An archaeobotanical investigation of Shields Pueblo's (5MT3807) Pueblo II Period

This research is a palaeoethnobotanical study of human-plant interactions at Shields Pueblo (5MT3807), a large multi-component site located in the central Mesa Verde region. The research explores past plant use during the Pueblo I1 period (A.D. 900 - 1150). Archaeobotanical remains were used to identify plants collected and utilised by the Pueblo's inhabitants and to determine if the composition of the assemblage varied temporally and spatially. Shields Pueblo's archaeobotanical assemblage showed that the inhabitants grew crops and collected wild plants from a variety of plant communities. The occurrence of climatic shifts, varying growing season length, and population expansion in the Pueblo I1 period may be reflected in a broadening of plants collected by the inhalbitants through time. Evaluation of the 'species area curve' sub-sampling technique determined it to be an adequate method for characterising what taxa are present in (an archaeobotanical assemblage; however guidelines for the application of this method were identified.