Plants and technology : introductory comments

With a single exception, the paleoethnobotany papers presented as a group in this issue of the MCJA emerged from a symposium, "Plants and Technology” organized by Mary Simon and Katie Parker as part of the 2006 Midwest Archaeological Conference in Champaign-Urbana. In considering possible themes for the symposium, we concluded that we would most like to hear about new or novel approaches to archaeobotanical research, as well as new discoveries about plant-related prehistoric technologies. The all-inclusive title and research premise followed a tradition of MAC paleo- ethnobotanical symposia in prior years, although in 2006 it had been over a decade since the last MAC symposium centered on floral/faunal data. As we began to examine the subject matter of past symposia, we saw that organizers had repeatedly and purposefully cast a wide net with the intent of attracting participation and attendance by Midwest archaeologists who are not necessarily botanical specialists. Among these past symposia was a 1989 session entitled "Native American Agriculture: The Origins, Development, and Significance of Prehistoric Farming," led by Bill Green, then with the Office of the State Archaeologist, Iowa City, Iowa. The presented papers addressed subjects as diverse as specialty plant cultivation, carbon isotope evidence for maize dependence, and the role of agriculture in the development of Cahokia, topics that temporally spanned millennia, and geographically spanned thousands of square miles. The 1989 symposium expanded methodological and intellectual horizons, and subsequently the papers were published in the 1994 Green-edited volume, Agricultural Origins and Development in the Midcontinent. Because of Green's role in organizing and publishing that group of papers, and his continuing leadership in the study of prehistoric land use, population movements and settlement in the Midwest region, he was invited to be the discussant for our proposed "Plants and Technology " symposium.