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

Drs。Deborah Pearsall和Dolores Piperno将合作开展一个项目，开发植物岩分析在考古材料中的应用。植物岩是沉积在植物体内的小硅体，通常在植物死亡和分解后保存在土壤中。虽然一种植物可能产生多种形状的植物岩，而且很少有植物岩的形状局限于一种植物，但检查植物岩组合并进行一些物种鉴定是可能的。研究小组将集中研究玉米及其相关品种。他们将从国内玉米和可能混淆的品种的不同营养部分获得植物岩，以确定玉米植物岩的独特特征。他们还将开发一个专家系统，以便准确和容易地进行识别。只有在最不寻常的条件下，植物遗骸才能保存在考古遗址中。因此，由于植物在饮食中扮演着如此重要的角色，重建史前饮食是极其困难的。在热带地区的工作，那里的保护是极其贫乏的，这一问题尤为严重。植物岩，因为它们是如此持久，提供了一个潜在的解决这个问题的方法，因此值得关注。然而，由于植物岩种类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个问题。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.