Collaborative Basic Research Towards the Development and Maturation of Phytolith Analysis in Archaeology

Deborah Pearsall博士和Dolores Piperno博士将在一个项目上合作，开发植硅体分析在考古材料中的应用。植硅体是沉积在植物体内的小硅体，通常在死亡和分解后保存在土壤中。尽管一种植物可能会产生多种形状的植硅体，而且很少有形状局限于单一物种，但检查植硅体组合并做出一些物种鉴定是可能的。研究小组将专注于玉米和相关物种。他们将从国内玉米和可能令人困惑的物种的不同营养部分获取植硅体，以确定玉米植硅体的独特特征。他们还将开发一个专家系统，以实现准确和容易的识别。只有在最不寻常的情况下，植物遗骸才能在考古遗址中得到保存。因此，由于植物扮演着如此重要的饮食角色，重建史前饮食是极其困难的。在工作保存极差的热带地区，这个问题尤其严重。植硅体，因为它们非常耐用，提供了一种潜在的方法来解决这个问题，因此值得关注。然而，由于植硅体物种之间缺乏一对一的对应关系，分析带来了困难。这项研究应该有助于解决这一问题。这个项目很重要，因为它将为考古学家和古生物学家提供一个在世界许多地方都应该有用的有价值的工具。

Drs. Deborah Pearsall and Dolores Piperno will collaborate on a project to develop the application of phytolith analysis to archaeological materials. Phytoliths are small bodies of silica which are deposited within plants and are usually preserved in soil after death and decomposition occurs. Although one species of plant may produce phytoliths of many shapes, and very few shapes are restricted to a single species, it is possible to examine phytolith assemblages and make some species identifications. The research team will concentrate on corn and related species. They will obtain phytoliths from different vegetative parts of both domestic corn and possible confusing species to determine what features are unique to corn phytoliths. they will also develop an expert system to permit accurate and easy identification. Only under the most unusual conditions are plants remains preserved in archaeological sites. Thus, because plants play such an important dietary role, it is extremely difficult to reconstruct prehistoric diets. In tropical areas of the work, where preservation is extremely poor, this problem is particularly acute. Phytoliths, because they are so durable, provide a potential way around this problem and therefore merit attention. However, because of the lack of one to one correspondence between phytolith species, analysis poses difficulties. This research should help to solve this problem. The project is important because it will provide archaeologists, as well as paleobiologists, with a value tool which should be useful in many parts of the world.