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76-440: 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

152-542: A frozen state or as impressions . The former occurs quite rarely, but a famous example comes from Ötzi , the 5,500 year old mummy found frozen in the French Alps, whose stomach contents revealed the plant and meat components of his last meal. The latter occurs more regularly, though plant impressions do not actually preserve the macrobotanical remains themselves, but rather their negative imprints in pliable materials like clay, mudbrick or plaster. Impressions often result from

228-493: A culture rather than its parts, or artifacts. Systems theory however, proved to have problematic limitations for archaeology as a whole, in that it works well when describing how elements of a culture interact, but performs poorly when describing why they interact the way they do. Despite its lacking, Systems Theory has become a very important part of processualism, as it sets archaeologists with parameters to examine other cultures unique to its peoples, while limiting interference from

304-647: A different aspect of humans' relation with their surrounding environment. Together these components (along with methods from other fields) are combined to fully understand a past society's lifestyle and interactions with their environment. Past aspects of land use, food production, tool use, and occupation patterns can all be established and the knowledge applied to current and future human-environment interactions. Through predation, agriculture, and introduction of foreign biota into new environments, humans have altered past environments. Understanding these past processes can help us pursue conservation and restorative processes in

380-732: A low-powered stereomicroscope. The morphological features of different specimens, such as size, shape and surface decoration, are compared with images of modern plant material in identification literature, such as seed atlases, as well as real examples of modern plant material from reference collections, in order to make identifications. Based on the type of macrofossils and their level of preservation, identifications are made to various taxonomic levels , mostly family, genus and species. These taxonomic levels reflect varying degrees of identification specificity: families comprise big groups of similar type plants; genera make up smaller groups of more closely related plants within each family, and species consist of

456-405: A more holistic understanding of past human livelihood and people-environment interactions, especially how climatic stress affected humans and forced them to adapt. In archaeology in the 1960s, the environment was seen as having a "passive" interaction with humans. With the inclusion of Darwinism and ecological principles, however, this paradigm began to shift. Prominent theories and principles of

532-516: A number of other fields to include numerous cross and subfields such as: Environmental archaeology has emerged as a distinct discipline since the second half of the 20th century. In recent years it has grown rapidly in significance and is now an established component of most excavation projects. The field is multidisciplinary, and environmental archaeologists, as well as palaeoecologists, work side by side with archaeologists and anthropologists specialising in material culture studies in order to achieve

608-411: A people's social and cultural behaviors. Analysis of specimen like wood charcoal, for example, can reveal the source of fuel or construction for a society. Archaeobotanists also often study seed and fruit remains, along with pollen and starch. Plants can be preserved in a variety of ways, but the most common are carbonization , water logging, mineralization, and desiccation. A field within archaeobotany

684-438: A proponent of processual archaeology, observed in 1987 that it focuses attention on "the underlying historical processes which are at the root of change". Archaeology, he noted, "has learnt to speak with greater authority and accuracy about the ecology of past societies , their technology, their economic basis and their social organization. Now it is beginning to interest itself in the ideology of early communities: their religions,

760-432: A qualitative assessment of the plant remains at an archaeological site (presence and absence), but the application of simple statistical methods (non-multivariate) followed shortly thereafter. The use of more complex statistics (multivariate), however, is a more recent development. In general, simple statistics allow for observations concerning specimen values across space and over time, while more complex statistics facilitate

836-426: A radical new conclusion that contradicted long-held linguistic-origin theories. With Renfrew's proposal being far from conclusive, The New York Times published the findings, claiming that Renfrew's work has since been both supported and challenged in multiple studies by linguists, archaeologists, biologists, geneticists, statisticians, and computational mathematicians. Though Renfrew's conclusions still garner debate,

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912-528: A result, he argued, archaeology had suffered a "loss of innocence" as archaeologists became skeptical of the work of their predecessors. Clarke's paper would later be described as "one of the seminal statements of the New Archaeology, by one of its leading proponents" in Britain, if not elsewhere, by the archaeologists Caroline Malone and Simon Stoddart. Processualism's development transformed archaeology, and

988-402: A single site. In general, Systematic or Full Coverage sampling is always recommended whenever possible. The practicalities of excavation, however, and/or the type of archaeological site under investigation sometimes limit their use and Judgment sampling tends to occur more often than not. Aside from sampling methods, there are also different types of samples that can be collected, for which

