Abstract
Every three years, archaeobotanists are brought together for the International Work Group (IWGP) for Palaeoethnobotany to discuss new methodologies, theories and recent discoveries. The 13th symposium was held in the beautiful medieval city of Girona, northeast Spain. The symposium was very well attended, especially by Europeanbased scholars, and in total approximately 50 papers and 60 posters were presented over five days. The content of the papers reflected the large attendance by European scholars, and consequently the symposium focused principally on Europe, particularly the Mediterranean region. There was a stimulating mixture of lectures, poster and laboratory sessions and a field excursion to examine the Mediterranean vegetation, allowing sufficient time for discussion amongst the attendees.
Highlights
The first day of lectures focused on analytical methods used in archaeobotany
Gordon Hillman introduced the subject of Triticum spp. identification problems, a central theme of the symposium, with a paper on the identification of naked wheats from the rachis remains
The first day was rounded off by an impressive poster session which covered considerably more aspects of archaeobotany than the papers presented at this symposium
Summary
The first day of lectures focused on analytical methods used in archaeobotany. Methods used for the identification of archaeobotanical material – such as morphometrics and the application of molecular studies, including DNA analysis – gave valuable insights into the use of scientific methods. Given by Dorian Fuller, Institute of Archaeology (IoA), demonstrated the application of parsimony analysis, and another presented a more traditional attempt at locating ancient agricultural fields from patterns in the weed assemblage. (wheat) identification problems, a central theme of the symposium, with a paper on the identification of naked wheats from the rachis remains.
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