Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-7pwfn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-14T14:33:23.852Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Seeds in Archaeological Sites: Sources and Some Interpretive Problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Paul E. Minnis
Paul E. Minnis*
Affiliation:
Maxwell Museum, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Macroplant remains recovered during excavation and by flotation are an ambiguous record of prehistoric human/plant interactions. This paper attempts to clarify the relationship by considering natural and cultural processes affecting the archaeological survival of seeds recovered from sites. Also outlined are some characteristics of these botanical artifacts useful in distinguishing their source. In addition, brief comments are directed toward the problem of biases in the paleoethnobotanical record.

Information

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , January 1981, pp. 143 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References Cited

Asch, David L., and Asch, Nancy B. 1977 Chenopods as cultigens: a re-evaluation of some prehistoric collections from eastern North America. Mid-Continental Journal of Archaeology 2:3–45.Google Scholar
Asch, Nancy B., Ford, Richard I., and Asch, David L. 1972 Paleoethnobotany of the Koster site: the archaic horizons. Illinois State Museum, Heport of Investigations 24.Google Scholar
Banks, Theodore P., II 1953 Ecology of prehistoric Aleutian village sites. Ecology 34:243–264.Google Scholar
Bohrer, Vorsila L. 1970 Ethnobotanical aspects of Snaketown, a Hohokam village in southern Arizona. American Antiquity 35:413–430.Google Scholar
Bohrer, Vorsila L. 1976 Peer review. In Desert resources and Hohokam subsistence, the Conoco Florence Project, by William, H. Doelle, pp. 245–250. Arizona State Museum, Anthropological Series 103.Google Scholar
Bohrer, Vorsila L., and Adams, Karen R. 1977 Ethnobotanical techniques and approaches at Salmon Ruin, New Mexico. Eastern New Mexico University, Contributions to Anthropology 8(1).Google Scholar
Clark, Arthur B. 1968 Vegetation on archaeological sites compared with non-site locations at Walnut Canyon, Flagstaff, Arizona. Plateau 40:77–90.Google Scholar
Dennell, R. W. 1976 The economic importance of plant resources represented on archaeological site. Journal of Archaeological Science 3:229–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doelle, William H. 1976 Desert resources and Hohokam subsistence, the Conoco Florence Project. Arizona State Museum, Archaeological Series 103.Google Scholar
Gasser, Robert 1978 Cibola-Anasazi diet: the evidence from the Coronado Project. Paper presented at the 43rd annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Tucson.Google Scholar
Gunn, Charles R. 1972 Seed collecting and identification. In Seed biology, Vol. III, edited by Kozlowski, T. T., pp. 55–136. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hall, Robert L. 1978 Analysis of plant remains from the Miami Wash Project. In The Miami Wash Project: Hohokamand Salado in the Globe-Miami area, central Arizona, by David, E. Doyel, pp. 217–231. Arizona State Museum, Contributions to Highway Salvage Archaeology in Arizona 52.Google Scholar
Harrington, James F. 1972 Seed storage and longevity. In Seed biology, Vol. III, edited by Kozlowski, T. T., pp. 145–240. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Jensen, Hans Arne 1969 Content of buried seeds in Denmark in relation to the weed population. Dansk Botanisk Arkiv Bind 27 Nr. 2.Google Scholar
Jones, Volney H. 1942 The location and delimitation of archaeological sites by means of divergent vegetation. Society for American Archaeology Notebook 2:64–65.Google Scholar
Justice, Oren L. and Bass, Louis N. 1978 Principles and practices of seed storage. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Handbook No. 506.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Lawrence, and Maina, Shirley L. 1977 Archeological botany of the Apple Creek Site, Illinois. Journal of Seed Technology 2:40–53.Google Scholar
Keepax, Carole 1977 Contamination of archaeological deposits by seeds of modern origin with particular reference to the use of flotation. Journal of Archaeological Sciences 4:221–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mares, Michael A., and Rosenweig, Michael L. 1978 Granivory in North and South American deserts: rodents, birds, and ants. Ecology 59:235–241.Google Scholar
Minnis, Paul E. 1978a Paleoethnobotanical indicators of prehistoric environmental disturbance: a case study. In Thenature and status of ethnobotany, edited by Ford, Richard I., pp. 347–366. University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Anthropological Papers 67.Google Scholar
Minnis, Paul E. 1978b Early prehistoric ethnobotany in Chaco Wash: plant remains from the Tsaya Project, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Ms. on file. Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe., 1978c Prehistoric food and fuel: the macropiant evidence from the T. G. and E. Springerville Project, Dead Valley, Arizona. Ms. on file, Arizona State Museum, Tucson.Google Scholar
Ms. on file. Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe., 1978d Regional variation in Classic Mimbres phase ethnobotany: macropiant remains from the Bradsbysite (Y:4:35J, Grant County, New Mexico. Ms. on file, Mimbres Foundation, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Ms. on file. Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe., 1978 e Macropiant remains from pithouse sites, Pecos National Monument, New Mexico. Ms. on file, Pecos National Monument, Pecos.Google Scholar
Munson, Patrick J., Parmalee, Paul W., and Yarnell, Richard A. 1971 Subsistence ecology of Scovill, a Terminal Middle Woodland village. American Antiquity 36:410–431. jódum, Soren Google Scholar
Munson, Patrick J., Parmalee, Paul W., and Yarnell, Richard A. 1965 Germination of ancient seeds, floristic observations and experiments with archaeologically dated soil samples. Dansk Botanisk Arkiv Bind 24 Nr. 2.Google Scholar
Oosting, H. J., and Humphreys, M. E. 1940 Buried viable seeds in a successional series of old forest and field soils. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 67:253–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paatela, Juhani, and Ervio, Leila-Riita 1971 Weed seeds in cultivated soils in Finland. Anno Jes Agricultura e Fenniae 10:144–152.Google Scholar
Pearson, O. P. 1964 Carnivore-mouse predation: an example of its intensity and bio-energetics. Journal of Mammalogy 45:177–188.Google Scholar
Phelps, Alan L. 1968 A recovery of purslane seeds in an archaeological context. The Artifact 6:1–8.Google Scholar
Quick, Clarence R. 1961 How long can a seed remain alive? In Seeds, the yearbook of agriculture, edited by Stefferud, A., pp. 94–99. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Spector, Janet Doris 1970 Seed analysis in archeology. The Wisconsin Archeologist 51:163–190.Google Scholar
Struever, Mary B. 1977 Relation of pollen and flotation analyses to archaeological excavation, Chaco Canyon. M. A. thesis, Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Tevis, Lloyd, Jr. 1958 Interrelations between the harvester ant (Veromessor pergandei] and some desert ephemerals. Ecology 39:695–704.Google Scholar
Whitford, Walter G. 1978 Foraging in seed-harvester ants Pogonomyrmex spp. Ecology 59:185–189.Google Scholar
Wood, W. Rayond, and Johnson, Donald Lee 1978 A survey of disturbance processes in archaeological site formation. In Advances in archaeologicalmethod and theory, vol. 1, edited by Schiffer, Michael B., pp. 315–381. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Yarnell, Richard A. 1965 Implications of distinctive flora on pueblo ruins. American Anthropologist 67:662–674.Google Scholar