Abstract This paper presents new evidence for the harvesting of edible plant roots and tubers at Northton, a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer site on Harris, in Western Isles Scotland, north-west corner Europe. The excavations uncovered abundant root tuber remains Ficaria verna Huds. (lesser celandine), an excellent high energy carbohydrate-rich food source, produced first use Lathyrus linifolius (Re...

Even though the faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is among the most ubiquitously cultivated crops, very little is known about its origins. Here, we report discoveries of charred faba beans from three adjacent Neolithic sites in the lower Galilee region, in the southern Levant, that offer new insights into the early history of this species. Biometric measurements, radiocarbon dating and stable carbon is...

The study of plant exploitation and early use of cereals in Africa has seen over the years a great input from charred and desiccated macrobotanical remains. This paper presents the results of one of the few examples in Africa of microbotanical analyses. Three grave contexts of phytolith-rich deposits and the dental calculus of 20 individuals were analysed from two Neolithic cemeteries in North ...

Preliminary data from newly excavated archaeological site no. 8 in Kraków-Górka Narodowa (southern Poland) show that two main phases of Early Neolithic occupation can be distinguished based on pottery finds, one associated with the Malice culture and other Pleszów- Modlnica group Lengyel culture. These are presented along lithic materials discussed context results archaeobotanical analysis. Cha...

Ancient DNA (aDNA) recovered from archaeobotanical remains can provide key insights into many prominent archaeological research questions, including processes of domestication, past subsistence strategies, and human interactions with the environment. However, it is often difficult to isolate aDNA from ancient plant materials, and furthermore, such DNA extracts frequently contain inhibitory subs...

The most challenging situations in Forensic Odonto-Stomatology are mass disasters, where the forensic dentist is usually confronted with charred human remains or heavily decomposed or fragmented bodies. This article determines the extent of preservation of palatal rugae for use as an alternative identification tool in such situations, using a study group comprising burn victims and cadavers sim...

Investigations were undertaken of plant and invertebrate remains from selected deposits from an Iron Age enclosure at Sutton Common. Assemblages from a large number of postholes (mostly thought to be associated with four-post structures) and some other cut features were restricted to charred plant material. The richer of these comprised high concentrations of cereal remains, mainly grain, but a...

Agricultural practices are key for understanding socio-economic change, community organization, and relationships with landscape the environment. Under Roman Empire, cereals were vital supplying urban military populations, yet cereal husbandry within villa landscapes remain underexplored. In this article, author applies new methods to analyse a large assemblage of charred plant remains from an ...

It is demonstrated that palynomorphs can occur in fired ancient potsherds when the firing temperature was under 350°C. Pollen and phytoliths recovered from incompletely fired and fully fired potsherds (ca. 2700 yrs BP) from the Yanghai Tombs, Turpan, Xinjiang, NW China can be used as potential indicators for reconstructing past vegetation and corresponding climate in the area. The results show ...

The effects of food processing and or cooking practices in the variations in morphological changes in tissues were investigated. The relationship between consumption of charred meat, which is believed to be rich in nitrosamine, by pregnant mothers and the adverse effects on the growth of their offsprings, alterations in morphology of tissues like liver and pancreas were studied. Meat was subjec...