ORCID
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4194-2419
Date of Award
Spring 5-15-2022
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Type
Dissertation
Abstract
Carbonized macrobotanical remains of the Chenopodium album aggregate (Amaranthaceae) are highly ubiquitous at archaeological sites. These chenopods are early successional plants and ruderals, which grow well in disturbed ecosystems, including those that they co-habit and co-create with humans. Often distinguished from known agricultural crops (e.g., rice, millet) as a weed, chenopods have received less attention in early food culture studies, despite their ethnohistory as a grain crop, vegetable, and famine food. Their seed remains in northern China exhibit regionally variable morphological attributes, different from those seen in chenopod cultivars of the Americas. Their morphological variability may be a result of variable interactions with associated ecosystems and human-animal activities, suggesting multiple pathways of human-chenopod engagements. Findings in this dissertation highlight the significance of studying forms of plant management and care that do not necessarily produce a domesticated counterpart to wild ones. Weedy, unruly plants defy such confining binaries, bringing attention to the myriad of peoples and plants who have been relegated to the negative spaces of dreams about human progress and control.
Language
English (en)
Chair and Committee
Xinyi Liu
Committee Members
Michael D. Frachetti
Recommended Citation
Hayashi Tang, Mana, "The Myriad of Things: Paleoethnobotany of the Chenopodium album Aggregate in Northern China" (2022). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2644.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/2644
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