Filling the Envelope: a History of Archaeobotanical Research in Cyprus

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Pushing the Envelope, Chasing Stone Age Sailors and Early Agriculture: Papers in Honor of the Career of Alan H. Simmons" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since the first experiments with the method of flotation in 1962, the sub-discipline of archaeobotany (paleoethnobotany) has developed and revolutionized our understanding of the origins and spread of agricultural systems worldwide. The history of modern archaeobotanical methods on the island of Cyprus has its roots in the 1970s with evidence from Neolithic Dhali-Agridhi, followed not long after by Khirokitia-Vounoi and Cape Andreas-Kastros. These early publications are testament to the role the island’s archaeological community has played in the early development of the sub-discipline. The expanding dataset of Cypriot charred macro-botanical remains has not only transformed our understanding of the origins and spread of Near Eastern crop agriculture but has led to new research questions on early Cypriot subsistence strategies. Summarizing nearly 50 years of archaeobotany on the island highlights the key players and how they have questioned our understanding of the past, focusing on the key role the sub-discipline will have in Cypriot archaeological studies going forward.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Pushing the Envelope, Chasing Stone Age Sailors and Early Agriculture: Papers in Honor of the Career of Alan H. Simmons

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23187