1064-579: A society. This gave rise to middle range theory and the major questions asked by environmental archaeology in the 20th and 21st centuries. Research has since led environmental archaeology to two major conclusions: humanity originated in Africa and agriculture originated in south-west Asia. Another important shift in thinking within the field centered around the notion of cost-effectivity. Before, archaeologists thought that humans usually acted to maximize their use of resources, but have since come to believe that this

1140-564: A variety of recovery strategies that involve different sampling and processing techniques depending on the kind of research questions they are addressing, the type of plant macrofossils they are expecting to recover and the location from which they are taking samples. In general, there are four different types of sampling methods that can be used for the recovery of plant macrofossils from an archaeological site : Each sampling method has its own pros and cons and for this reason, paleoethnobotanists sometimes implement more than one sampling method at

1216-731: A very similar appearance with modern plant material, since their modes of preservation do not directly affect the remains. As a result, fragile seed features, such as anthers or wings, and occasionally even color, can be preserved, allowing for very precise identifications of this material. The high temperatures involved in the carbonization of plant remains, however, can sometimes cause the damage to or loss of plant macrofossil features. The analysis of charred plant material, therefore, often includes several family- or genus-level identifications, as well as some specimen categories. Mineralized plant macrofossils can range in preservation from detailed copies to rough casts depending on depositional conditions and

1292-490: Is Leslie White 's theory that culture can be defined as the exosomatic (outside the body) means of environmental adaptation for humans. That is, archaeologists study cultural adaptation to environmental change rather than the humans' adaptation over generations, which is dealt with by evolutionary biologists. This focus on environmental adaptation is based on the cultural ecology and multilinear evolution ideas of anthropologists such as Julian Steward . In exosomatic adaptation,

1368-466: Is a computer system that can process spatial data and construct virtual landscapes. Climate records are able to be reconstructed through paleoclimatology proxies , which can provide information on temperatures, precipitation, vegetation, and other climate-dependent conditions. These proxies can be used to provide context for present climate and compare past climate against the present. Each focus within environmental archaeology collects information about

1444-429: Is a sub-field of archaeology which emerged in 1970s and is the science of reconstructing the relationships between past societies and the environments they lived in. The field represents an archaeological-palaeoecological approach to studying the palaeoenvironment through the methods of human palaeoecology and other geosciences . Reconstructing past environments and past peoples' relationships and interactions with

1520-684: Is constantly furthering over understanding of ancient plant exploitation practices. The results are disseminated in digital archives, archaeological excavation reports and at academic conferences, as well as in books and journals related to archaeology, anthropology, plant history, paleoecology , and social sciences. In addition to the use of plants as food, such as paleodiet, subsistence strategies and agriculture, Paleoethnobotany has illuminated many other ancient uses for plants (some examples provided below, though there are many more): International Associations Journals Various knowledge resources Environmental archaeology Environmental archaeology

1596-530: Is ethnobotany, which looks more specifically at the relationship between plants and humans, and the cultural impacts plants have had and continue to have on human societies. Plant usage as food and as crops or as medicine is of interest, as well the plants' economic influences. Zooarchaeology is the study of animal remains and what these remains can tell us about the human societies the animals existed among. Animal remains can provide evidence of predation by humans (or vice versa) or domestication. Despite revealing

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1672-529: Is not the case. Subsequent theories/principles include sociality and agency, and the focus on relationships between archaeological sites. Government research audits and the 'commercialisation' of environmental archaeology have also shaped the sub-discipline in more recent times. Environmental archaeologists approach a site through evaluation and/or excavation. Evaluation seeks to analyze the resources and artifacts given in an area and their potential significance. Excavation takes samples from different layers in

1748-515: Is sometimes called the "New Archaeology." With few notable exceptions such as Boston University , universities in America classify archaeology as a sub-discipline of anthropology, while in Europe it is thought to be a subject more like historical studies. It is important to analyze which sciences are related because such analysis highlights the questions of what archaeology ought to study and in what ways. Like

1824-463: Is then mainly a personal, political and semantic decision." In 1973, the processualist David Clarke of Cambridge University would publish an academic paper in Antiquity claiming that as a discipline, archaeology had moved from its original "noble innocence" through to "self-consciousness" and then onto "critical self-consciousness", a symptom of which was the development of the New Archaeology. As

1900-505: Is where the majority of artifacts are found, but also because natural processes and human behavior can alter the soil and reveal its history. Apart from visual observation, computer programming and satellite imaging are often employed to reconstruct past landscapes or architecture. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of archaeology in general, the range of research in the earth and environmental sciences, and possibility of methodologies, environmental archaeology has branched and connected with

