Intellectual property rights is one of the most important professional and ethical issues facing ethnobiologists. Who owns knowledge, who controls access to it, and what outsiders can do with it are all questions that continue to constrain research as it has traditionally been conducted. Similarly, how has access to natural resources and what can be done with them requires resolution for effective research to be conducted in the future. The purpose of this roundtable consisting of indigenous elders, leaders, and community recognized authorities is to discuss these issues and to help redefine protocols for ethnobiological research in the future. The outcome should be the creation of dialogues that reflect the negotiations that are essential for further ethnobiological investigations.

Zooarchaeology has witnessed changes in its objectives from animal species identifications of archaeological bones to cultural patterns of utilization. Along the way the methodology has evolved from comparative anatomy, to morphometric assessments, to statistical analyses of faunal collections, to evidence of human manipulation of the animals to current trends in assessing human behavior toward animal reproduction, life stages, and cultural processing and distribution. While all the advances have been cumulative, the most recent ­ human behavior ­ requires further demonstration and discussion. The objective of this symposium is to review recent research trends in this area of zooarchaeology and to discuss future directions.

Archaeobotany in the American Southwest offers ethnobiologists a time machine peek into past relations of humans with plants and landscapes. We are aided by superb preservation, increased scale of excavation, and collaborative colleagues. Through the record of burned and broken plant remains, including pollen and other tiny specimens, we have learned a great deal about how ancient people lived daily lives as foragers and farmers. We have looked back through time at some examples of anthropogenic ecology. This presentation surveys the accomplishments of Southwestern archaeobotany over the past few decades, highlighting both substantive and methodological contributions, and pointing out areas of potential future research.

Four societies I have studied -- Chinese, Maya, Northwest Coast Native, and Celtic ­ use religion to save trees. They invoke religious sanctions to save groves or to manage whole forests. Their methods work to varying degrees. Analysis of the reasons for success and failure is important in this period, since countries such as Thailand and Cambodia are actively using religion for tree protection. Religion seems to work best in the service of modest, economically reasonable goals.

Three groups living off the same rainforest habitat manifest strikingly distinctive behaviors, cognitions and social relationships relative to the forest. Only the area's last native Maya reveal systematic awareness of ecological complexity involving animals, plants and people, and practices clearly favoring forest regeneration. Spanish-speaking immigrants prove closer to native Maya in thought, action and social networking than do immigrant Maya. There is no overriding "local," "Indian" or "immigrant" relationship to the environment. Results indicate that exclusive concern with rational self-interest and institutional constraints do not sufficiently account for commons behavior, and that cultural patterning of cognition and access to relevant information are significant predictors. Unlike traditional accounts of relations between culture, cognition and behavior, the models offered are not synthetic interpretations of people's thoughts and behaviors, but emergent cultural patterns derived statistically from measurements of individual cognitions and behaviors.

Balsamorhiza sagittata (Pursh) Nutt. (Asteraceae), commonly called balsamroot, is known by the Secwepemc (Shuswap) and other by Aboriginal peoples as a traditionally important food and medicine. Both the roots and leaves of balsamroot are still important medicines today. The medicinal properties may be partly linked to anti-bacterial compounds produced by the plant, such as sesquiterpene lactones that have been reported in the leaves. However, sesquiterpene lactones can also trigger an allergic hypersensitivity reaction (i.e., allergic eczematous contact dermatitis). Therefore, their presence raises the concern that medicinal uses of leaves may cause potentially serious allergies. This paper describes chemical research, using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis, undertaken in collaboration with the Secwepemc (Shuswap) First Nation to address this concern.

Conventional wisdom asserts that early historic Eastern American Indian subsistence centered on riverine maize agriculture. This study challenges that assertion. Analysis of three late prehistoric trash pits suggest the paradigm is too rigid. In the Oconee Region of Georgia it is observed that (1) a mixed economy was the norm; (2) agriculture was practiced in both uplands and river bottoms; and (3) maize was but one of several important components of a complex subsistence system. This research compares the assemblage of a previously unreported Bell phase trash pit to two parallel upland features. Unique upland and bottomland subsistence strategies vary according to the local ecology.

The mesoamerican medicinal plant species Salvia hispanica L. has been cultivated since pre-Hispanic times for numerous purposes. A review of ethnobotanical uses was conducted in order to determine how uses have changed over time. Uses recorded in the 16th century codices of Mexico and those from subsequent publications were tabulated and subjected to statistical comparisons. Results indicate several changes in use over time, leading to the formation of hypotheses regarding the original use(s) for this species. To test the hypotheses, ethnobotanical data has been collected in highland Guatemala and western Mexico to examine the ethnobotany of wild type Salvia hispanica L.

Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a dietary staple and major carbohydrate source for millions of people in the tropical world. In 1999 we collected cassava varieties from the same Amuesha households that Salick et al. (1997) collected from in 1986. Results from t-tests and ordination analyses or morphological data indicate no significant difference. The varieties of cassava have changed but are equally diverse. Most of the diversity is managed by elders and an ancient shaman. Crop diversity is a foundation of sustainable agriculture and understanding its generation, maintenance, and change is indispensable for continued agricultural stability and resilience.

Since plants and animals have important symbolic meaning in most cultures, we investigated ethnobiological associations of the Christmas holiday in the central United States. The sample population included 36 Anglo-Americans aged three to 96. Successive freelisting was used to elicit names of plants, animals, and use/meaning self-categorization of each. Analysis revealed wide variation in the lists' length and content, and that salient categories related to activity participation. Age and familial status influenced lists. As a result, children and parents focused more on folklore from songs and books while nonparental adults and teenagers focused on ritual foods, activities, and decorations.

This paper is divided into three sections. The first compares farmers' definitions of heirloom with the definitions found in popular publications. The second examines why farmers are interested in heirloom varieties and the third asks why they choose to save their own seeds rather than buying all of their seed supply through commercial channels. Findings show that the growers' definitions of heirloom vary significantly from definitions found in popular media, indicating that heirloom is a fuzzy, dynamic and even contested category. Other findings reveal that multiple factors contribute to growers' decisions regarding crop selection and seed saving. These range from practical, material reasons to abstract, ideological reasons.

The inclusion of landscape analyses in anthropological studies can elicit more thorough understandings of the influences that contribute to hunter-gatherer settlement and land-use patterns. A landscape ecology approach provides tools for visually representing land and permits quantitative analysis of spatial structures and patterns of landscapes. It also provides a template grounded in physical structure and ecological functioning for reconstructing past landscapes. Here I will (i) briefly summarize the concept of landscape elements; (ii) highlight landscape ecology principles that are most relevant to archaeologists; and (iii) suggest how a landscape ecology approach can compliment current approaches to hunter-gatherer land-use studies.

Plants used in the practice of curanderismo are well documented. However, their study often centers on which plants are used to cure physical and psychological ailments. This paper examines why particular plants are chosen to cure certain illnesses and what their significance is in terms of cultural practice. The plants discussed in this paper have dual purposes ­ as treatment for physical and/or emotional/psychological ailments. This work based in San Antonio, Texas, focuses on networks, real and conceptual, which link healers and their practice with plants and their symbolic and material uses and what this means for the curandero/as and their clients.

Molecular systematic studies of the origins of octoploid cultigen "oca," Oxalis tuberosa Molina, have identified two wild tuber-bearing Oxalis taxa found in Bolivia and Southern Peru as possible progenitors of the crop. As a complement to these studies, information on the crop's history and dispersal is reviewed from published and unpublished archaeological, ethnohistorical and other sources. This information is compared with ethnobotanical field data to infer changes in the patterns of oca's use and importance. Although oca is cited as having potential for cultivation beyond its Andean homeland, having already been introduced to Mexico and New Zealand, its cultivation appears to be declining in some areas of the Andes and some traditional methods of preparation may be disappearing.

Some 53 species of plants, both native and introduced, with fleshy fruits, were important to Native peoples in southern New England, primarily for food, medicines, and dyes. Through colonial history the availability of these fleshy fruits was influenced by European settlement and changes in land use. An increase in cultivation to more than 80% of the arable land in southern New England led to a dramatic decrease in the land available for the growth of wild plants (Foster 1992). Native peoples, over time, adopted a more sedentary lifestyle, which involved intensive agriculture and included the incorporation of European orchard fruits into their subsistence practices, replacing many of the wild fruits that were once exploited.

This paper presents the preliminary results of the analysis of faunal resources from the site of Cerro Azul, a specialized fishing community on the central Peruvian Coast. Analysis of the fish remains indicate that over 20 species of fish were procured. The distribution of these species at the site indicates differential utilization between the elite and commoner inhabitants. Llamas and guinea pigs dominate the mammal assemblage, which also includes sea mammals and dogs. The distribution of llama elements suggests that llamas were not being raised at the site. Rather, llama meat was acquired primarily in the form of dried meat.

