Abstract: Fossil charcoal results from incomplete burning, and retains the anatomic character of the original wood, has distinct advantages and significant potential for reconstructing terrestrial vegetation, paleoclimate and human activity. Nevertheless, fossil charcoal is information rich but yet is an under-utilized resource because of a lack of systematic research method in this discipline. Understanding of how charcoal might be recognized in the field and obtaining representative sample are crucial for the charcoal study; and proper research method will expand the application range of the proxy. Recently, quantitative analysis of fossil charcoal has made outstanding achievements in exploring the vegetation type and its succession history; also, the observation of some special construction such as fungi, radial cracks and reflectance within the fossil charcoal can get more information. The aim of this paper is to present the state of the discipline today, systematic review the procedure of fossil charcoal analysis (from identification to statistics analysis), and introduce the method of charcoal recognition and sampling in the filed; in addition to this, we point out the questions that remain to be studied.

Key words: Fossil charcoal; Quaternary; Archaeology; Paleoenvironment; Method