Macro- and micro-ecological reconstruction using plant opal phytolith data from archaeological sediments
✍ Scribed by Irwin Rovner
- Book ID
- 102844336
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1988
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 670 KB
- Volume
- 3
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0883-6353
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Phytolith analysis is rapidly maturing into a robust and powerful paleobotanical data system. Many plant groups can be identified t o family or subfamily, and even species identification has been suggested. Distinctive phytoliths aaur abundantly in members of the grass family and are also found in several other groups including rushes, sedges. palms, conifers, deciduous trees. and other dicotyledonous plant h a . Soil phytolith assemblages have provided paleabotanical data on the order of thousands to millions of years ago. Moreover, as test cases for analysis in soil have increased, an emerging pattern indicates that phytolith populations are stable decay-inplace residues following deposition in sediments. Phytolith studies reflect both macroecological as well aa subtle microecological, ecotonal differences. and/or very specific ethnobotanical and cultural activities. Phytolith analysis is a superlative EO- of botanical information in narrowly defined contexts of archaeological sediments.