The Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology (LAPE) is a specialised unit of the University. It was established in August 2002 at the Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (Budweis, Czech Republic). A significant advantage and benefit for the members of the new unit was, and still is, the presence of a large biological research centre, under the authority of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. It provides diverse experienced laboratories, departments and individual specialists. The founding idea of LAPE grew out of several years of previous research activity in the area of archaeobotany and palaeoecology, focused primarily on the topic of medieval Prague (Beneš et al. 2002) and several other sites. The predecessor research activity up until 2002 was associated with a group of, at that time, fresh researchers (P. Kočár, P. Pokorný, J. Kaštovský and others) under the informal leadership of J. Beneš. The first members of LAPE are still in frequent contact with our team, which is evident in publication and project activities ( e.g. Beneš, Pokorný 2008). Despite a personnel shift, which is so typical of university life, a decade of work has shaped a compact team which operates in various scientific fields and research activities.