Two shipwrecks in the eastern Mediterranean basin excavated by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology contain botanical materials that identify: 1) plants used to make ropes and baskets, 2) plant-derived cargoes, and 3) the possible geographical origins and/or travel routes for the ships and cargoes. Plant materials recovered include fruits, seeds, pollen, silica-bodies (phytoliths), and epidermal tissues. Preliminary analyses indicate that these botanical assemblages are significant and valuable for the interpretation of human activity in the contexts of ninth-century A.D. subsistence, trade, and economy in the eastern Mediterranean basin.

The Amuesha of the upper Peruvian Amazon traditionally practice multifaceted swidden agriculture. In the Palcazu Valley, though, Amuesha cropping practices are changing after the arrival of a new road and other events. We inventoried useful species in yard gardens, measured architecture and species composition of Amuesha fields, and interviewed Amuesha agriculturalists about cropping practices and household histories. Field statistics were described with univariate statistics, and were compared to data from 1983-86 with multivariate paired t tests and polar ordination. Results indicate deceased crop diversity, less cultivation of rice, more agroforestry, and more commercial cropping.

The contribution of marine fish to coastal adaptations has long been recognized. There is a growing body of archaeological evidence that marine mammals and marine birds also played important roles in coastal subsistence in many pre-contact cultures of the Americas. This presentation provides a review of some of the relevant ethnohistoric and ethnographic literature. Key themes include documentation of capture techniques, butchering patterns, and preparation for consumption and trade, as well as representation and interpretation of emic perspectives on the value of these resources, both in terms of nutrition and in terms of attached symbolism.

Current theories of ethnobiological classification ignore fungi. Data from San Juan Mixtepec, a Zapotec-speaking community in Oaxaca, Mexico raise interesting questions about the validity of the largely taken-for-granted division of living kind taxonomies into two domains, plants and animals. I will suggest that "native" theories of living things may agree with current Western scientific opinion in treating fungi as separate from both plants and animals. I show that a relationship between animals and fungi is implicit in Zapotec nomenclature, but the nature of fungi as animal or plant is deeply ambiguous. As fungi are rarely accorded the same degree of refined attention as is accorded plants and animals in most folk biological taxonomies, I propose that fungi are best treated as a folkbiological life-form unaffiliated with either the plant or animal kingdoms.

We use cattle tooth microstructure analysis to determine seasonal slaughter patterns for cattle, and compare patterns across sites to help characterize and understand regional dietary variability. Current evidence suggests that the seasonal use of wild animal foods by white planters was extremely important in the 17th century, but less important in the 18th century. As part of this trend, domestic animals, especially cattle, become more important in the regional diet through time. Like other domestic mammals, the slaughter cycle of cattle and the availability of beef followed a seasonal agricultural cycle.

We explored the ecological and cultural history of fires in maintaining a small (5ha), ecologically unique meadow containing a disjunct population of ponderosa pine. The Sto:lo people traditionally used fire as a management tool and have a long history of using the region. Recently, trees have invaded the meadow and we hypothesized that it was maintained in the past by relatively frequent, small, anthropogenic fires. We used archaeological survey and excavation, analyses of charcoal, and tree age, species and location to explore this hypothesis. There is evidence of past fires in the meadow and for several millennia of human use, including short-term encampments and sites for drying berries. The recent invasion of trees was likely facilitated by the cessation of burning, probably early in the 20th century, combined with low spring snowpacks since the late 1970s. Reintroduction of fire to the meadow is needed if the meadow is to be maintained.

Historic ethnobotanical research conducted on many Native American Tribes had mostly explored the economic value of various plants and their roles in subsistence and possible medical benefits. Most often this research provides limited insight into the “ethno” or cultural lenses through which these various tribes interpret their environment and consequently their basis of interaction with it. In order to further ethnobotanical research we must support knowledgeable indigenous scholars who will provide a venue for establishing accurate interpretation of these cultural lenses and the ability to describe their comparable scientific frameworks. Private and government research at Hopi is now adding to the store of information which builds on past literature and now explores Hopi plant taxonomy and in-depth cultural analysis. This approach to ethnobotanical research is currently underway at The Hopi Tribal Government in cultural and natural resources management projects. This research is being applied to interpretation of archaeobotanical remains to further cultural affiliation studies of archaeological sites and their remains. In-depth analysis documents information on optimal environments, cultural landscapes, and current religious uses in providing a Hopi voice of concern in local and regional natural resources management. The need for this type of research and documentation is of primary concern to Hopi elders who understand the imminent loss of botanical knowledge in an age of modern conveniences and ever-changing technology. In this paper we will examine the current and future application of this research which explores Hopi botany to further Hopi natural resources stewardship.

