Archaeological Plant Remains

Abstract

This chapter reviews archaeobotany (or paleoethnobotany), beginning with taphonomic effects on the probability that various kinds of plant remains are preserved and analyzed before discussing sampling and recovery methods and the character and descriptive terms for some classes of macroremains (seeds, charcoal, nutshell), microremains (pollen, phytoliths, starch grains), and chemical residues. The last part of the chapter discusses some of the major research areas of archaeobotany, including food practices, the origins of food production, and tracking climate change. It concludes with a case study on sample size.