.rjb.csic.es/jardinbotanico/ficheros/documentos/pdf/pubinv/RMV/286CesteriaMasdrid.pdf
7.http://volax.gr/index.php/posts/683-%CE%A4%CE%B1+%CE%B1%CF%85%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%86%CF%85%CE%AE+%CF%86%CF%85%CF%84%CE%AC+%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82+%CE%92%CF%89%CE%BB%CE%AC%CE%BE

Clothing:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/natural-fiber
https://www.hunker.com/12003869/list-of-plants-used-for-clothing
http://www.wildfibres.co.uk/html/plant_fibres.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_clothing_and_textiles
http://www.historyofclothing.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_fiber
Cosmetics:

https://www.science.org.au/curious/people-medicine/chemistry-cosmetics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cosmetics
https://www.bhcosmetics.com/pages/resources-makeup-and-cosmetics-history

Colors:
https://www.thoughtco.com/ancient-pigments-our-colorful-past-169888,
http://earthdate.org/colorful-history-of-paint,
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13659-017-0119-9,
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/make-natural-brown-fabric-dyes-plants-2145739,
https://www.christinamossnaturals.com/the-top-4-dangers-of-using-fluoride/,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint#Pigment_and_filler
Furniture:
https://www.wagnermeters.com/moisture-meters/wood-info/history-of-woodworking/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyine_wood
Hunting tools:
Aboriginal plant use and technology,  Australian National Botanic Gardens Education Services, 2000.
https://www.guampedia.com/ancient-chamorro-tool-making/
Ropes:

Merry, Barbara. The Splicing Handbook. International Marine, 1987.

H A McKenna, J. W. S. Hearle, N O'Hear, Handbook of Fibre Rope Technology, Elsevier, 2004,ISBN 1855739933
National Research Council (U.S.) (1975). Mechanical Rope and Cable: Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Mechanical Rope and Cable, National Materials Advisory Board, Commission on Sociotechnical Systems, National Research Council. National Academies. pp. 51–54.

Shoes:
https://sneakerfactory.net/sneakers/2018/12/select-footwear-materials/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/fascinating-history-footwear
Transportation:

Robert A. Denemark, ed. (2000). World system history: The social science of long-term change (1 ed.). London [u.a.]: Routledge. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-415-23276-0.

McGrail, Sean (2001). Boats of the World. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-19-814468-7.

The last access to all of the above websites was on: 31/03/2019