Paleoethnobotany (Other Keyword)

351-375 (461 Records)

Political Ecology of Postclassic Maya Plant Use at Lake Mensabak, Chiapas, México. (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Sebastian Salgado-Flores.

This presentation examines a case study of changes in Maya plant use at several closely located sites during the middle-to-late Postclassic Period (~1300-1525 CE) at Lake Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico. These sites were inhabited contemporaneously and exhibit substantive differences in size and political/economic importance, making the archaeobotanical assemblages recovered from them uniquely suited for a study focusing on how they were created by social processes. It specifically examines whether...


Political Economy at a Casma Valley Middle Horizon Center: Evidence from Pan de Azúcar de Nivín, Peru (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Jacob Warner. Elizabeth Cruzado. Mary Avila.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since 2017 the Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológico Nivín seeks to clarify the cultural affiliation of the groups that occupied the middle Casma Valley, Peru. Architectural and ceramic features demonstrate the influence of both Wari and Casma cultural traditions at Pan de Azúcar de Nivín (PAN), a site occupied AD 950-1150. While the Wari Empire expanded from...


Pollen Analysis as a Proxy for Land Use Practices in Massachusetts, 1500-1700 CE (2020)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Anya Gruber.

This is an abstract from the session entitled "New Research on the “Old Colony”: Recent Approaches to Plymouth Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Questions of land—who owns it, who controls it, who alters it—are central to human relationships, particularly in colonial contexts where power dynamics are embedded within the physical landscape. In Massachusetts, land was central to cooperation and conflict between the Wampanoag and English. Land...


Pollen Analysis at El Campanario (Peru): Preliminary Study from a Public Architecture (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Paloma Cuello Del Pozo. Eduardo Eche Vega. Jose Peña.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The present research analyzed pollen samples recovered from public architecture at the site of El Campanario in Huarmey Valley (Peru). This exploration focuses on issues regarding archaeological palynology by presenting a case study with a preliminary set of samples in an attempt to open a line of research at El Campanario. The adobe platform, where the...


Pollen in Nautical Archaeology (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Staci Willis.

The inclusion of pollen analysis into the excavations of shipwreck sites has improved our understanding of the cargoes these vessels carried, the timing of the wrecking event, and, in some cases, the processes of ship construction. Vaughn Bryant spearheaded many of these advances in the palynology of nautical archaeology through his mentorship of nautical archaeologists at Texas A&M, of which, the author here is one. This paper will highlight the important steps Bryant and his students have...


Pollen, Contamination, and Interpretation at Paisley Caves Archaeological Site (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Chase Beck. Vaughn Bryant. Dennis Jenkins.

In studying the early inhabitants of North America, some of the frequently revisited questions involve how they lived, what they ate, and what their world was like. Archaeological Palynology is a well understood method for addressing these questions. Because of the constant pollen rain and the purposeful and incidental ingestion of pollen and spores, well-preserved pollen is repeatedly found in association with human habitation sites and human artifacts. Paisley Caves, Oregon, established itself...


Poorly Provenienced Perishables at the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum: New Directions for Old Utah Collections (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Tim Riley.

The Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum in Price, Utah contains an impressive collection of textiles and other perishable artifacts from Eastern Utah. Many of these artifacts were donated by private individuals early in the museum’s history and have very limited information on their discovery and provenience. Despite these limitations, these items can become much more than striking art objects displayed to the public. Recent efforts have focused on expanding the useful data...


Postclassic Firewood Management at Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico: Using Forest Surveys and GIS Modeling to Predict Charcoal Midden Composition (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Sebastian Salgado-Flores.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the last several decades, research in anthracology (the study of charcoal recovered from archaeological sites) has become increasingly relevant to our understanding of human-environment dynamics. The field’s understanding of human fuelwood collection is currently based on a model guided by the “Principle of Least Effort,” which expects wood gatherers to...


Practical and social storage among the Ohio Hopewell: Archaeobotanical and ethnoarchaeological evidence for delayed return of pre-maize crops (2015)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Andrew Weiland.

Social storage and social complexity indicated in the scale of Hopewell earthwork building, craft specialization, and mortuary goods suggest surplus created though subsistence intensification. However, artifacts and features associated with practical storage of such a surplus are uncommon at most Ohio Hopewell habitation sites. This study takes a step toward resolving this apparent contradiction by developing a predictive model from descriptive and quantitative characteristics of storage...


