**Paleoethnobotanical Remains:**
– Macrobotanical remains: seeds, leaves, stems, wood, charcoal
– Microbotanical remains: pollen grains, phytoliths, starch granules
– Specialized training required for studying remains
– Techniques for processing and analyzing vary
**History and Evolution of Paleoethnobotany:**
– Over 200 years of development
– Establishment in the 1950s and 1960s
– International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany founded in 1968
– Growth due to processual archaeology and technological advances
**Preservation and Recovery Methods:**
– Modes of preservation: charred, waterlogged, desiccated, mineralized, frozen state
– Recovery methods vary based on research questions and sample location
– Sampling methods: full coverage, judgment, random, systematic
– Microbotanical remains recovery and preservation types detailed
**Processing and Analysis Techniques:**
– Various techniques for processing sediment samples
– Identification methods for plant macrofossils and microbotanical remains
– Quantification using statistical methods
– Tools and techniques like microscopes and statistical analysis
**Applications and Research in Paleoethnobotany:**
– Publications and research findings in the field
– Formation processes of plant remains
– Methodologies, contributors, and research methods
– Archaeobotanical studies on food production, culinary practices, specific regions, and interdisciplinary approaches
Paleoethnobotany (also spelled palaeoethnobotany), or archaeobotany, is the study of past human-plant interactions through the recovery and analysis of ancient plant remains. Both terms are synonymous, though paleoethnobotany (from the Greek words palaios [παλαιός] meaning ancient, ethnos [έθνος] meaning race or ethnicity, and votano [βότανο] meaning plants) is generally used in North America and acknowledges the contribution that ethnographic studies have made towards our current understanding of ancient plant exploitation practices, while the term archaeobotany (from the Greek words archaios [αρχαίος] meaning ancient and votano) is preferred in Europe and emphasizes the discipline's role within archaeology.
As a field of study, paleoethnobotany is a subfield of environmental archaeology. It involves the investigation of both ancient environments and human activities related to those environments, as well as an understanding of how the two co-evolved. Plant remains recovered from ancient sediments within the landscape or at archaeological sites serve as the primary evidence for various research avenues within paleoethnobotany, such as the origins of plant domestication, the development of agriculture, paleoenvironmental reconstructions, subsistence strategies, paleodiets, economic structures, and more.
Paleoethnobotanical studies are divided into two categories: those concerning the Old World (Eurasia and Africa) and those that pertain to the New World (the Americas). While this division has an inherent geographical distinction to it, it also reflects the differences in the flora of the two separate areas. For example, maize only occurs in the New World, while olives only occur in the Old World. Within this broad division, paleoethnobotanists tend to further focus their studies on specific regions, such as the Near East or the Mediterranean, since regional differences in the types of recovered plant remains also exist.