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From the editor (Piotr Szmajda)
Preface (Maria Lityńska-Zając, Krystyna Wasylikowa)
Part
one: Theoretical foundations of archaeobotany
I.
Definition, subject and aims of archaeobotany
I.1. Subject of archaeobotany according to various authors
I.2. Archaeobotany in relation to other sciences
I.3. History of archaeobotanical studies in outline
I.3.1. European archaeobotany before World War II
I.3.2. Ethnobotanical background of American archaeobotany
I.3.3. The time after World War II
I.3.4. Outline of the history of archaeobotany in Poland
I.3.5. Main trends in modern archaeobotany
II.
Plant remains as source-material in archaeobotany
II.1. Problems in taphonomy
II.2. Ways of preservation of plant macrofossils
II.3. Microscopic remains
II.4. Supplementary sources
III.
Kind of archaeological site against a kind of plant material
IV.
Dating of plant remains preserved in archaeological sites
IV.1. Direct and indirect dating
IV.2. Dating by stratigraphic and archaeological criteria
IV.3. Radiometric methods
IV.4. Dendrochronology
IV.5. Plant remains as the basis for dating archaeological features with the use
of 14C and dendrochronological methods
IV.6. Archaeological chronology of Polish prehistory
V.
Outline of the history of selected cultivated plants
V.1. Centres of plant domestication and origins of agriculture
V.2. Comments on taxonomy of cultivated plants
V.3. Properties of domesticates compared with their wild progenitors
V.4. Cereals
V.4.1. Diploid wheats
V.4.2. Tetraploid wheats
V.4.3. Hexaploid wheats
V.4.4. The oldest naked wheats known from archaeological sites
V.4.5. Barley Hordeum
vulgare L. em. Lam.
V.4.6. Rye Secale cereale L.
V.4.7. Oats Avena sativa L.
V.4.8. Common millet Panicum miliaceum L.
V.4.9. Italian millet Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.
V.4.10. Buckwheat Fagopyrum esculentum Moench
V.5. Pulses
V.6. Oil and fibre
plants
V.7. Oleiferous plants and vegetables from the genus Brassica
V.8. Fleshy fruits and nuts
V.9. Vegetables and condiments
Part
two: Field and laboratory methods
VI.
Sampling and the problem of representativeness in archaeobotany (S. Kadrow)
VI.1. Dilemmas in excavation studies (lub Dilemmas in excavating)
VI.2. Bearing of sampling on archaeological and archaeobotanical studies
VI.3. Statistical sample and some other notions
VI.4. Sampling kinds in archaeobotany
VI.5. Sampling of landscape
VII.
Sampling in archaeobotanical investigations
VII.1. Peculiar character of archaeobotanical field studies
VII.2. General principles, obligatory in sampling of all kinds of
archaeobotanical material
VII.3. Field equipment
VII.4. Sampling for plant-macrofossil studies
VII.4.1. Sampling at water-logged sites
VII.4.2. Sampling at dry sites
VII.4.3. Practical guide for sampling at certain site types
VII.4.4. Field procedures used for processing samples of plant macroremains
VII.5. Sampling for pollen analysis
VII.5.1. Sampling from excavation
VII.5.2. Corings
VIII.
Laboratory methods in macrofossil and pollen analyses
VIII.1. General equipment of archaeobotanical laboratory
VIII.2. Laboratory equipment used for sample processing
VIII.3. Initial processing of samples
VIII.4. Laboratory methods used in processing macrofossil samples
VIII.4.1. Sample maceration
VIII.4.1.1. Washing
wet soil
VIII.4.1.2. Flotation of sandy soil containing charred remains
VIII.4.1.3. Extraction of dry remains from desert soil
VIII.4.2. Sorting of samples
VIII.5. Sample processing for pollen analysis
VIII.5.1. Rutine methods of sample maceration
VIII.5.1. Specific methods of sample maceration used for some sediment types
Part
three: Methods of identification of plant remains and presentation of the
results
IX.
Macroscopic remains
IX.1. Principles of carpological analysis
IX.1.1. Introduction
IX.1.2. Description and documentation of the material
IX.1.2.1. Description of sample
IX.1.2.2. Description of plant remains
IX.1.3. Quantitative analysis of samples containing fruits and seeds
IX.1.4. Presentation of the results of carpological analysis
IX.2. Experimenting in archaeobotany
IX.2.1. The aims of experimentation in archaeobotany
IX.2.2. The influence of fossilization on the shape and anatomical structure of
remains
IX.2.2.1. Artificial fossilization with the use of chemicals
IX.2.2.2. Experimenting with charring
IX.2.2.3. Experimenting with imprints
IX.2.2.4. Influence of fossilization on the structure of plant organs:
conclusions
IX.2.3. The examples of testing the hypotheses
IX.2.3.1. The influence of charring on the composition of macrofossil
assemblages
IX.2.3.2. Experimental farming: attempts at the reconstrution
IX.2.3.3. Examples of other experiments
IX.3. Identification of cereals recovered from archaeological sites in Poland
IX.3.1. Introduction
IX.3.2. Morphology of cereals
IX.3.3. Wheat identification
IX.3.3.1. Morphology of ears, spikelets and caryopses
IX.3.3.2. Description of wheat species occurring in Polish sites
IX.3.4. Barley
identification
IX.3.5. Rye identification
IX.3.6.