1976-688: The International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany (IWGP) was founded. With the rise of Processual archaeology , the field of Paleoethnobotany began to grow significantly. The implementation in the 1970s of a new recovery method, called flotation, allowed archaeologists to begin systematically searching for plant macrofossils at every type of archaeological site. As a result, there was a sudden influx of material for archaeobotanical study, as carbonized and mineralized plant remains were becoming readily recovered from archaeological contexts. Increased emphasis on scientific analyses also renewed interest in

2052-541: The New Archaeology ) is a form of archaeological theory . It had its beginnings in 1958 with the work of Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips , Method and Theory in American Archaeology, in which the pair stated that "American archaeology is anthropology, or it is nothing" (Willey and Phillips, 1958:2), a rephrasing of Frederic William Maitland 's comment: "My own belief is that by and by, anthropology will have

2128-562: The Nunamiut of Alaska , a people living in conditions very similar to those of France during the period in question. Binford was successful with this approach, and though his specific problem ultimately eluded complete understanding, the ethno-historical work he did is often referred to by researchers today and has since been emulated by many. The new methodological approaches of the processual research paradigm include logical positivism (the idea that all aspects of culture are accessible through

2204-542: The 19th century as a result of chance encounters with desiccated and waterlogged material at archaeological sites. In Europe, the first analyses of plant macrofossils were conducted by the botanist C. Kunth (1826) on desiccated remains from Egyptian tombs and O. Heer (1866) on waterlogged specimens from lakeside villages in Switzerland, after which point archaeological plant remains became of interest and continued to be periodically studied from different European countries until

2280-798: The 2000s alongside the improvement of stable isotope analysis and its application to archaeology, including the potential to illuminate the intensity of agricultural labor, resilience , and long-term social and economic changes. Archaeobotany had not been used extensively in Australia until recently. In 2018 a study of the Karnatukul site in the Little Sandy Desert of Western Australia showed evidence of continuous human habitation for around 50,000 years, by analysing wattle and other plant items. As organic matter, plant remains generally decay over time due to microbial activity. In order to be recovered in

2356-632: The Mayans impacted the environment allows researchers to see how these changes have permanently affected the landscape and subsequent populations living in the area. Archaeologists are increasingly under pressure to demonstrate that their work has impact beyond the discipline. This has prompted environmental archaeologists to argue that an understanding of past environmental changes is essential to model future outcomes in areas such as climate change, land cover change, soil health and food security. Processual archaeology Processual archaeology (formerly,

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2432-456: The New Archaeology would face particular opposition from amateurs, historical archaeologists, and practical excavators but argued that such individuals would still benefit from the theory's adoption. Processualism began to be critiqued soon after it emerged, initiating a theoretical movement that would come to be called post-processualism . Post-processualist critics consider the main weaknesses of processual archaeology to be: Writing in 1987,

2508-548: The amount of recovered specimens – though obviously, the more specimens, the more effective the results. The quantification of microbotanical remains differs slightly from that of macrobotanical remains, mostly due to the high numbers of microbotanical specimens that are usually present in samples. As a result, relative/percentage occurrence sums are usually employed in the quantification of microbotanical remains instead of absolute taxa counts. The work done in Paleoethnobotany

2584-504: The archaeological record and to refine its analytical and methodological approaches accordingly. For example, current studies have become much more interdisciplinary, utilizing various lines of investigation in order to gain a fuller picture of the past plant economies. Research avenues also continue to explore new topics pertaining to ancient human-plant interactions, such as the potential use of plant remains in relation to their mnemonic or sensory properties. Interest in plant remains surged in

2660-407: The archaeological record, therefore, plant material must be subject to specific environmental conditions or cultural contexts that prevent their natural degradation. Plant macrofossils recovered as paleoenvironmental, or archaeological specimens result from four main modes of preservation: In addition to the above-mentioned modes of preservation, plant remains can also be occasionally preserved in

2736-462: The archaeologist Christopher Chippindale of Cambridge University spoke on the view of processualism at that time, putting it in the context of the 1960s, when he stated that: The sharper students of the current generation reasonably regard the "New Archaeology" in its pristine form as a period piece, as strange an artefact of that remote era as the Paris évènements or Woodstock . They have some cause:

