Ancient plants and people : contemporary trends in archaeobotany / edited by Marco Madella, Carla Lancelotti, and Manon Savard.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Madella, Marco.

Lancelotti, Carla.

Savard, Manon, 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plant remains (Archaeology).

Phytoliths.

Social archaeology.

Landscape archaeology.

Archaeology--Methodology.

Archaeology.

Food crops--History--To 1500.

Food crops.

Plants and civilization--History--To 1500.

Plants and civilization.

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 316 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Tucson : The University of Arizona Press, 2014.

Summary:

"Ancient Plants and People is a timely discussion of the global perspectives on archaeobotany and the rich harvest of knowledge it yields. Contributors examine the importance of plants to human culture over time and geographic regions and what it teaches of humans, their culture, and their landscapes"--Provided by publisher.

"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 a public and 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 in 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"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Preface / Martin K. Jones

Introduction / Manon Savard, Marco Madella, and Carla Lancelotti

Part I. Methodologies in Archaeobotany. Sample-size estimation and interassemblage quantification in archaeobotany / Gyoung-Ah Lee ; Regional exchanges in southeastern Arabia during the late pre-Islamic period : phytolith analysis of ceramic thin sections from ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, UAE) / Luc Vrydaghs, Paul De Paepe, Katrien Rutten, and Ernie Haerinck ; Examining agriculture and climate change in antiquity : practical and theoretical considerations / Alexia Smith

Part II. Case Studies in Archaeobotany and Vegetation History. Swahili urban food production : archaeotanical evidence from Pemba Island, Tanzania / Sarah C. Walshaw ; Plant food subsistence in context : an example from Epipaleolithic southwest Anatolia / Danièle Martinoli ; Vegetation proxy data and climate reconstruction : examples from West Asia / Naomi F. Miller ; Significance of prehistoric weed floras for the reconstruction of relations between environment and crop husbandry practices in the Near East / Simone Riehl

Part III. Social Archaeobotany. Historical aspects of early plant cultivation in the uplands of eastern North America / Kristen J. Gremillion ; Routine activities, tertiary refuse, and labor organisation : social inferences from everyday archaeobotany / Dorian Q. Fuller, Chris Stevens, and Meriel McClatchie ; Of crops and food : a social perspective on rice in the Indus civilization / Marco Madella ; Anthracological research on the Brazilian coast : paleoenvironment and plant exploitation of sambaqui moundbuilders / Rita Scheel-Ybert and Maria Dulce Gaspar

Part IV. Genetics in Archaeobotany. Rice of Asian origin / Yo-Ichiro Sato ; A review on the research on the origin of six-row barley / Ken-ichi Tanno ; Maize cob phytoliths as indicators of genetics and environmental conditions / Linda Scott Cummings.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780816527106

0816527105

OCLC:

876351008