Our research at the MPERF focuses on foodways and ethnoecology. Research teams draw botanical residues from artifacts, teeth, and sediments to understand human-plant relationships in the historic and ancient past. Paleoethnobotanical research enables us to pose new questions about human adaptations to climate shifts and human impacts on local environments over time. We can also illuminate culinary practices and gastronomic traditions, using paleoethnobotanical methods to extract and analyze food residues.