People, Plants, and Landscapes (eBook)

People, Plants, and Landscapes showcases the potential of modern paleoethnobotany, an interdisciplinary field that explores the interactions between human beings and plants by examining archaeological evidence. Using different methods and theoretical approaches, the essays in this work apply botanical knowledge to studies of archaeological plant remains and apply paleoethnobotany to nonarchaeological sources of evidence. The resulting techniques often lie beyond the traditional boundaries of either archaeology or botany.With this ground-breaking work, the technically and methodologically enhanced paleoethnobotany of the 1990s has joined forces with ecological and evolutionary theory to forge explanations of changing relationships between human and plant populations.Contents and Contributors:The Shaping of Modern Paleoethnobotany, Patty Jo WatsonNew Perspectives on the Paleoethnobotany of the Newt Kash Shelter, Kristen J. GremillionA 3,000-Year-Old Cache of Crop Seeds from Marble Bluff, Arkansas, Gayle J. FritzEvolutionary Changes Associated with the Domestication of Cucurbita pepo: Evidence from Eastern Kentucky, C. Wesley CowanAnthropogenesis in Prehistoric Northeastern Japan, Gary W. CrawfordBetween Farmstead and Center: The Natural and Social Landscape of Moundville, C. Margaret Scarry and Vincas P. SteponaitisAn Evolutionary Ecology Perspective on Diet Choice, Risk, and Plant Domestication, Bruce Winterhalder and Carol GolandThe Ecological Structure and Behavioral Implications of Mast Exploitation Strategies, Paul S. GardnerChanging Strategies of Indian Field Location in the Early Historic Southeast, Gregory A. WaselkovInterregional Patterns of Land Use and Plant Management in Native North America, Julia E. Hammett