2812-607: The challenge facing proponents of New archaeology was developing a methodology of analyzing the archaeological remains in a more scientific fashion, as no such framework existed. The lack of this type of analysis in works of archeological science led Willey and Phillips to state in 1958, "So little work has been done in American archaeology on the explanatory level that it is difficult to find a name for it". Different researchers had alternative approaches to this problem. Lewis Binford felt that ethno-historical (history of peoples) information

2888-405: The choice between being history, and being nothing." The idea implied that the goals of archaeology were the goals of anthropology , which were to answer questions about humans and human culture. This was meant to be a critique of the former period in archaeology, the cultural-history phase in which archaeologists thought that information artifacts contained about past culture would be lost once

2964-574: The culture is determined by its environmental constraints. As a result, processual archaeologists propose that cultural change happens within a set predictable framework, and they seek to understand the adaptation analyzing its components. Moreover, because the framework is predictable, science is the key to unlocking how those components interacted with the culture as a whole. Consequently, processual archaeologists hold that cultural changes are driven by evolutionary "processes" in cultural development. The resulting cultural changes would be adaptive relative to

3040-487: The deliberate employment of plant material for decorative or technological purposes (such as the use of leaves to create patterning on ceramics or the use of chaff as temper in the construction of mudbricks ), however, they can also derive from accidental inclusions. Identification of plant impressions is achieved by creating a silicone cast of the imprints and studying them under the microscope. In order to study ancient plant macrobotanical material, Paleoethnobotanists employ

3116-904: 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. Plant remains recovered from ancient sediments or archaeological sites are generally referred to as either ‘macrobotanicals’ or ‘microbotanicals.’ Macrobotanical remains are vegetative parts of plants, such as seeds, leaves, stems and chaff , as well as wood and charcoal that can either be observed with

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3192-467: The different individual plants within each genus. Poor preservation, however, may require the creation of broader identification categories, such as ‘nutshell’ or ‘cereal grain’, while extremely good preservation and/or the application of analytical technology, such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) or Morphometric Analysis , may allow even more precise identification down to subspecies or variety level Desiccated and waterlogged macrofossils often have

3268-420: The discipline; the former produced a detailed paleoenvironmental reconstruction that was integral to the archaeological interpretation of the site and the latter yielded the first evidence for plant domestication, which allowed for a fuller understanding of the archaeological record. Thereafter, the recovery and analysis of plant remains received greater attention as a part of archaeological investigations. In 1968,

3344-458: The emergence of post-processualism in Europe. In his 2010 book on archaeological theory Matthew Johnson, then of the University of Southampton , now at Northwestern University , argued that despite the 40 years since its development, the "intellectual questions" first posed by processualism remained "absolutely central" to archaeology. Processual archaeologist David L. Clarke suggested that

3420-413: The environment. In this framework, the changes within the culture are not only understandable, but also scientifically predictable once the interaction of the variables is understood. In effect, archeologists should then be able to completely reconstruct these "cultural processes." Hence the name "processual archaeology," and its practitioners becoming known as "new archaeologists". Scientifically however,

3496-427: The ground and uses a similar strategy to evaluation. The samples typically sought after are human and faunal remains, pollen and spores, wood and charcoal, insects, and even isotopes . Biomolecules like lipids, proteins, and DNA can be revelatory samples. With respect to geoarchaeology, computer systems for topography and satellites imaging are often used to reconstruct landscapes. The Geographic Information System (GIS)

3572-497: The items became included in the archaeological record. Willey and Phillips believed all that could be done was to catalogue, describe, and create timelines based on the artifacts. Proponents of processual archaeology claimed that the rigorous use of the scientific method made it possible to get past the limits of the archaeological record and to learn something about the lifestyles of those who created or used artifacts. Colin Renfrew ,

3648-401: The kind of replacing mineral. This type of macrofossil can easily be mistaken for stones by the untrained eye. Microbotanical remains follow the same identification principles, but require a high-powered (greater magnification) microscope with transmitted or polarized lighting. Starch and phytolith identifications are also subject to limitations, in terms of taxonomical specificity, based on

3724-479: The landscapes they inhabited provide archaeologists with insights into the origins and evolution of anthropogenic environments and human systems. This includes subjects such as including prehistoric lifestyle adaptations to change and economic practices. Environmental archaeology is commonly divided into three sub-fields: Environmental archaeology often involves studying plant and animal remains in order to investigate which plant and animal species were present at

