Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany II

In northeastern North America our understandings of prehistoric human–plant relationships, the subject of paleoethnobotany, continue to change as more samples are taken, examined, and compared to extant records. The results of these analyses are no longer relegated to the appendices of archaeological site reports, but constitute important contributions to our understandings of Native American lifeways in the Northeast, on their own and in combination with other lines of evidence. This volume is another such contribution, bringing together a series of chapters that represent some of the range of work being done in this vital field of inquiry.
The chapters in this volume stem from a symposium I organized for the 2006 Society for American Archaeology annual meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The goal of the symposium was to commemorate the tenth anniversary of a symposium that I organized for the 1996 New York Natural Historic Conference at the New York State Museum in Albany. That symposium eventually gave rise to New York State Museum Bulletin 494, Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany (Hart 1999a). Beyond that was my desire to bring to the fore progress that had been made in the field over the intervening years. What is the nature of paleoethnobotanical research Northeast in the mid-2000s?
In the 10 years between the two symposia there have been considerable changes in the discipline. Most of these changes are related to analytical techniques that are providing new lines of evidence on prehistoric human–plant interactions. There have also been changes in methods and theories that provide the basis for understanding how humans made use of plants in the past and how those uses impacted other aspects of human behavior. The impacts of these changes are evident in many of the current volume’s chapters.

在北美东北部地区，作为古民族植物学（paleoethnobotany）研究对象的史前人类与植物关系的认知，正随着更多样本的采集、分析以及与现存记录的比对而不断更新。此类分析的成果已不再仅被置于考古遗址报告的附录之中，而是凭借自身价值或结合其他多维度证据，成为我们理解东北部美洲原住民生活方式的重要支撑。本论文集便是此类成果之一，收录了多篇反映该重要研究领域当下进展的章节。
本论文集的各章节均源自我于2006年在波多黎各圣胡安举办的美国考古学会（Society for American Archaeology）年会上主持的专题研讨会。本次专题研讨会旨在纪念我于1996年在奥尔巴尼纽约州博物馆举办的纽约自然历史大会上主持的专题研讨会十周年。该研讨会最终催生了《纽约州博物馆公报494号：东北古民族植物学研究现状》（Hart 1999a）。除此之外，我亦希望借此机会展现该领域在这十年间取得的研究进展。21世纪00年代中期，北美东北部的古民族植物学研究具有何种特征？
在两次专题研讨会相隔的十年间，该学科领域发生了诸多显著变革。其中多数变革与分析技术的进步相关，这些新技术为史前人类与植物的互动关系提供了全新的实证维度。同时，研究方法与理论框架亦得到更新，为我们理解史前人类如何利用植物，以及此类利用行为如何影响人类社会其他方面提供了新的基础。这些变革带来的影响，在本论文集的诸多章节中均有体现。