Identification of cultivated oat
IX.3.7. Common millet identification
IX.3.8. Italian millet identification
IX.4. Other cultivated plants occurring in archaeological sites
IX.5. Descritpion of fruits and seeds of some species of wild plants from
archaeological sites in Poland
IX.6. The analysis of wood remains
IX.6.1. Introduction
IX.6.2. Role of taphonomical processes in the accumulation of wood in
archaeological sites
IX.6.3. Presentation of the results of wood analysis
IX.6.4. Interpretation of wood remains
IX.6.5. Identification of subfossil wood
IX.6.5.1. Scheme of anatomical structure of wood
IX.6.5.2. Description of wood of trees and shrubs occurring in archaeological
sites in Poland
IX.7. The analysis of plant impressions preserved in potsherds and daub
IX.7.1. Introduction
IX.7.2. Identification of impressions
IX.7.3. Presentation of results of the analysis of plant impressions
IX.7.4. Interpretation of results of the analysis of plant impressions
X.
Identification of storage organs of plants being the source of food (L.
Kubiak-Martens)
X.1. Introduction
X.2. Roots and tubers as food source
X.3. Morphology of vegetative storage organs
X.3.1. Storage organs developed from stems
X.3.2. Storage organs developed from roots
X.4. Anatomical structure of stem and root
X.5. Recognising and classifying charred parenchymatous particles while sorting
plant material
X.6. Plant identification on the basis of charred parenchymatous tissues
X.7. Examples of charred remains of vegetative plant organs found in
archaeological sites
X.8. Future perspectives of these studies
XI.
Statistical inference and multivariate analyses in archaeobotany (A. Walanus, M.
Zając)
XI.1. Preface
XI.2. Reasons for the need of statistical inference
XI.2.1. Introduction
XI.2.2. Example of
statistical inference – number of grains
XI.2.3. Probability distribution
XI.2.3.1. Probability distributions
XI.2.3.2. Poisson probability distribution
XI.2.3.3. Standard deviation
XI.2.3.4. Standard deviation in Poisson distribution
XI.2.3.5. Number of significant numerals
XI.2.3.6. Measurements and counts
XI.2.3.7. Normal
distribution
XI.2.3.8. Testing
statistical hypotheses using normal distribution
XI.2.4. Series of measurements
XI.2.4.1. Homogeneity of results
XI.2.4.2. The average
XI.2.4.3. Standard
deviation
XI.2.4.4. Presicion
of the average value
XI.2.4.5. Comparison of two averages value, test t
XI.2.5. Formalism in testing statistical hypotheses
XI.2.6. Correlation
XI.2.7. An example of
elementary calculations and statistical inference
XI.3. Multivariate analyses
XI.3.1. Classification
methods
XI.3.1.1. Cluster analysis (taxonomy)
XI.3.1.2. Discriminant
analysis
XI.3.2. Methods used
to study the structure of data
XI.3.2.1. Factor analysis and the principal components analysis
XI.3.2.2. Correspondence
analysis
XI.3.2.3. Multidimensional
scaling
XI.3.3. Symbolic classification
XI.4. Conclusions
XII.
Pollen analysis in archaeobotanical investigations (K. Wasylikowa)
XII.1. The use of pollen analysis to study natural and anthropogenic
deposits: theoretical grounds
XII.2. Pollen analysis in studying archaeological sites
XII.3. Counting pollen spectra and presentation of the results of pollen
analysis
XII.4. Pollen analysis of dry sites
XII.4.1. Fossil soils
XII.4.2. Other
sources of palynological material encountered at archaeological sites
XII.5. Pollen analysis of cave deposits
XII.6. Pollen analysis of town layers
XII.7. Analysis of excrements and contents of human and animal alimentary canals
XII.7.1. Coprolites
XII.7.2. Cesspits, stables
XII.7.3. Contents of
alimentary canal of human dead bodies
XIII.
The use of phytholith analysis in archaeobotany (M. Polcyn, I. Polcyn, K.