3800-410: The material record), the use of quantitative data, and the hypothetico-deductive model (scientific method of observation and hypothesis testing). During the late 1960s and into the 1970s, archaeologist Kent Flannery began championing the idea that systems theory could be used in archaeology to approach questions of culture from an unbiased perspective, as the study focuses on the symbiotic whole of

3876-531: The materials they study, the term "environmental" is used as a general template in order to denote a general field of scientific inquiry that is applicable across time periods and geographical regions studied by archaeology as a whole. Archaeobotany is the study and interpretation of plant remains. By determining the uses of plants in historical contexts, researchers can reconstruct the diets of past humans, as well as determine their Subsistence economy strategies and plant economy. This provides greater insight into

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3952-474: The mid-20th century. In North America, the first analysis of plant remains occurred slightly later and did not generate the same interest in this type of archaeological evidence until the 1930s when Gilmore (1931) and Jones (1936) analysed desiccated material from rock shelters in the American Southwest. All these early studies, in both Europe and North America, largely focused on the simple identification of

4028-502: The naked eye or the with the use of a low-powered microscope. Microbotanical remains consist of microscopic parts or components of plants, such as pollen grains , phytoliths and starch granules , that require the use of a high-powered microscope in order to see them. The study of seeds, wood/charcoal, pollen, phytoliths and starches all require separate training, as slightly different techniques are employed for their processing and analysis. Paleoethnobotanists generally specialize in

4104-430: The new archaeologies have responded with diverse new methods, new observations, new paradigms and new theory. However, unlike its parent, the New Archaeology is as yet a set of questions rather than a set of answers; when the questions are answered it too will be Old Archaeology." Processual archaeologists believe they can understand past cultural systems through the remains they left behind. One theory that influences this

4180-587: The origins of plant domestication , the development of agriculture , paleoenvironmental reconstructions, subsistence strategies, paleodiets, economic structures, and more. 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

4256-519: The other social scientists, the New Archaeologists or processualists wanted to utilize scientific methodology in their work. Archaeology, and in particular archaeology of the historical period, has sometimes been allied more with humanities disciplines, such as Classics. The question of where to put archaeology as a discipline, and its concomitant issues of what archaeology ought to study and which methods it ought to use, likely played no small part in

4332-581: The plant remains in order to produce a list of the recovered taxa. During the 1950s and 1960s, Paleoethnobotany gained significant recognition as a field of archaeological research with two significant events: the publication of the Star Carr excavations in the UK and the recovery of plant material from archaeological sites in the Near East. Both convinced the archaeological community of the importance of studying plant remains by demonstrating their potential contribution to

4408-405: The popularization of Post-Processual archaeology in the 1990s, helped broaden the range of research topics addressed by paleoethnobotanists, for example 'food-related gender roles'. Paleoethnobotany is a discipline that is ever evolving, even up to the present day. Since the 1990s, the field has continued to gain a better understanding of the processes responsible for creating plant assemblages in

4484-454: The present. Environmental archaeology provides insight on sustainability and why some cultures collapsed while others survived. Societal collapse has occurred many times throughout history, one of the most prominent examples being the Maya civilization . Using lake sediment core and climate reconstruction technology discussed earlier, archaeologists were able to reconstruct the climate present at

4560-409: The recognition of patterning within an assemblage, as well as the presentation of large datasets. The application of different statistical techniques depends on the quantity of material available. Complex statistics require the recovery of a large number of specimens (usually around 150 from each sample involved in this type of quantitative analysis), whereas simple statistics can be applied regardless of

4636-467: The recovery of microbotanical remains (namely, pollen , phytoliths , and starches ) follows virtually the same practices as outline above, with only some minor differences. First, the required sample size is much smaller: ~50g (a couple of tablespoons) of sediment for each type of microfossil analysis. Secondly, artefacts, such as stone tools and ceramics, can also be sampled for microbotanicals. And third, control samples from unexcavated areas in and around

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4712-604: The researcher's own cultural biases. An example of processualism, in the field of paleolinguistics , Colin Renfrew —who in his 1987 re-examining of Proto-Indo-European language made a case for the spread of Indo-European languages through neolithic Europe in connection with the spread of farming —outlined three basic primary processes through which a language comes to be spoken in a specific area. These processes are initial colonization, replacement, and continuous development. Supported by linguistic analyses, accepted migration progressions, and archeological records, Renfrew proposed

4788-435: The scientific understanding gained from the wide interdisciplinary studies demonstrates processual analyses of a complex topic provides valuable data that can be analyzed, refuted, and built upon to further understand cultural history. "Do these developments represent a 'New Archaeology'? Well of course it depends on the point of view of the observer and what the observer wishes to see. However, it does seem difficult to sustain

