Identifying the Gaps: Prospects and Limitations of Using Pottery Collections As Archaeobotanical Data in Korea’s Neolithic

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances in Macrobotanical and Microbotanical Archaeobotany Part 1" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Neolithic (ca. 6000–1500 BCE) is a formative period of Korea’s prehistory that sees the beginning of plant cultivation. Although archaeobotanical research on Korea’s Neolithic began more than two decades ago, rapid development coupled with an almost total reliance on rushed rescue excavations has resulted in major gaps in the archaeobotanical record. While nearly 1,000 sites associated with the Neolithic are known, only a small number of these (<20) have been systematically sampled for archaeobotanical remains. As a result, very little is known about (1) the timing of the arrival of foxtail millet and broomcorn millet,( 2) the spatial scope of their cultivation and use, and (3) what other domesticated and wild plants were cultivated and/or used alongside millets. While the collection of archaeobotanical samples from sites excavated in the future will be crucial to gain a better understanding of plant use throughout the period, the use of legacy materials housed in museums provides one potential means of selectively sampling sites for archaeobotanical analyses. This paper will briefly discuss some of the prospects and limitations of using internal and external pottery impressions as a means of retroactively collecting archaeobotanical data from Korea’s Neolithic.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Advances in Macrobotanical and Microbotanical Archaeobotany Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39121.0