Archaeology: Week 6- Paleoethnobotany

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What human-plant relationships and interactions? : Consumption as food & medicine

"You are what you eat", Ancient people also needed a balanced diet, including protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals

Ethnoarchaeology of Tapa: fabric from the inner bark: Tapa

Also known as bark cloth / bark paper, Uses inner bark of Moraceae trees, esp. paper mulberry, Widely seen in the tropics until 16th century, Still a fabric of cultural significance to Austronesian peoples, as well as communities in Mesoamerica

Edgar Anderson and St. Louis

Botanist, "Curator of Useful Plants", Studied plant-people relationships, Tackled lack of research into crops & weeds, Taught many in St. Louis about plants

weedy plants: Status as "weed" depends on human intentions

Can be noxious/undesirable, actively encouraged, or tolerated/ignored

Macrobotanical remains

Can be observed with the naked eye, Preserved charred, waterlogged, or desiccated at archaeological sites, Taxonomic identification usually conducted under a microscope

What human-plant relationships and interactions? : Materials for crafts and structures

Different plant parts and taxa have different suitable properties; Tools, fabrics, containers, architectural structures, etc.

How do we RECOVER plant remains from an archaeological site?: Macrobotanical remains

Flotation (charred remains), Dry screening (desiccated remains), Wet sieving (waterlogged remains)

Resources, processing, and management

Gathering, processing, cooking, storage, management, cultivation

How would we study the use of Tapa in the past?

Historical and museum records, Ethnoarchaeology of present populations using Tapa, Fabric preserved in archaeological sites, Stone and wooden beaters, or mallets , Microbotanical residue (starch grains)

weedy plants: ecofacts

Like crops, they are closely associated with humans, adapted to human-created niches

Plant foods in Neolithic China: Jiahu Site(Case Study)

Neolithic settlement, Central Plain, China (dated to 7,000 BP), Known as earliest site of rice cultivation in China§Waterlogged site, Plant remains, charred and uncharred, Foxtail millet, rice, pears, apricots, acorns, chestnuts, beans, edible roots and tubers

Microbotanical remains

Only observable under a microscope, Found on surfaces of artifacts and in the sediment at archaeological sites, Taxonomic identification requires a high power microscope

what are weedy plants?

Pioneers, who grow rapidly, Capable of reproducing without human assistance, Status as "weed" depends on human intentions, Ecofacts

Reflections of the environment

Reconstruction of paleoclimate, landscape, seasonality, ecosystem niches

How do we RECOVER plant remains from an archaeological site?: Microbotanical remains

Sample residue on artifacts (starch grains), Take sediment cores (pollen, phytoliths)

Analyzing a Flotation sample

Taxonomic identification, Sorting, Counting and weighing

co-existence, co-dependence

The wild, the weedy, and the domesticated

Involvement in human societal structures

Trading, economy, mobility, knowledge transfer, Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and biodiversity

weedy plants: pioneers, who rapidly

Well adapted to growing in disturbed landscapes, e.g. human spaces

weedy plants: Capable of reproducing without human assistance

Yet, some cultivated crops can hybridize with "wild" and "weedy" relatives

flotation

an archaeological technique employed to recover very tiny objects by immersion of soil samples in water to separate heavy from light particles

microbotanical remains: pollen

carriers of male sex cells

Macrobotanical remains: seed

embryo

Macrobotanical remains: wood

fibrous structural tissue

microbotanical remains: starch grains

form of carbohydrate, often found in storage organs, e.g. tubers, fruits, seeds

Macrobotanical remains: nutshell

hard shell of a nut (fruit)

microbotanical remains: phytoliths

silica structures found in some plant tissues

Paleoethnobotany

the study of ancient humans' uses for plants

Macrobotanical remains: parenchyma

tissue of storage organs, e.g. tubers


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