INTEGRATED ARCHAEOBOTANICAL RESEARCH PROJECT

About the Project

Welcome to the Integrated Archaeobotanical Research Project.

This Online Archaeobotany Tutorial is a product of the European Union funded Integrated Archaeobotanical Research project conducted at the University of Sheffield from 2007 - 2009. It was a Marie Curie Framework 6 Transfer of Knowledge program employing archaeobotanical researchers from across Europe and Australia. Charred seeds and fruits recovered from archaeological sites are traditionally used to reconstruct past diet, subsistence strategies and plant economy. The Integrated Archaeobotanical Research (IAR) project aimed to bring together all aspects of archaeobotanical research to focus on economic interpretations of plant remains and develop complementary research strategies. This tutorial contains sections on Wood Charcoal, Charred Seeds and Fruits, Charred Roots and Tubers, Waterlogged Plant Remains, Pollen, Phytoliths and Starch. Each tutorial provides information on the history of the discipline, how to sample for each material type, recovery strategies, how to recognise the remain type, identification techniques, how to quantify the material, analyse the data and store the material for each type of plant remain.

This tutorial is not designed to be used in isolation as a self-taught archaeobotany course. Instead the tutorial is intended to be used in tandem with a taught course or when under supervision in archaeobotany.

An archived copy of the original version of this site (2007-2017) is available at the Internet Archive.

IAR Members

Interpretative Tools For Archaeobotany

Ethnobotany

Introduction - Fieldwork - Methodology - Major Used Categories - Clues for Archaeobotany - References