Seeds matter : palaeoethnobotany and the setting up of a seed reference collection

Abstract

This dissertation has two aims. The first one is to show the importance of the natural environment in the life of humans, not only in the present but also in the past. The word environment includes the : atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. However this dissertation will deal only with the plant kingdom and only the ancient one at that. The reasons for this are essentially practical, as it would have been virtually impossible to include all the information available on environmental archeology given the limits of this dissertation.