Pre-colonial Griddles in Central Nicaragua: An Archaeometric and Archaeobotanical Approach to Foodways at the Barillas Site, Chontales (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Natalia Donner. Andrew Ciofalo. Samuel Castillo. Alexander Geurds.

Since 2007, the Proyecto Arqueológico Centro de Nicaragua, directed by Alexander Geurds, has excavated several archaeological sites in Chontales, Nicaragua, northeast of Lake Cocibolca. This papers reports on fragments of ceramic griddles recovered in layers dated to cal AD 1275 and 1290 at the Barillas site - unprecedented find challenging our views on ancient foodways in the region. The paucity of these comales has hitherto co-determined narratives on human mobility from Mesoamerica, due to...


Pre-Columbian Introduction of Legume Trees Prosopis Algarobia Section and Geoffroea decorticans into the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile during the Late Holocene (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Virginia Mcrostie. Eugenia M. Gayo. Claudio Latorre. Calogero Santoro. Ricardo De Pol-Holz.

Our recent research in the Atacama Desert (18-27°S) proposed that Prosopis trees, Algarobia section (Algarrobo) were introduced during the late Holocene by humans and dispersed through cultural and natural factors. At least 41 direct AMS on seeds and pods retrieved from archaeobotanical and paleoecological contexts (rodent middens and leaf litter deposits) show that the earliest presence occurred ~4200 cal BP but most dates fall over a thousand years later, during and after the Formative period....


Preclassic Maya Plant Use along the Usumacinta River: A Microbotanical Approach (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Clarissa Cagnato.

This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Paleoethnobotanical evidence, in conjunction with other archaeological data, provides key information regarding ancient practices. This paper presents the results of microbotanical analyses —specifically the study of starch grains—carried out on diverse Preclassic Maya archaeological...


Prehispanic plant remains from Altica, Teotihuacan Valley Mexico (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Guillermo Acosta-Ochoa. Emily McClung de Tapia. Diana Martínez-Yrizar. Cristina Adriano-Morán. Jorge Cruz-Palma.

Altica, situated in the southeastern sector of the Teotihuacan Valley, represents the earliest known farming community in this region. Its importance lies in the potential for the recovery of evidence for domestic plant use by these early inhabitants. Plant remains recovered over several decades in the Teotihuacan Valley provide an idea of the predominant plant communities in the area during the Early-Middle Formative, an indicator of local environmental conditions. Preliminary results from the...


Prehistoric Agriculture in South Tibet: Archaeobotanical Perpespective from Bangga Site (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Jixiang Song.

To understand the evolution of agricultural economy in south Tibet, a large number of flotation samples and phytolith samples were collected during 2015-2017 field seasons at Bangga site. Preliminary analysis on these samples shows clues to the subsistence strategy, the nature of the site (pastoral or agropastoral)and probably the seasonality of the occupation of the site. Comparison with Changguogou site which is earlier in time indicates changes in subsistence strategy over time in this...


Prehistoric Plant Utilization in Southeastern New Mexico: A unique publication merging academic and public interests (2015)
DOCUMENT Citation Only William Whitehead.

The investigation of plant use, in southeastern New Mexico, in prehistory has been widely covered, this project continues this tradition by synthesizing and compiling all of the information to date in the region. The Carlsbad Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management, administrators of the Permian Basin Mitigation Program, is sponsoring the publication of a reference book on prehistoric plant use in Southeastern New Mexico. This free text will bring together recent work in radiocarbon...


A Preliminary Comparison of Paleoethnobotanical Remains from Cerro Baul and Cerro Mejia in the Upper Moquegua Valley, Peru (2015)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Matthew Biwer. Donna Nash.

This paper presents preliminary analysis of macrobotanical remains from the Middle Horizon Wari Imperial sites in the Upper Moquegua Valley, Peru. Plant remains from the sites Cerro Baúl and Cerro Mejía are compared to begin contracting a baseline for Wari residential subsistence at the colony, and the greater Empire. Additionally, paleoethnobotanical remains from the sites are compared to further develop archaeological interpretations of Wari social practices surrounding food. SAA 2015...


Preliminary Insights into the Biocultural Trajectory of Maize in Southwestern Amazonia (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Jennifer Watling. Tiago Hermenegildo. Thiago Kater. Fabian Menges.

