Estrategias De Clasificaci N Y Manejo De Vegetaci N Silvestre Para La Producci N De Alimentos En Zonas Ridas

Phytoliths - rigid microscopic bodies that occur in most plant species - have gone a long way since that day when Darwin became curious about a fine powder deposited on the instruments of the HMS Beagle. This fascinating subject started because of curiosity, and in that respect it was a good start since curiosity is probably the most important drive behind first-rate research. Fortunately curiosity is still present in phytolith research; the articles in this book are full of curiosity and ingenuity. Phytolith research has grown since the times of Darwin and in the last three decades has bloomed. The papers in this collection span most of the application of phytolith analysis (from archaeology, palaeoenvironmental studies and botany, to name just some) and the majority of them were presented at the 4th International Meeting on Phytolith Research that was held in Cambridge (UK) in August 2002.

The chance discovery in 1854 of a prehistoric lake village on Lake Zurich triggered what we now call the 'lake-dwelling phenomenon'. One hundred and fifty years of research and animated academic disputes have transformed the phenomenon into one of the most reliable sources of information in wetland archaeology. This definitive volume provides an overview of the development of lake village studies, explores the impact of a range of scientific techniques on the settlements and considers how the public can relate to this evocative and exciting branch of archaeology. It explains how the multidisciplinary research context has significantly improved our knowledge of prehistoric wetland communities, from an environmental as well as a cultural perspective.

Ancient Plants and People is a timely discussion of the global perspectives on archaeobotany and the rich harvest of knowledge it yields. Contributors examine the importance of plants to human culture over time and geographic regions and what it teaches of humans, their culture, and their landscapes.

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 Watson New Perspectives on the Paleoethnobotany of the Newt Kash Shelter, Kristen J. Gremillion A 3,000-Year-Old Cache of Crop Seeds from Marble Bluff, Arkansas, Gayle J. Fritz Evolutionary Changes Associated with the Domestication of Cucurbita pepo: Evidence from Eastern Kentucky, C. Wesley Cowan Anthropogenesis in Prehistoric Northeastern Japan, Gary W. Crawford Between Farmstead and Center: The Natural and Social Landscape of Moundville, C. Margaret Scarry and Vincas P. Steponaitis An Evolutionary Ecology Perspective on Diet Choice, Risk, and Plant Domestication, Bruce Winterhalder and Carol Goland The Ecological Structure and Behavioral Implications of Mast Exploitation Strategies, Paul S. Gardner Changing Strategies of Indian Field Location in the Early Historic Southeast, Gregory A. Waselkov Interregional Patterns of Land Use and Plant Management in Native North America, Julia E. Hammett

All of man's life is in some way associated with the plant world, from his food and shelter to his art, religion and language. The study of this all-pervading relationship between man and the plant world is called ethnobotany. This book provides a systematic reconstruction of the ethnobotany of one of the hearths of American civilization, in the prehistoric cultures of the Peruvian Central Andes.As we learn more about the rise and spread of New World agriculture, it becomes evident that Peru was one of the sources of its development. Plants were cultivated here at least 2,000 years before the beginning of the Christian era. Village life was intimately bound up with this cultivation, later civilizations rested upon it as a foundation, and from Peru agriculture was diffused to other parts of the Americas.Towle bases her work on the evidence of plant remains found in archeological sites, surveys of botanical and ethnological literature, and field studies of modern plant utilization. After a methodological and historical introduction, she proceeds to a systematic listing of plant species, each fully described. She then presents the ethnobotanical data for each of the cultural-geographic divisions of the area, giving a chronological picture of the use of wild and cultivated plants against a background of the cultures of which they were part. A summary of the evolutionary trends in the region as a whole is followed by a full bibliography and index. The book contains fifteen pages of plates.Margaret A. Towle (1902-1985) received her doctorate from Columbia University in 1958 and was research fellow in ethnobotany in the Botanical Museum of Harvard University.

This book describes the approaches and techniques of paleoethnobotany--the study of the interrelationships between human populations and the plant world through the archaeological record. Its purpose is twofold. First, it assembles in one volume the three major methods of paleoethnobotany, the analysis of macroremains, pollen analysis, and phytolith analysis, for the student or professional interested in the field. Second, it presents on paleoethnobotanist's view of the discipline: its past, present, and future, its strengths and weaknesses, and its role in modern archaeology. ï A comprehensive reference work for archaeologists and paleobotanists interested in reconstructing interrelationships between humans and plants from the archaeological record ï The first general of work theory and methods to emerge from this subdiscipline which has developed during the past twenty years ï Makes the approaches and techniques of this field more accessible to the general anthropological and botanical audiences ï Offers archaeologists a handbook of field sampling and flotation techniques as well as an introduction to methods of analysis and interpretation in paleoethnobotany