[Go to Parent Session] [Previous Page] [SEARCH] [DAILY OUTLINES]

Perception and interaction with the environment. An approach using archaeobotanical evidence of Mesolithic and Neolithic societies

Ferran Antolín Tutusaus (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Abstract

A lot has been written, especially from a postprocessualist angle, about human groups' perception of and interaction with the environment. This scholarship, however, has not traditionally paid much attention to archaeobotanical evidence. It is argued here that a focus on perception and interaction should come from interdisciplinary research; thus, in this paper, I outline a theoretical and methodological approach for archaeobotanical investigations that aims to examine hunter-gatherers' changing perceptions of and interaction with the environment. This framework is applied to environmental data from the late Mesolithic (10840-6060 cal BC) and early Neolithic (5475-4040 cal BC) occupations at the Can Sadurní cave (Catalonia, Spain) in order to discuss the adoption of agriculture and pastoralism in the Iberian peninsula as new ways of perceiving and relating to the environment.