Each student will conduct independent work in the form of either a research paper or a project. Archaeology graduate students and undergraduate anthropology majors using this class to fulfill the methods requirement should select the archaeobotany project option. The research paper can be a regular term paper summarizing and interpreting some aspect of the ethnobotanical literature, either modern, historical, or archaeological. Length is expected to be approx. 15 pages for undergraduates and 20 pp. for graduate students.
Projects can be either ethnobotanical or archaeobotanical.
Archaeobotanical projects consist of laboratory analysis of archaeological plant remains. Students will be supervised by the Teaching Assistant and instructor in sorting and analyzing one or more flotation samples from a North American archaeological site. A written report of the analysis is required, covering description of methods, tabulation of data, and discussion of results. Length of a project write-up varies according to the amount and type of data tabulated, but usually ranges between 12 and 15 pages. Regular attendance and participation in class discussions are very important.