Archaeobotanical Chenopodium Seeds from across Central Asia

Summary

Plants in the Chenopodium genus have attracted human interest around the globe for millennia; they have been used for grain and vegetable food as well as being a key forage plant for herd animals. Historically, several wild species have been economically significant across Eurasia, notably in Central Asia, and the genus has been domesticated in various parts of the world, including East Asia. Wild Chenopodium seeds are the dominant category of archaeobotanical remains found in the vast majority of archaeological sites across Central Asia. Scholars working in Central Asia continue to discuss the possible economic significance of these remains and what use they are for understanding paleoecology and anthropogenic landscape change as well as human and herd animal diet. In this talk we will present a summary of this Chenopodium data and discuss the ongoing debates in Central Asia.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• From Birdseed to Superfood: Chenopodium Cultivation and Management across the Globe

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14417