4864-479: The sediment matrix. These procedures can be quite expensive, as they involve various chemical solutions, and are always carried out in the laboratory. Analysis is the key step in paleoethnobotanical studies that makes the interpretation of ancient plant remains possible. The quality of identifications and the use of different quantification methods are essential factors that influence the depth and breadth of interpretative results. Plant macrofossils are analyzed under

4940-430: The site should always be collected for analytical purposes. There are several different techniques for the processing of sediment samples. The technique a paleoethnobotanist chooses depends entirely upon the type of plant macrobotanical remains they expect to recover. Microbotanical remains (namely, pollen , phytoliths and starches ) require completely different processing procedures in order to extract specimens from

5016-435: The specific relationships between animals and humans, discovery of animal bones, hides, or DNA in a certain area can describe the location's past landscape or climate. Geoarchaeology is the study of landscape and of geological processes. It looks at environments within the human timeline to determine how past societies may have influenced or been influenced by the environment. Sediment and soil are often studied because this

5092-465: The standard, recommended sample size is ~20L for dry sites and 1-5L for waterlogged sites. These different types of samples again serve different research aims. For example, Point/Spot samples can reveal the spatial differentiation of food-related activities, Pinch samples are representative of all activities associated with a specific context, and Column samples can show change or variation or time. The sampling methods and types of samples used for

5168-421: The state of current reference material for comparison and considerable overlap in specimen morphologies. After identification, paleoethnobotanists provide absolute counts for all plant macrofossils recovered in each individual sample. These counts constitute the raw analytical data and serve as the basis for any further quantitative methods that may be applied. Initially, paleoethnobotanical studies mostly involved

5244-486: The study of a single type of macrobotanical or microbotanical remain, though they are familiar with the study of other types and can sometimes even specialize in more than one. The state of Paleoethnobotany as a discipline today stems from a long history of development that spans more than two hundred years. Its current form is the product of steady progression by all aspects of the field, including methodology, analysis and research. The study of ancient plant remains began in

5320-427: The study of plant microbotanicals, such as phytoliths (1970s) and starches (1980s), while later advances in computational technology during the 1990s facilitated the application of software programs as tools for quantitative analysis. The 1980s and 1990s also saw the publication of several seminal volumes about Paleoethnobotany that demonstrated the sound theoretical framework in which the discipline operates. And finally,

5396-420: The time ( oasis theory , catastrophism , and longue duree ) emphasized this philosophy. Catastrophism, for instance, discussed how catastrophes like natural disaster could be the determining factor in a society's survival. The environment could have social, political, and economic impacts on human communities. It became more important for researchers to look at the direct influence the environment could have on

5472-605: The time of prehistoric habitations, and how past societies managed them. It may also involve studying the physical environment and how similar or different it was in the past compared to the present day. An important component of such analyses represents the study of site formation processes. This field is particularly useful when artifacts may be absent from an excavated or surveyed site, or in cases of earth movement, such as erosion , which may have buried artifacts and archaeological features. While specialist sub-fields, for example bioarchaeology or geomorphology , are defined by

5548-526: The time of the Mayans. Although the Yucatán Peninsula was found to have extreme drought at the time Mayan society collapsed, many other factors contributed to their demise. Deforestation, overpopulation, and manipulating wetlands are only a few theories as to why the Maya civilization collapsed, but all of these worked in tandem to negatively impact the environment. From a sustainability perspective, studying how

5624-422: The view that the character, scale and rapidity of recent change is of no greater significance than that experienced in other twenty-year spans of archaeological development. We seem rather to have witnessed an interconnected series of dramatic, intersecting and international developments which together may be taken to define new archaeologies within a New Archaeology; whether we choose to use these terms or avoid them

5700-401: The way they expressed rank, status and group identity." "New Archaeology represents a precipitate, unplanned and unfinished exploration of new disciplinary field space, conducted with very varied success in an atmosphere of complete uncertainty. What at first appeared to be merely a period of technical re-equipment has produced profound practical, theoretical and philosophical problems to which

5776-461: Was necessary to facilitate an understanding of archaeological context. Ethno-historical research involves living and studying the life of those who would have used the artifacts—or at least studying a similar culture. Binford wanted to prove that the Mousterian assemblage, a group of stone artifacts from France during the ice age , was adapted to its environment. To prove this, Binford spent time with

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