Archaeology

Identification of macroremains is then usually carried out under a stereomicroscope, using morphological features such as shape and surface features in the case of seeds, or microanatomy in the case of wood or charcoal. Identification literature as well as a comparative collection of modern plant materials are crucial for reliable results. Depending on the type of material, and its condition, also other methods such as thin sections or SEM are applied.

Paleoethnobotanists also recover and analyze microremains (such as phytoliths and pollen), human and animal excrements (paleofeces, sometimes called coprolites), or plant impressions in ceramic sherds and clay (such as in daub).

Palynology is a mature and distinct scientific discipline that studies pollen, typically in the context of reconstructing past environments.

Dendrochronology, the study of growth rings on trees relating to study of past environments, is another scientific discipline useful to paleoethnobotanical study.

Zooarchaeology, is also useful in collaboration with Paleoethnobotany, it is the study of animal remains at an archaeological site. Focusing on bones and other hard material remains.

Taphonomy, studying how recovered materials have decayed, and what sort of organisms are on the decaying material.

Paleoethnobotanists use a variety of methods to recover and identify plant remains. One method used to recover macroremains (objects larger than 100 µm, but smaller than 10 cm) is to sieve excavated material manually in a water bath in order to allow the organic material to float to the surface.

This method is known as flotation. The matrix (the soil from a suspected archaeological feature) is slowly added to agitated water. The soil, sand, and other heavy material, known as heavy fraction, will sink to the bottom. The less dense organic material such as charred seeds, wood and bone will tend to float to the surface. The material that floats to the top, called light fraction, is gathered with a sieve. The organic light fraction is then available for examination. Samples of the heavy fraction are also gathered for later analysis.

Other types of flotation processes include machine-assisted flotation and froth flotation. Paleoethnobotany makes it is possible to collect data on past cultures through plant remains, which may offer insight on how agriculture changed over time. It may also provide evidence of trading systems, or knowledge of medicinal properties of plant materials. Paleoethnobotany can also be used to help understand the diet of a culture, and when used in collaboration with zooarchaeology it offers insight on what animals may have been present

'Environmental archaeology 'is a sub-field of archaeology and is the science of reconstructing the relationship between ancient peoples and the environments they lived in. The field is an archaeological-palaeoecological approach to examining the paleoenvironment.

This field aims to understand whether the environment of ancient peoples was a driving force in cultural change or merely a factor in its development. Reconstructing past environments gives archaeologists insight as to what adaptations past peoples needed to undergo in order to survive, and what environmental changes may have played a role in their disappearance.

Environmental archaeology is commonly divided into three sub-fields:

archaeobotany (the study of plant remains) 

zooarchaeology (the study of faunal remains)

archaeopedology (The study of soil, especially the creation, characteristics, distribution, and uses of the soil)