Paleoethnobotany in American Archaeology

摘要: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the paleoethnobotany in American archaeology. For a half-century, archaeologists have been encouraged to save plant remains from their sites for botanically trained scientists identify and interpret. Paleoethnobotany lacks unifying theory. Its methods are principally derived botanical sciences its contributions determined by questions or specific archaeological problems. Plants crucial religious life of most cultures; indeed, they often metaphor itself. Calendrical rites signaled changes cycles important plants. To understand how populations withstand exploitation, one must detailed knowledge biology. Three major forces affect variability, viability, productivity: human selection, animal predation, insect herbivority nonbiological natural phenomena.