Overview
Discusses a range of current theoretical approaches in environmental archaeology
Analyzes botanical, zoological and geological data through an archaeological context
Considers diverse case studies varying across space and time
Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This volume contributes to the emerging topic of social paleoethnobotany with a series of papers exploring dynamic aspects of past social life, particularly the day-to-day practices and politics of procuring, preparing, and consuming plants. The contributors to this volume illustrate how one can bridge differences between the natural and social sciences through the more socially-focused interpretations of botanical datasets. The chapters in this volume draw on a diversity of plant-derived datasets, macrobotanical, microbotanical, and molecular, which contribute to general paleoethnobotanical practice today. They also carefully consider the contexts in which the plant remains were recovered. These studies illustrate that the richest interpretations come from projects that are able to consider the widest range of data types, particularly as they aim to move beyond simple descriptions of food items and environmental settings.
The authors in this volume address several themes including: the collection of wild resources, the domestication of crops and spread of agriculture, the role of plant remains in questions regarding domestic life, ritual, and gender as well as the broader implications of a socially-engaged paleoethnobotany. These studies point a path forward for the constantly evolving field of paleoethnobotany, one that is methodologically rigorous and theoretically engaged. Together, these papers shed light on ways in which the specialized analysis of plant remains can contribute to theory building and advancing archaeological understanding of past lifeways.
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Dr. Maria C. Bruno is currently an Assistant Professor at Dickinson College where she teaches courses in Archaeology and World Prehistory, Environmental Archaeology, and Archaeological Method and Theory. She is also actively engaged in Dickinson College’s interdisciplinary Center for Sustainability Education. Her research focuses on the environmental, technological, social, and political dynamics of ancient agricultural systems in South America, particularly in the Lake Titicaca Basin of the Andes and in the Llanos de Moxos region of the Amazon Basin.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Social Perspectives on Ancient Lives from Paleoethnobotanical Data
Editors: Matthew P. Sayre, Maria C. Bruno
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52849-6
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2017
License: CC BY
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-52847-2Published: 27 March 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-85000-9Published: 19 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-52849-6Published: 20 March 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 180
Number of Illustrations: 7 b/w illustrations, 22 illustrations in colour
Topics: Archaeology, Environment, general