ANGA Workshop Day 4: Macrobotanicals

Last day of the workshop, with the focus on macrobotanical remains, basically larger plant remains. The definition can get a bit ambiguous, so I'll leave it at that. It's usually seeds and fruit remains that people look at though.

Don't mind this sort of stuff. Reminds me of my days in botany classes, but it does make me want to dig out all my old notes and textbooks. Botany's not something I really want to neglect particularly if I'm pursuing this sort of work.

After the workshop, several of us went to the Staff Bar (it's pretty swish) for a drink. The others were chatting about various things, while I mainly listened. The dangers of Port Moresby, PNG and the kinship structure there and tribal warfare in the highlands. Reminded me of the old Nordic tribal structure. Archaeologists generally have some pretty interesting tales to tell. The academic staff/presenters later got talking about their experiences with hallucinogenic plants and fungi (back in the 70s-80s), while one of my colleagues told us about the aphrodisiacal plant she picked up in PNG (fun stuff!). Yes, plants are very interesting.

So now I'm toying with the idea of starting another blog about archaeobotany generally, but we'll see how it goes.