This technical and well-illustrated guide for archaeologists and conservators aims to 'provide a methodology for the identification of the woody taxa used to manufacture artefacts recovered from archaeological excavations', to provide the anatomical descriptions of the taxa and to present a list of characters of the taxa. The guide is heavily illustrated with photographs, maps, and tables to allow easy identification.

Contents:
Preface, Introduction, Chris Gosden. Part I: Food and Culture, Andrew Sherratt, Cash Crops before cash: hunting, farming, manufacture and trade in earlier Eurasia, Christine Hastorf, Cultural Implications of Crop introductions in Andean prehistory, Alejandro Haber, Uywana, the house and its indoor landscape: oblique approaches to, and beyond, domestication, Soren Blau, Of water and oil: exploitation of natural resources and social change in eastern Arabia, Gustavo Politis, Plant exploitation among the Nukak hunter-gathers of Amazonia: between ecology and ideology.
Part II: Introductions, Helen Leach, Food processing technology: its role in inhibiting or promoting change in staple foods, K. Mehra, Subsistence changes in India and Pakistan: the Neolithic and Chalcolithic from the point of view of plant use today, Sarah Nelson, Megalithic monuments and the introduction of rice into Korea, Catherine Andrea, Dispersal of domesticated plants into northeastern Japan, Elizabeth Reitz, Native Americans and animal husbandry in the North American colony of Florida.
Part III: Food and the Landscape, Tim Bayliss-Smith & Jack Golsen, The meaning of ditches: deconstructing the social landscapes of New Guinea, Kuk, phase 4, Chris Godsen & Lesley Head, Different histories: Papua New Guinea and Australia compared, Christophe Sand, From the swamp to the terrace: intensification of horticultural practices in New Caledonia, from first settlement to European contact, Robert Kuhlken, Warfare and intensive agriculture in Fiji, Carol Palmer, Who's land is it anyway? An historical examination of land tenure and agriculture in northern Jordon, Ken Thomas, Getting a life: stability and change in social and subsistence systems on the North-West Frontier (Pakistan) in later prehistory, Yuri Vostretsov, Interaction of maritime and agricultural adaptation in Japan sea basin, Kevin MacDonald, Invisible Pastoralists: sedentists and livestock remains in the later prehistory of arid West Africa, Willem van Zeist, Evidence for agricultural change in the Balikh basin, Northern Syria.
Part IV: Plants and People, Edmond de Langhe & P. de Maret, Tracking the banana: significance to early agriculture, Randi Haaland, Theory and evidence in archaeological interpretation of the transition from gathering to domestication: the puzzle of the late emergence of domesticated sorghum in the Nile Valley, Deborah Pearsall, The impact of maize on subsistence systems in South America: an example from the Jama River Valley, Coastal Equador, Michael Therin, Richard Fullagar & Richard Torrence, Starch in sediments: a new approach to the study of subsistence and land use in Papua New Guinea, A. Butler, Traditional seed cropping systems in the temperate Old World: models for antiquity, George Wilcox, Agrarian change and the beginnings of agriculture in the Near East: evidence from wild projenitors, experimental cultivation and archaeobotanical data.

This technical and well-illustrated guide for archaeologists and conservators aims to `provide a methodology for the identification of the woody taxa used to manufacture artefacts recovered from archaeological excavations', to provide the anatomical descriptions of the taxa and to present a list of characters of the taxa. The guide is heavily illustrated with photographs, maps, and tables to allow easy identification.

The Prehistory of Food sets subsistence in its social context by focusing on food as a cultural artefact. It brings together contributors with a scientific and biological expertise as well as those interested in the patterns of consumption and social change, and includes a wide range of case studies.

Covers the examination, identification and interpretations of plant remains in tropical archaeology, whilst also the origins, spread, distribution and past use of tropical plants for food and other purposes.

The parenchymous remains of roots and tubers are increasingly becoming recognized as an important category of plant remain alongside seeds, fruits and wood charcoal. Identification is however frequently viewed as problematical and such important indicators of past diet are often left unidentified. This book describes the full range of anatomical and morphological characters used in the identification of the parenchymous remains of roots and tubers. Each of the characters is illustrated by photographs of modern and archaeological plant tissues and by line drawings. Further sections of the book also deal with the examination of archaeological tissues and the preparation of modern plant tissue reference collections.

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.

The parenchymous remains of roots and tubers are increasingly becoming recognized as an important category of plant remain alongside seeds, fruits and wood charcoal. Identification is however frequently viewed as problematical and such important indicators of past diet are often left unidentified. This book describes the full range of anatomical and morphological characters used in the identification of the parenchymous remains of roots and tubers. Each of the characters is illustrated by photographs of modern and archaeological plant tissues and by line drawings. Further sections of the book also deal with the examination of archaeological tissues and the preparation of modern plant tissue reference collections.

Hunter-Gatherer Archaeobotany shows how archaeobotanical investigations can broaden our understanding of the much wider range of plants that have been of use to people in the recent and more distant past. The book compromises sixteen papers covering aspects of the archaeobotany of wild plants ranging across the northern hemisphere from Japan, across America, Europe and into the Near East. Sites examined span the Upper Palaeolithic to the recent past and demonstrate how such studies can extend our understanding of human interaction with plants throughout our history.

Hunter-Gatherer Archaeobotany shows how archaeobotanical investigations can broaden our understanding of the much wider range of plants that have been of use to people in the recent and more distant past. The book compromises sixteen papers covering aspects of the archaeobotany of wild plants ranging across the northern hemisphere from Japan, across America, Europe and into the Near East. Sites examined span the Upper Palaeolithic to the recent past and demonstrate how such studies can extend our understanding of human interaction with plants throughout our history.