This is an abstract from the "Subsistence Crops and Animals as a Proxy for Human Cultural Practice" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Mounting archaeobotanical and archaeogenetic data show that the southwestern Amazon region had an important role to play in the history of South American maize dispersal, acting as a “secondary improvement center” for primitive lineages that arrived in the region during the Middle Holocene (>6500 BP). How these...


Preliminary Results from Paleoethnobotanical Analysis of Pit Features at the Morton Village Site (11F2), Central Illinois (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Kelsey Nordine.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper presents the preliminary results of paleoethnobotanical analysis of flotation samples from 38 external pit features from the Morton Village Site (11F2), located in the Central Illinois River Valley (CIRV). Previous research at Morton Village provides strong evidence that the village was occupied contemporaneously by both Mississippian and Oneota...


Preliminary Results of Paleoethnobotanical Analysis at Quilcapampa, a Middle Horizon site in Arequipa, Peru (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Matthew Biwer.

In this poster I present preliminary results and interpretations of paleoethnobotanical investigations at the site of Quilcapampa, located in the Siguas Valley, Department of Arequipa in south-central Peru. Recent AMS radiocarbon dates indicate Quilcapampa was occupied for a short period during the mid-eighth century AD, which places the site within the Middle Horizon (AD 600-1000). Based on site architecture and ceramic evidence, the site may represent a colonial installation of Wari Empire...


Preservation and Perception: Archaeobotanical Patterning and Site Formation Processes in Mycenaean Messenia (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Susan Allen. China Shelton. Calla McNamee.

Despite the increased application of spatially intensive sampling for archaeobotanical remains at large Mycenaean sites in Greece, the recovered assemblages are typically small and show poor preservation. Here, we consider the macrobotanical assemblage recovered through flotation of more than 7000 L of sediment at the site of Iklaina, in Messenia, in conjunction with microbotanical remains (starches, phytoliths) to illuminate cultural and natural site formation processes that have either...


Preserving Oaxacan Foodways in the Face of Conquest: The Seed Bank at Cerro del Convento (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Stacie King. Shanti Morell-Hart.

This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Oaxacan Cuisine" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The rich culinary traditions of Oaxaca were both enhanced through and catastrophically disrupted by Spanish incursions during the Colonial Period. However, in spite of many radical transformations in cooking techniques and ingredients, indigenous people of Oaxaca persisted in their use of certain foods and practices. This persistence sometimes required...


Prey Choice and Politics: Modelling Postclassic Maya Wood Selection at La Punta, Chiapas, Mexico (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Sebastian Salgado-Flores.

How did Postclassic Maya communities decide which tree species to harvest for firewood and timber in a diverse forest environment? Most studies of ancient tree selection have used the principles of optimal foraging to construct a baseline of expectations for interpreting archaeological charcoal datasets. This paper will explore the implications of such a model on the interpretation of wood charcoals from the site of La Punta in Chiapas, Mexico, while also considering how the political structure...


Pristine Forests of Southern Chile? Evidence for a Millennium of Anthropogenic Woodlands (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Ayelen Delgado Orellana.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The relevance of the temperate forests of South America (35°S–55°S) have been acknowledged in ecological and biodiversity terms. Although evidence of human settlements in this vast territory goes back to ∼14,600 cal yr BP, these forests are commonly referred to as pristine or natural environments. In Southern Chile, paleoenvironmental studies indicate that...


Public Archaeology at Kathio National Historic Landmark: Structure and Archaeobotany of a Burned Earthlodge (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only David Mather. Jim Cummings. David Maki. Seppo Valppu.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Kathio National Historic Landmark, in east-central Minnesota, is an important place within the ancestral homeland of the Dakota Nation. Petaga Point (21ML11) is one of the contributing sites within the landmark, and excavations there in the 1960s were a primary source for the Woodland Tradition ceramic sequence of the Mille Lacs locality. Elden Johnson...


Puebloan Subsistence Patterns on the Shivwits Plateau, North Rim of the Grand Canyon (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Alexandria Flynn. Karen Harry. Leilani Lucas.

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Based on fieldwork from the South Rim, Alan Sullivan has argued that ancient Puebloans in the Grand Canyon region practiced little or no corn agriculture. Instead, he proposes they relied on the gathering and processing of wild plants such as pinyon nuts, amaranth, and goosefoot. Here, we evaluate the applicability of this...