Home Gardens and Mangrove Swamps: Florida Indian Paleoethnobotany

What, you ask, is Paleoethnobotany? It’s the study of relationships between people and plants, using the archaeological record. Paleoethnobotanists discover how people used plants for food, clothing, medicine, houses, boats, and many kinds of tools. They try to understand the cultural and ecological dynamics of past foodways; strategies for procuring, producing, and otherwise managing plant resources; and what plants meant to past peoples. Join Dr. Lee Newsom, Professor of Anthropology at Flagler College, as she shares the fascinating discoveries she and other archaeologists have made by studying plant remains from ship wrecks, burial sites, and even ancient elephant dung.

Dr. Newsom is an archaeologist, paleoethnobotanist, and wood anatomist whose research involves work with preserved plant remains from archaeological and paleontological sites, and is generally directed toward trying to unravel some of the deep history and inter-complexities of the human- environmental relationship.

This program is funded in part by a Florida Humanities Community Project Grant, in partnership with Ormand Beach Historical Society. The Ormond Beach Historical Society is the only private, nonprofit organization working to preserve and share the rich history of Ormond Beach.