Madagascar is winning the race to become the most environmentally degraded country in the world. The local Antanosy people are seeking ways to reduce rainforest destruction. This project sought to gain an understanding of the Anantosy villagers' forest practices to aid in the creation of a village-based conservation project. Villagers were aware that their natural resource management techniques, mostly agricultural, were degrading the environment. When questioned about alternative techniques of agriculture, such as agroforestry, villagers appeared interested. Villagers did not see forest products as becoming scarce and were not interested in cultivating forest plants due to land tenure constraints.

Thirty-five medicinal plant species used for symptoms of diabetes or its complications were identified based upon the use of a species for 3 or more symptoms by the Indigenous Peoples of the boreal forest of Canada. As oxidative stress is implicated in many of the symptoms of diabetes and its etiology, we analyzed these plant remedies for antioxidant activity. Activity was higher in those species used for more than 5 symptoms, for certain symptoms and combinations of symptoms. These results are support for the use of traditional medicines and provide insights into their selection in relation to antioxidant activity.

Prehistoric ethnobotanists in North America have expanded their vision over the past one hundred years. About forty years ago, paleoethnobotanists increasingly embraced human ecology with studies of how interactions between prehistoric humans and their botanical environment shaped diet and settlement organization over the landscape. More recently, many prehistoric ethnobotanists have once again enlarged their scope to include issues of agency, ideology, dialectics of change, gender, and power within and between populations. Post-modern approaches consciously recognize that scholarly research has political and ethical implications. If paleoethnobotanists did not recognize this theoretically, they did in practice have to deal with NAGPRA. Thus, we now understand that our research has implications for indigenous peoples whose ancestors created the prehistoric ethnobotanical record that we study. Lost in this discussion, in my opinion, is the fact that prehistoric ethnobotany has value for many groups, not just researchers and local indigenous peoples. Here I argue that prehistoric ethnobotany has much benefit to constituencies beyond those commonly considered.

Myrobalans (fruit of Terminalia chebula) are used in preparing vegetable tanned leather. Indigenous communities collect it extensively from deciduous forests in India. We conducted a survey of T. chebula in Madhya Pradesh, central India, in both agricultural and forest lands from where it is harvested. Rapid rural appraisal was conducted with local communities on collection patterns. Vegetation plots were used to sample T. chebula trees in agricultural fields and forest lands. Results indicate that T. chebula occurs more frequently along agricultural field bunds than in forests. Population structure both in forest and agricultural land shows lack of regeneration and recruitment of seedlings.

Traditionally, the Dusun of Borneo consider Mt. Kinabalu the home of spirits, and they are loathe to climb the summit without propitiation. In apparent accordance with these beliefs, Dusun collectors within Projek Etnobotani Kinabalu have recorded few useful plants at high elevations on Mt. Kinabalu. Why is this? Here, data on useful plants were collected for dominant and indicator plant species (168 spp.) among 16 ecological vegetation types over an elevational gradient. Results indicate that useful species are a function of overall biodiversity and that poor edaphic conditions are associated with reduced proportions of useful species.

This paper explores the role of the grassroots movement to preserve cultural and agricultural diversity. Factors that emerge from and contribute to grassroots globalization, such as marginalization, privilege, and the breakdown of categories, will be explored. A personal account of the events that unfolded during the "Battle of Seattle" World Trade Organization (WTO) talks will be used to examine these issues. The tactics of organizations and activists who protested in Seattle will be evaluated, and parallels will be drawn to the North/South dynamic that exists within the WTO. Finally, problems inherent in analyzing this movement from within will be addressed.

This paper examines the fauna from the Mousterian site of Kebara Cave (Israel), in order to better understand Neanderthal use of animal resources, and the changing function of Kebara as a settlement. This analysis shows that: (1) Neanderthals hunted the ungulates found at Kebara, including prime adults of large, dangerous species; (2) Kebara's function as a settlement changed from an ephemeral hunting camp early in the sequence, to an intensively occupied cool-season basecamp, then back to an ephemeral hunting camp toward the end of the Mousterian; and (3) while the cave was used as a basecamp, a large midden accumulated along the edge of the habitation area. Our analyses reveal nothing to suggest that Neanderthal use of animal resources differed in any fundamental way from the foraging behavior of their anatomically more modern-looking quasi-contemporaries of the Middle Paleolithic from their Upper Paleolithic successors in the region.

Among the artifacts recovered from an iron, Fisk coffin (1953) in Thibodaux, Louisiana, were 3 floral offerings: two woody stems with leaves and floral/fruiting structures and a single blossom. These were identified as swamp bay (Persea palustris (Raf.) Sarg.), night blooming jessamine (Cestrum nocturnum L.), and gardenia (Gardenia angusta (L.) Merr.). For curation, the specimens were dried, and stored under controlled conditions. Whether symbolism can be attached or not, these are the only known floral offerings from the 1850s and indicate formerly unknown burial customs in Louisiana.

