In a discussion of the development of agriculture, I found this
"When we began harvesting and replanting wheat in
Jericho and Mesopotamia, Indians were gathering
food from the lush greenery. They ate marsh elder,
sunflower seeds, and goosefoot squash. "

I found many sites that mentioned "marsh elder" but none of them gave any clue
as to is use as human food. Anybody know what part of it was edible?

Evidently it's the berries. It's referred to by a number of different names, as this URL testifies:
http://www.geocities.com/littleflowers_medicinal_plants/high_bush_cranberry.html

Dear Fiberbabe: It figures that the only thing the archaeologists could have found and
identified would have been remnants of berries. But sources I found showed only the
leaves, and did not even mention berries. I could not find "marsh elder" in your site,
but did find elderberry, which I have eaten. A couple old ladies who lived next door
to me actually made traditional "elderberry wine" but I never tasted it.

Marsh elder is listed as one of the other known names for the plant... one of those Eskimo>snow things, I suppose.

Dear Fiberbabe: I went back and finally found it, but what a mess of alternative names!

Common Names:
American Cranberry.
Cranberry Tree. Pimbina.
Flat Seed Berry.
Pembina. Nipiminan.
Crampbark Tree. Wild
Gueldes Rose. Gueldres
Rose. Cherry Wood. Dog
Rowan Tree. Whitten
Tree. Red Elder. Rose
Elder. Marsh Elder. Water
Elder. White Elder. Love
Rose. May Rose. Squaw
Bush. Witch Hobble.

And it says that if you ;eat many of them, they make you sick. The cranberries I used
to pick on Cape Cod are so goddam sour I have been told the Indians did not eat them.
It takes a lot of sugar to make them acceptable. I have never seen "high bush cranberries"
so don't know if they are also extremely sour. I'm surprised archaeologists could find
anything identifiable in those seeds.

Dear wwh,

Is your list various names for various kinds of cranberries, some of which are toxic? Am I reading you correctly? And, if so, I'm assuming that some of those names are for identifical kinds of cranberries?

Thanks for any elucidation,
WW

Dear Ww: people are goofy about naming plants. My grandfather called tomatoes
"love apples". I think those "high bush cranberries" just look a bit like cranberries.

Dear Dr. Bill: a couple of old ladies who live next door made a batch of elderberry wine and asked you to taste it? Don't touch that stuff! Haven't you ever seen Arsenic and Old Lace!! The plot's right out of the play! I wonder if they have a nephew named "Teddy" who's digging the "Panama Canal" in their cellar. Did you ever see any old men go into their house and then never come out!?

Halloween movie alert: For those who've never seen it, and as a reminder to those who have, the comedy-horror classic, Arsenic and Old Lace, with Cary Grant, Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre is a timeless treat for the whole family...a real gut-buster! Great time of year to rent the movie or to toss on the old tape of it again!

My grandfather called tomatoes "love apples".

Love apples is an old name for them. My JDM© has a little note stuck in it that says I have suspected it was a mistranslation of Moorish Apples. No explanatory note with it.

LOL, I immediately thought of Arsenic and Old Lace too. We did a full reading of that play in 10th grade english class, and I remember it well because I read as one of the old ladies for a few scenes. ;)

Ali