ARCHAEOBOTANY
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- GIOVANNA BOSI
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- BIO/02
Training objectives
- - to understand the potential contribution and the importance of the botanical records for the reconstruction of environment and for the study of the interrelationships between human populations and the plant world;
- to teach the reader how to approach identification of botanical remains;
- to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the different botanical records as regards of the overall objectives of research. Prerequisites
- None
Course programme
- Botany and the cultural heritage. Introduction to Archaeobotany: theory and objectives
Materials and methods of Archaeobotany
Brief overview of Systematic Botany
Pollen and archaeopalynology
NPPs, microcharcoals, phytoliths and starch granules
Seeds/fruits and archaeocarpology
Plant domestication (cereals and non-cereals crops)
Pratical workshop (in Modena) Didactic methods
- Lectures
Laboratory activities: Archaeopalynology: samples treatment; preparation of microscopic slides; view and analysis of microscopic slides of the reference collection and of archaeological layers; Palinoteca (pollen reference collection); Atlases and identification keys; Diagrams: use of Tilia software.
Archaeocarpology: floatation and sieving techniques; identification of records; Carpoteca (seeds/fruits reference collection); Atlases and identification keys. Learning assessment procedures
- Written examination (3 questions and the scientific paper report): the exam will ascertain the student knowledge about matters addressed during lectures, deepening wide-ranging topics and interdisciplinary issues of Archaeobotany. The candidate should prove, on the basis of a scientific publication of his choice among the ones indicated by the teacher, to undestand aims, methods and results obtained.
Reference texts
- Cappers R.T.J., Neef R. (2012) Handbook of Plant Palaeoecology. Barkhuis/ Groningen University Library, Groningen.
Marston J.M., D'Alpoim Guedes J., Warinner C. (eds.) (2014) Method and Theory in Paleoethnobotany. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.
Pearsall D.M. (2015) Paleoethnobotany. A Handbook of Procedures (3rd Ed.). Routledge, New York.
further material provided by the teacher
