Paleoethnobotany

Flotation machine in use at Hallan Çemi, southeast Turkey, c. 1990. Note the two sieves catching charred seeds and charcoal, and the bags of archaeological sediment waiting for flotation.

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.^[1]^[2]

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.^[3]

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.

^ Pearsall, D.M. (2015). Paleoethnobotany: a handbook of procedures (Third ed.). Walnut Creek, California: Left Coast Press. ISBN 978-1-61132-298-9. OCLC 888401422.
^ Marston, J.M.; d'Alpoim Guedes, J.; Warinner, C. (2014). "Paleoethnobotanical Method and Theory in the Twenty-First Century". In Marston, J.M.; d'Alpoim Guedes, J.; Warinner, C. (eds.). Method and theory in paleoethnobotany. Boulder: University Press of Colorado. pp. 1–15. ISBN 978-1-60732-316-7. OCLC 903563629.
^ Christine Ann Hastorf; Virginia S. Popper, eds. (1988). Current paleoethnobotany: analytical methods and cultural interpretations of archaeological plant remains. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-31892-3. OCLC 18134655.

[:0-1] Pearsall, D.M. (2015). Paleoethnobotany: a handbook of procedures (Third ed.). Walnut Creek, California: Left Coast Press. ISBN 978-1-61132-298-9. OCLC 888401422.

[:1-2] Marston, J.M.; d'Alpoim Guedes, J.; Warinner, C. (2014). "Paleoethnobotanical Method and Theory in the Twenty-First Century". In Marston, J.M.; d'Alpoim Guedes, J.; Warinner, C. (eds.). Method and theory in paleoethnobotany. Boulder: University Press of Colorado. pp. 1–15. ISBN 978-1-60732-316-7. OCLC 903563629.

[:2-3] Christine Ann Hastorf; Virginia S. Popper, eds. (1988). Current paleoethnobotany: analytical methods and cultural interpretations of archaeological plant remains. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-31892-3. OCLC 18134655.

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