Tropical Archaeobotany: Applications and New Developments

ISBN-13: 9780415097840 / Angielski / Twarda / 1994 / 296 str.

Jon G. Hather

Opis

Tropical Archaeobotany looks at the examination, identification and interpretation of plant remains in tropical archaeology. It investigates the origins, spread, distribution and past use of tropical plants for food and other purposes. This volume details, with the use of case studies from a wide range of areas, the latest macroscopic, microscopic and chemical techniques for the analysis of plant remains, from seeds, roots and tubers to epidermal fragments, pollen and phytoliths. The manual should be useful to the professional and student archaeobotanist.

Recenzje

`This marvellous volume details the latest advances in the analysis and interpretation of archaeobotanical remains from tropical areas. ... a wealth of useful information on the various kinds of plant materials that the archaeologist may retrieve from tropical sites ... Hather and his authors are to be congratulated for laying the basis for a potentially powerful interdisciplinary approach to the problem of agricultural origins.' - Antiquity

Spis treści

Introduction; 1: Wood charcoals from tropical sites; 2: Archaeobotanical investigations on a multicultural site at Adam, Maharashtra, with special reference to the development of tropical agriculture in parts of India; 3: The identification of charred root and tuber crops from archaeological sites in the pacific; 4: Dietary evidence from the intestinal contents of ancient humans with particular reference to desiccated remains from northern Chile; 5: Methods in the analysis of starch residues on prehistoric stone tools; 6: Investigating New World tropical agriculture; 7: The prospects and problems of using palynology to trace the origins of tropical agriculture; 8: Anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams; 9: Pollen in Polynesia; 10: Chemosystematics in archaeology; 11: Protein and lipid analysis of food residues; 12: The genetics of agriculture

O autorze

Jon G. Hather