How does a study of plant remains in the archaeological record contribute to our understanding of ancient lives?

Plants—whether we realize it or not—play an extraordinary role in our day-to-day lives. The botanical world contributes significantly to the food we eat, the materials we use to create the things we need, and the fuel we burn. These remarkable organisms grow in the wild, are cultivated in our agricultural fields, and are tended to in our gardens and homes. Indeed, we all use plants. Consequently, while going about our daily lives, we all leave traces of the plants we use behind. 

Throughout history, people have maintained a close and meaningful relationship with the plants around them, managing and manipulating their landscapes in ways that formed an inextricably co-dependent relationship. This complex entanglement is what drives paleoethnobotanists and archaeobotanists to systematically collect botanical data from archaeological sites around the world, addressing a broad range of social and cultural questions about people in the past.