In this Book

  • Ancient Plants and People: Contemporary Trends in Archaeobotany
  • Book
  • Edited by Marco Madella, Carla Lancelotti, and Manon Savard
  • 2014
  • Published by: University of Arizona Press
buy this book Buy This Book in Print
summary
Mangroves and rice, six-row brittle barley and einkorn wheat. Ancient crops for prehistoric people. What do they have in common? All tell us about the lives and cultures of long ago, as humans cultivated or collected these plants for food. Exploring these and other important plants used for millennia by humans, Ancient Plants and People presents a wide-angle view of the current state of archaeobotanical research, methods, and theories.

Food has both a public and a private role, and it permeates the life of all people in a society. Food choice, production, and distribution probably represent the most complex indicators of social life, and thus a study of foods consumed by ancient peoples reveals many clues about their lifestyles. But in addition to yielding information about food production, distribution, preparation, and consumption, plant remains recovered from archaeological sites offer precious insights on past landscapes, human adaptation to climate change, and the relationship between human groups and their environment. Revealing important aspects of past human societies, these plant-driven insights widen the spectrum of information available to archaeologists as we seek to understand our history as a biological and cultural species.

Often answers raise more questions. As a result, archaeobotanists are constantly pushed to reflect on the methodological and theoretical aspects of their discipline. The contributors discuss timely methodological issues and engage in debates on a wide range of topics from plant utilization by hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists, to uses of ancient DNA. Ancient Plants and People provides a global perspective on archaeobotanical research, particularly on the sophisticated interplay between the use of plants and their social or environmental context.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Title Page, Copyright
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contents
  2. pp. v-vi
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. vii-viii
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Preface
  2. Martin K. Jones
  3. pp. ix-2
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Introduction
  2. Manon Savard, Marco Madella, and Carla Lancelotti
  3. pp. 3-6
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. I. Methodologies in Archaeobotany
  1. 1. Sample-Size Estimation and Interassemblage Quantification in Archaeobotany
  2. Gyoung-Ah Lee
  3. pp. 9-25
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 2. Regional Exchanges in Southeastern Arabia during the Late Pre-Islamic Period: Phytolith Analysis of Ceramic Thin Sections from ed-Dur (UAE)
  2. Luc Vrydaghs, Paul De Paepe, Katrien Rutten, and Ernie Haerinck
  3. pp. 26-46
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 3. Examining Agriculture and Climate Change in Antiquity: Practical and Theoretical Considerations
  2. Alexia Smith
  3. pp. 47-70
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. II. Case Studies in Archaeobotany and Vegetation History
  1. 4. Swahili Urban Food Production: Archaeobotanical Evidence from Pemba Island, Tanzania
  2. Sarah C. Walshaw
  3. pp. 73-99
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 5. Plant Food Subsistence in Context: An Example from Epipaleolithic Southwest Anatolia
  2. Danièle Martinoli
  3. pp. 100-119
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 6. Vegetation Proxy Data and Climate Reconstruction: Examples from West Asia
  2. Naomi F. Miller
  3. pp. 120-134
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 7. Significance of Prehistoric Weed Floras for the Reconstruction of Relations between Environment and Crop Husbandry Practices in the Near East
  2. Simone Riehl
  3. pp. 135-152
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. III. Social Archaeobotany
  1. 8. Historical Aspects of Early Plant Cultivation in the Uplands of Eastern North America
  2. Kristen J. Gremillion
  3. pp. 155-173
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 9. Routine Activities, Tertiary Refuse, and Labor Organization: Social Inferences from Everyday Archaeobotany
  2. Dorian Q Fuller, Chris Stevens, and Meriel McClatchie
  3. pp. 174-217
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 10. Of Crops and Food: A Social Perspective on Rice in the Indus Civilization
  2. Marco Madella
  3. pp. 218-236
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 11. Anthracological Research on the Brazilian Coast: Paleoenvironment and Plant Exploitation of Sambaqui Moundbuilders
  2. Rita Scheel-Ybert and Maria Dulce Gaspar
  3. pp. 237-262
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. IV. Genetics in Archaeobotany
  1. 12. Rice of Asian Origin
  2. Yo-Ichiro Sato
  3. pp. 265-276
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 13. A Review of the Research on the Origin of Six-Row Barley
  2. Ken-ichi Tanno
  3. pp. 277-291
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 14. Maize Cob Phytoliths as Indicators of Genetics and Environmental Conditions
  2. Linda Scott Cummings
  3. pp. 292-300
  4. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Editors and Contributors
  2. pp. 301-304
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 305-316
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.