 Flotation machine in use at Hallan Çemi, southeast Turkey, c. 1990. Note the two sieves catching charred seeds and charcoal, and the bags of archaeological matrix waiting for flotation. Photo: Mark Nesbitt Paleoethnobotany, also known as archaeobotany in European (particularly British) academic circles, is the archaeological sub-field that studies plant remains from archaeological sites. Major research themes are recovery and identification of plant remains, the use of wild plants, the origins of agriculture and domestication, and the co-evolution of human-plant interactions. For the magazine about archaeology, see Archaeology (magazine). ...
For other uses, see Plant (disambiguation). ...
The term origins of agriculture is used principally by archaeologists to describe the processes involved in the transition from subsistence strategies based on the collection of wild plant and animal resources to strategies based on the cultivation of domestic plants and the keeping of domestic animals. ...
Dogs and sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated. ...
Bumblebees and the flowers they pollinate have co-evolved so that both have become dependent on each other for survival. ...
Paleoethnobotanists use a variety of methods to identify and recover plant remains. One method used to recover macroremains is to sieve excavated material manually in a water bath in order to allow the organic material to float to the surface. This method is known as flotation. The matrix (the soil from a suspected archaeological feature) is slowly added to agitated water. The soil, sand, and other heavy material, known as heavy fraction, will sink to the bottom. The less dense organic material such as charred seeds, wood and bone will tend to float to the surface. The material that floats to the top, called light fraction, is gathered with a sieve. The organic light fraction is then available for examination. Samples of the heavy fraction are also gathered for later analysis. Other types flotation processes include machine-assisted flotation and froth flotation. In archaeology, the term feature is generally used to refer to any nonportable remnant of human activity, such as a hearth, road, or house remains, later found or recovered by some archaeological endeavor. ...
Paleoethnobotanists also recover and analyze microremains phytoliths, pollen palynology, human paleofeces (sometimes called coprolite), and impressions in ceramic sherds (such as the imprint of grains in mixing bowl). Pollen under microscope Palynology is the science that studies contemporary and fossil palynomorphs, including pollen, spores, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, chitinozoans and scolecodonts, together with particulate organic matter (POM) and kerogen found in sedimentary rocks and sediments. ...
Coprolites are fossilized feces, or animal dung. ...
Coprolites are fossilized feces, or animal dung. ...
Palynology is a mature and distinct scientific discipline that studies pollen, typically in the context of reconstructing past environments. Pollen under microscope Palynology is the science that studies contemporary and fossil palynomorphs, including pollen, spores, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, chitinozoans and scolecodonts, together with particulate organic matter (POM) and kerogen found in sedimentary rocks and sediments. ...
SEM image of pollen grains from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea), prairie hollyhock (Sidalcea malviflora), oriental lily (Lilium auratum), evening primrose (Oenothera fruticosa), and castor bean (Ricinus communis). ...
Dendrochronology, the study of growth rings on trees relating to study of past environments, is another scientific discipline useful to paleoethnobotanical study. The growth rings of an unknown tree species, at Bristol Zoo, England Pinus taeda Cross section showing annual rings, Cheraw, South Carolina Pine stump showing growth rings Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the method of scientific dating based on the analysis of tree-ring growth patterns. ...
Research The work done in paleoethnobotany can be divided into field work, collections management, systematic description of species, and theories into the origins of human and plant interaction. Some examples of this analysis: Field work is a general descriptive term for the collection of raw data in the natural and social sciences, such as archaeology, biology, ecology, environmental science, geology,geography geophysics, paleontology, anthropology, linguistics, and sociology. ...
A paleoethnobotanist may find discrete concentrations of burned or dried remnants of seeds in an area of discolored soil (a possible hearth feature). If later analyses indicates that the remnants were of only mature wild seeds of a type of plant that grows locally, it could be inferred that the site was only visited seasonally. Such an inference could be supported by a lack of other features that would suggest that no permanent shelters were built at the site. In common historic and modern usage, a hearth (Har-th) is a brick- or stone-lined fireplace or oven used for cooking and/or heating. ...
Alternatively, a paleoethnobotanist may find that a fire pit feature contains concentrated remnants of a wide variety of edible wild plants that mature throughout the year. An archaeologist may find features at the site that indicate some sort of semi-permanent dwellings (such as post holes and middens). The middens may have concentrations of animal remains, identified by a zooarchaeologist as those of wild game, with a variety of species-specific maturity levels. In that case, a more permanent settlement may be inferred, perhaps to the level of a village. Such an analysis of the archaeological features could suggest a society of hunter-gatherers who inhabited the site on a more-or-less year-round basis. A midden, or kitchen midden, is a dump for domestic waste. ...
Zooarchaeology (or Archaeozoology) is the study of animal remains from archaeological sites. ...
In anthropology, the hunter-gatherer way of life is that led by certain societies of the Neolithic Era based on the exploitation of wild plants and animals. ...
A paleoethnobotanist may also find concentrated remains of plants that typically are only grown through active cultivation (such as corn, beans, and squash). At the same site, an archaeologist might identify features such as stone walls surrounding enclosures arrayed in a pattern, and deep, layered middens with concentrations of domesticated animal remains such as goats or pigs. An analysis of the site, set within the context of the archaeological features and animal and plant remains, would suggest a settled agrarian community. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Agriculture (from Agri Latin for ager (a field), and culture, from the Latin cultura cultivation in the strict sense of tillage of the soil. A literal reading of the English word yields tillage of the soil of a field.) is the production of food, feed, fiber and other goods by...
Further reading - Pearsall, Deborah M, Paleoethnobotany: A Handbook of Procedures, Second Edition, Academic Press, San Diego (2000), ISBN 0-12-548042-3.
- Christine A. Hastorf (Editor), Virginia S. Popper (Editor), Current Paleoethnobotany : Analytical Methods and Cultural Interpretations of Archaeological Plant Remains (Prehistoric Archeology and Ecology series), University of Chicago Press (January 15, 1989), ISBN 0-226-31893-1.
- Kristen J. Gremillion, People, Plants, and Landscapes: Studies in Paleoethnobotany, University of Alabama Press (February 1, 1997), ISBN 0-8173-0827-X.
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