Why is pollen analysis useful to Archaeologists?

Pollen analysis (also know as Palynology) is used to show the range and type of past vegetations at archaeological sites, this analysis is most effective on bogs and lakes as the moisture preserves the pollen in the soil. A microscope is used on the soil to look for pollen grains and spores in the archaeological layers, this is useful as it can tell us what the land would have been like. From this we are able to infer what the climate would have been like. This helps use to discover what the lives of people from the past would have been like as from pollen samples we are able to tell if they were able to farm and what the weather would have been like, telling us what kind of clothes and shelter they would have needed.