Archaeologists find traces of flowering plants in grave linings that have been dated to 13,700-11,700 BP

Plants in particular flowers are a familiar feature of human ritual in many cultures. Unfortunately understanding the early use of flowers is immensely challenging due to the paucity of remains. Robert Power of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has worked as part of a multidisciplinary team in a study published in PNAS led by Dani Nadel at the University of Haifa to understand their use at Raqefet Cave on Mount Carmel in Israel where unusual preservation conditions have allowed the survival of traces of their use.