As a specialised branch of archaeology requiring specific field and laboratory methodologies, the contributions of archaeobotany have often been overlooked by the ecological research community. Developments in the fields of botany, chemistry, and ancient DNA analyses have greatly increased the potential for archaeobotany to contribute to topical questions relating to the Anthropocene and landscape transformations. We review the role of archaeobotany in identifying and describing past arable land use. Analytical techniques are illustrated with examples at both local and regional scales, demonstrating how archaeobotany can provide unique details of the wide array of past subsistence and land-use strategies. These data and their potential should be better recognised as important information that could underpin models seeking to evaluate or predict the effects of socioenvironmental interactions.

作为考古学的一个专业分支，需要特定的领域和实验室方法，因此考古植物学的贡献经常被生态研究界所忽视。植物学、化学和古代 DNA 分析领域的发展极大地增加了古植物学对与人类世和景观转变相关的热门问题做出贡献的潜力。我们回顾了古植物学在识别和描述过去耕地利用方面的作用。分析技术通过地方和区域尺度的例子进行了说明，展示了古植物学如何提供关于过去生计和土地利用策略的广泛系列的独特细节。