A palaeoethnobotanical study of the West House, Akrotiri, Thera
This paper summarizes some results of palaeoethnobotanical study at Akrotiri, Thera, and evaluates the importance of studying plant remains at such a site. (As this is the first stage of a long programme, it does not pretend to be exhaustive.) The data from the West House provides the most detailed and complete information from Bronze Age Greece concerning bioarchaeological remains, because it comes from a single architectural unit (a completely excavated house). The results offer evidence for the crops grown, weeds of cultivation (segetal), and ruderal plants, as well as crop processing and storage. The data is important for its high taphonomic potential, thanks to the high degree of preservation of charred, mineralized, and silicified plant remains.