Plant diversity in the archaeological record: A means toward defining hunter-gatherer mobility strategies

Abstract

The diversity and ubiquity measures of archaeological macrobotanical remains can be utilized to help define mobility strategies of hunter-gatherers. Differences in the diversity and ubiquity of plant remains are predicted to occur between different types of sites utilized by hunter-gatherers. Such sites include base camps of residentially and logistically mobile groups, as well as special-purpose sites usually associated with logistically mobile groups. The focus upon the importance of strategies of mobility and plant use instead of the typological determination of plant taxa allows for the use of specimen types in such analyses when scientific identifications are difficult to make. Data from the archaeological site of San Jacinto 1, located in northern Colombia, are utilized to examine this relationship. © 1997 Academic Press Limited.