Plant macrofossil methods and studies : use in environmental archaeology

286 The part of environmental archaeology which concerns the study of plant macroremains (mainly seeds and wood) preserved on, or in association with, archaeological sites is archaeobotany or palaeoethnobotany. It is mainly interested in the activities carried out by past populations, of which by far the most important one is subsistence. This means: what food people ate, how they obtained it, and how and where they stored and processed it once it had been collected. Archaeobotanists, however also look at trade, construction materials and aspects of ritual. In addition, archaeobotany also provides information about past environments, especially anthropogenic ones like fields or grassland