Phytolith identification criteria for foxtail and broomcorn millets: a new approach to calculating crop ratios

作者：Weisskopf Alison Ruth^*; Lee Gyoung Ah

来源：Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2016, 8(1): 29-42.

DOI：10.1007/s12520-014-0190-7

• Phytoliths
• Archaeobotany
• Foxtail millet
• Broomcorn millet
• China
• Crops

Broomcorn and Foxtail millets were major crops in the Yellow River Valley region, Henan, China, during the Neolithic Yangshao period. Phytoliths and macro remains have been used to understand crop choices in this period. Distinguishing between phytoliths from millet crops and panicoid non cultigens can be challenging. We examine the effect of using only one or two identification criteria compared with a more stringent five or more with phytoliths from archaeological samples to examine crop ratios. We compare our results with the results from the macro remains. This demonstrates, firstly, that using more identification markers has a very definite effect on the results and secondly, phytoliths and macro remains are complementary proxies that when used together can produce more accurate results than used alone.

• 出版日期2016-3