ABSTRACT
It is easy toforget that the role of plants in western society today is restricted compared to that of even the relatively recent past. Only a fraction of the available number of species of plants which could be used for food, building, manufacture and the like are utilized. Instead, the role of many plants has been taken over by human-made materials and, in dietary terms, a great deal of variety has been lost. Evidence for the wide-ranging use of plants in the human past is available through the preservation of their physical remains, the recovery of their microscopic elements and, increasingly, the recognition of their chemical traces, in archaeological and palaeoenvironmental contexts.
