Archaeobotany in Japan

In Japan, archaeobotanical researches usually focus on studying
macro-remains found from sites.

For example, food plants in the Pre-ceramic Age are generally
assumed to have been nuts and acorns because the only food
macro-remains of plants are walnuts.

In this situation, some stone assemblages such as slabs and
grinding/pounding stones are thought to have been processing tools for
these plants.

Also, many approaches to food plants in the Jomon period discuss
the utilization of nuts, acorns, and crop plants such as millet and
wheat because their macro-remains have been found in many
archaeological sites.

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Japanese archaebotany have been developed in order to look at
plant macroremains from sites. However, their differential
preservation after deposition may affect on data interpretaion directly.

As well as macro-remains, Japanese archaeology needs to give more
attentions to micro-remains such as pollen, phytolith (plant opal),
and starch.