Isr. J. Earth Sci.; 56: 163–173 © 2008 Science From Israel/ LPPLtd. 0021-2164/07 $4.00 E-mail: eweiss@mail.biu.ac.il Plant remains as a tool for reconstruction of the past environment, economy, and society: Archaeobotany in Israel Ehud Weiss a,b and Mordechai E. Kislev c a The Institute of Archaeology, Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel b Kimmel Center for Archaeological Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel c Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel (Received 11 March 2008; accepted in revised form 15 June 2008) AbstrAct Weiss, E. and Kislev, M.E. 2007. Plant remains as a tool for reconstruction of the past environment, economy, and society: Archaeobotany in Israel. Isr. J. Earth sci. 56: 163–173. In this review paper, we give a brief introduction to the ield of archaeobotany, with special attention to the role of Israeli archaeobotany as part of archaeological research during the last 30 years. Our approach toward archaeobotany sees this ield as a ma- jor tool in present-day archaeology, which utilizes plant remains to reconstruct past environments, economies, and societies. This paper deals with the fundamental meth- odology of archaeobotany, the various preservation modes of archaeobotanical inds, the sub-ields of archaeobotany, and the different processing of botanical inds in the ield and in the laboratory. Thereafter, it describes archaeobotanical ield work and laboratory work, including sampling and recovery methods, sorting and identiication, naming the botanical ind, and documentation. Finally, we give a short review of test cases in archaeobotanical research in Israel as an example of the use of archaeobotany as a tool for the reconstruction of life at the site and its surroundings. This review deals mainly with three research directions: with reconstructing the environment and climate, with reconstruction of the economy, and with reconstruction of the ancient lifestyle. IntroductIon The ield of archaeobotany involves the investigation of plant remains in archeological sites and the interpre- tation of this information for obtaining new insights at different levels. Archaeobotany is an interdisciplinary ield, positioned between two research areas that are traditionally regarded as separate worlds—science and the humanities. Archaeobotany illustrates the impor- tance of interdisciplinary research that connects these two worlds and produces sophisticated and innovative results by integrating an entire array of scientiic tools with the approach of the humanities. On the biological level, the ield clariies the evolution of plant variet- ies and plant associations in the dimension of time, thereby contributing to the ields of botany, ecology, and evolution. Archaeobotany also leads to a better understanding of the beginnings of agriculture and the study of food plants. On the archeological–anthropo- logical level, this ield deals with the reconstruction