Paleoethnobotany

Where do plant remains survive?

Arid and anoxic environments

How are plant remains identified?

By using comparative collections since different species have different characteristic shapes in their seeds

What are the issues with identifying plant and animal remains?

Context, taphonomy, recovery and identification, quantification, and culture contact in terms of how people eat depends on who they're in contact with and what trade patterns were looked at

What do plant remains tell us about human society?

In terms of domestication in seasons that will allow certain plants to ripe and see non food uses of plants like clothes

What type of data is your primary focus on in paleoethnobotany?

Macro botanical because they're what is is visible and something that is interacted with directly

What are the types of paleoethnobotanical data?

Microbotanical and macrobotanical

What are situations where plant parts survive?

Mostly if they have been burned to get carbonized leaving you with an inorganic that can preserve; has to be burned at the right temperature; but the amount of observable plants consumed by people will mostly be assemblaged

What are the advantages and disadvantages of palynology?

Pollen is good in a closed location but otherwise it usually blows away by the wind

What is the process of floatation?

Simple process that allows people to walk in hot climates and have a large tub filled with water that overflows with a water source, sediments are taken from the site and dumped in here; as water overflows it spills out plant remains and burnt plant seeds will float and remain in a screen that were invisible in the soil

What is paeloethnobotany?

The study of plant remains from archaeological sites