Paleoethnobotany, or archaeobotany, is the study of past human-plant interactions through the recovery and analysis of ancient plant remains. Both terms are synonymous, though paleoethnobotany is generally used in North America and acknowledges the contribution that ethnographic studies have made towards our current understanding of ancient plant exploitation practices, while the term archaeobotany is preferred in Europe and emphasizes the discipline's role within archaeology.
Flotation machine in use at Hallan Çemi, southeast Turkey, c. 1990. Note the two sieves catching charred seeds and charcoal, and the bags of archaeological sediment waiting for flotation.
Pollen grains viewed through a high-powered microscope.
This image is part of reference collection work for archaeological dental calculus - i.e. looking at plants, animals and fungi from the inside to better understand them when finding them in archaeological samples. This image shows a piece of cranberry. This image was altered with AI to improve the quality and the colours
Charred barley grains viewed through a low-powered microscope.
Environmental archaeology
Environmental archaeology 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. Reconstructing past environments and past peoples' relationships and interactions with the landscapes they inhabited provides archaeologists with insights into the origin and evolution of anthropogenic environments, and prehistoric adaptations and economic practices.
Animal remains
The human environment department of the UCL Institute of Archaeology in the 1970s.
Lake sediment core used to help archaeologists reconstruct past climates.
