Proceedings of the 16th conference of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany, Thessaloniki 2013

Abstract

This volume of Vegetation History and Archaeobotany comprises a collection of papers presented at the 16th conference of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany, held at the Research Dissemination Centre (KEDEA) of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) between June 16th and 22nd 2013. The conference was organised under the auspices of the School of History and Archaeology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Municipality of Thessaloniki, the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports and the Hellenic Ministry of Rural Development and Food. The Museum of Byzantine Culture hosted the official dinner of the conference. The following institutions financially supported the conference: the Research Committee of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Institute of Aegean Prehistory, Foglip-ERC, the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, and Piraeus Bank. Various other sponsors supported the conference with donations in kind (gifts and food/drink): Agrino, Apivita, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Babatzim wines, Claudia Papagianni wines, Creta Carob, Gerovassileiou wines, Haitoglou, Holomon herbs, Ianos, I Kathimerini, Korres, Kyr Yianni wines, Ligas wines, Masticha Shop, MIET (National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation), Mylelia, Pantopoleion tis Thessalonikis, Psichalos publications, Rayan Foods, Tea-Routes, Thessaloniki Chef’s Association, Thessaloniki Hotels Association, University Studio Press, Vaeni wines, Vivlia Chora wines, Yiam. In times of financial hardship their help has been invaluable. This is the first time an IWGP conference has been organised in Greece, where archaeobotany was initiated by German, Dutch and British colleagues, like Maria Hopf, Helmut Kroll, Willem van Zeist, Sytze Bottema, Glynis Jones, Jane Renfrew and James Greig, most of whom were among the pioneers of archaeobotany worldwide. These people sowed the seeds of archaeobotany in Greece as members of national archaeological school missions in various parts of the country, in those early days when archaeology was ‘losing its innocence’ as David Clarke epitomised the arrival of New Archaeology (Clarke 1973). Among the pioneers, colleagues such as Glynis Jones and Helmut Kroll not only ‘saved seeds’ (Jones et al. 1982) and broadened the horizons of Greek archaeobotany but, perhaps most significantly trained indigenous archaeologists into becoming the first native archaeobotanists. Thus, the 16th IWGP held in Thessaloniki (the second Mediterranean city to host an IWGP after Girona in Spain 2004) would simply not have happened without the work of these teachers and practitioners of archaeobotany. The conference went officially global this time, providing a podium to papers from regions not traditionally represented in the preceding IWGP meetings. Presentations on Inuit archaeobotany, South African hunter-gatherer survival strategies, Chinese burial offerings, Japanese prehistoric rice growing and consumption, and Argentinian early cultivation and food processing demonstrate the wide geographical range represented by the current IWGP. Various challenges had to be dealt with during the organisation of the conference including a large number of submitted oral presentations and posters, and a host country in deep financial S. M. Valamoti Department of Archaeology, School of History and Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece e-mail: sval@hist.auth.gr