Inter- and Intra-demographic ethnobotanical knowledge (vernacular/scientific naming and use/management information) among mestizos, Shipibo and inventory professionals is compared for 196 informants. Semi-structured interviews address socio-economic value, availability, management, and preference ranking of useful species known by the informants. Structured interviews on species knowledge and use were then conducted on 70 pre-selected, naturally growing species, and on land use and management preferences of 6 ecotones in secondary and residual forests. Uni- and multivariate statistical analyses were used. Preliminary results indicate that there are differences in naming and use among age, gender, and ethnic groups.

The identification of faunal remains used in rituals or in ritual paraphernalia is a major component of reconstructing past ritual behaviors and thus social dynamics. In the archaeological literature ritual fauna has been identified based on the presence of specific taxa. However, ethnographically almost any animal or portion of animal could be used in a ritual context, making the identification of the full complement of ritual fauna at a site difficult. In this paper life-history models for ritual fauna are presented and then tested using the fauna from the four Homol'ovi sites.

Panchayat Raj (village cluster level administration) in India have become increasingly powerful in recent years. Accordingly, decisions regarding natural resources management are potentially more than ever subject to influence by local leaders acting on behalf of their rural constituencies. On the other hand, both the local resource and the knowledge about traditional practices related to agriculture and the use of indigenous biota is vanishing from the local communities. This coincidence of need and opportunity has prompted coordinated efforts by certain academics and NGOs to work with the local residents in biodiversity rich areas to formulate documents call "Community Biodiversity Registers" (CBRs). This document is designed to assist local leaders to deal with conflicts of interests involving public, state, private and international entities. A fully developed CBR contains technical and less formal information from local knowledgeable persons about key personalities and local natural resources including maps, the identification and rights of user groups, and other information germane to the history and current social, legal and economic status of the refereed region. It also includes local community recommendations and protocols for land use practices suitable for preserving and restoring local biodiversity. We hope the CBR will soon be adopted as a recognized legal document. The authors of this paper spent five years in the Paliyan – a hill tribe living in Western Ghats at Sathuragiri, Rajapalyam, Tamilnadu to develop a CBR. The problems encountered during this effort will be discussed.

Native plants, species indigenous to a region, and their uses by local cultures are mainstays of ethnobiological inquiries, with the focus traditionally on food and medicinal resources. Constructed landscapes have garnered less attention, but examinations of the cultural significance of some landscapes, most notably English and Japanese, have been attempted. An emerging trend of using native plants in constructed landscapes in the United States presents complications for traditional ethnobiology. Conventional categorization of participating individuals and their motivations are problematic and fuzzy; involvement ranges from fanatic to casual, motivation from ideological to practical, yet all are considered a part of the same marginal movement. This is an attempt to explicate the significant difficulties in applying the structures and practices traditionally used by anthropologists in faraway places to a movement deeply embedded in scientific, commercial, and cultural contexts here in the United States.

Phytoliths from the dental calculus of 17 human skeletons from Tell Leilan (Syria) were examined to determine if a change in botanical dietary resources accompanied site abandonment at 2200 BC. No pattern among short-celled phytoliths could be discerned; however, silica skeletons (multi-celled phytoliths) were larger and more abundant in Period III (3000-2400 BC) individuals than in Period IV (5000-4100 BC) and Period II (2400-2200 BC) individuals. Multicelled phytoliths occur in cereals as a result of wetter growing conditions, and the paucity of multicelled phytoliths from Period II samples indicates that arid conditions prevailed prior to site abandonment.

The açai palm (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) is a dominant species in the Amazon estuary and its fruits and palm heart are essential as a source of food and income to the rural inhabitants, Ribeirinhos. Although açai fruit is vital for Ribeirinho subsistence and income, the intensity of palm heart harvest, which is destructive to the tree, differed in the five communities surveyed. Regardless of the magnitude of palm heart extraction, all Ribeirinho forest areas had similar densities of açai palms and were greatly altered from natural forests. This study challenges the notion that markets for non-timber forest products can protect forest biodiversity.

Initial goat domestication is documented in the highlands of western Iran at 10,000 calibrated calendar years ago. Metrical analyses of patterns of sexual dimorphism in modern wild goat skeletons (Capra hirus aegargus) allows sex-specific age curves to be computed for archaeofaunal assemblages. A distinct shift to selective harvesting of sub-adult males marks initial human management and the transition from hunting to herding of the species. Direct AMS radiocarbon dates on skeletal elements provide tight temporal context for the transition.