Wasylikowa)
XIII.1. What the phytholiths are
XIII.2. History of phytholith studies
XIII.3. Phytholith morphology and identification possibility
XIII.4. Origin of phytholiths in sediments
XIII.5. The significance of phytholith analysis for archaeological studies
XIII.6. Microscopic observations
XIII.7. Presentation of results
XIII.8. Sampling for phytholiths analysis
XIII.9 Laboratory processing of samples for phytholith analysis
XIII.10 Concluding remarks
XIV.
Use of diatoms in archaeology
XIV.1. Introduction
XIV.2. Regional
palaeoecological reconstructions
XIV.3. Diatoms in (the) examination of artefacts
XIV.4. Practical pieces of advice
XV.
Examination of starch grains preserved in archaeological sites
XVI.
Role of chemotaxonomy and molecular biology in the identification of plant
remains and phylogenetic investigations (A. Joachimiak)
XVI.1. Theoretical bases
XVI.1.1. Chemotaxonomy
XVI.1.2. Molecular studies
XVI.2. Analysis of fossil DNA
XVI.2.1. Replication – PCR method
XVI.2.2. Further analyses
XVI.2.3. Main characters of fossil DNA
XVI.2.4. Choice of DNA
XVI.2.5. Choice of sequence
XVI.3. Discussion of some results of investigations
XVI.3.1. Maize
XVI.3.2. Wheat
XVI.4. Concluding remarks
XVII.
Application of physicochemical analyses in archaeobotany (J.J. Langer)
XVII.1. Introduction
XVII.2. Optical
spectroscopy
XVII.3. Infra red spectroscopy
XVII.4. Magnetic resonance methods
XVII.5. Mass spectrometry MS
XVII.6. Thermal analysis methods
XVII.7. Chromatography methods
XVII.8. Activation methods
XVII.9. Electron microscopy: TEM, SEM, and microanalysis
Part
four: Interpretation of the results of archaeobotanical investigations
XVIII.
Reconstruction of plant communities (M. Lityńska-Zając)
XVIII.1. Methodical grounds
XVIII.2. Syntaxonomic analysis of archaeobotanical materials
XVIII.2.1. The significance of phytosociological method in archaeobotany
XVIII.2.2. The application of phytosociology to the interpretation of subfossil
material
XVIII.2.2.1. Reconstruction of individual palaeophytocenoses
XVIII.2.2.2. The analysis of dispersed material
XVIII.2.2.3. Possible changes of synecological status of species
XVIII.3. Ecological index numbers
XVIII.3.1. Introduction
XVIII.3.2. Ecological
indices according to Zarzycki
XVIII.3.3. The use of ecological numbers in archaeobotany
XVIII.4. Functional interpretation of botanical surveys
XVIII.4.1. Theoretical foundations
XVIII.4.2. Examples of the use of FIBS method
XVIII.5. The analysis of synanthropic flora based on archaeobotanical material
XIX.
Reconstruction of economic processes on botanical bases (M. Lityńska-Zając)
XIX.1. Field weeds as a source of information about the ways of plant
cultivation
XIX.1.1. Sowing time of cereal and their cultivation
XIX.1.1.1. Outline of the problem
XIX.1.1.2. Biological spectra of modern field weeds
XIX.1.1.3. Biological spectra of prehistoric field weeds
XIX.1.2. Harvest time in the light of phenology of flowering and setting fruits
XIX.1.3. The way of harvesting
XIX.1.3.1. The hight distribution of weeds in modern fields
XIX.1.3.2. The way of cereal harvesting in the light of the analysis of weeds
from archaeobotanical material
XIX.1.3.3. Examples of archaeobotanical sites which provided material for the
discussion of harvesting ways
XIX.1.4. The degree of cereal grain contamination with weeds
XIX.1.5. Field rotation, monocultures, mixed sowing
XIX.2. Reconstruction of farming structure on the basis of cultivated plants
preserved in archaeobotanical sites
XIX.2.1. Introduction
XIX.2.2. Methodical
remarks
XIX.2.3. Reconstruction of farming structure at the level of one site
XIX.2.4. Reconstruction of farming structure at the level of one region
XIX.2.5. Reconstruction of farming structure at the level of the whole Poland
XIX.3. Forage of domestic animals on the basis of archaeobotanical material
XIX.3.1. Introduction
XIX.3.2. Leaf forage
XIX.3.3. Green forage and hay
XIX.4. The mechanism of transition from gathering to cultivation of plants: Abu
Hureyra case study
XIX.5. The yearly schedule of farm activities reconstructed from plant phenology
XIX.6. Archaeobotanical material as source of information about the significance
of plants for humans in prehistoric times
XX.
The significance of archaeobotanical investigations for the other scientific
disciplines
References
Index of Latin plant names
Index of Polish plant names
Notes about the authors