Abstract
Phytoliths are microscopic mineral (usually silica) structures deposited by plants in and around cells that take on the form of the cells and hence can be identified at various taxonomic levels. They can be used to identify foods and industrial plants from various contexts in the archaeological past, by extracting them from artifacts and archaeological sediments. They can be used to reconstruct paleoenvironments by extracting them from archaeological and other sedimentary contexts. Techniques for extracting phytoliths from plants, artifacts, and sediments are presented. Dry ashing is the common technique to extract phytoliths from plant material while variations in heavy density liquid flotation are the usual techniques used to extract phytoliths from soils, sediments, and artifact residues. Artifact residue extraction also often uses liquids such as weak ammonia or ultrapure water to remove artifact residues.
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Acknowledgments
I have benefitted from discussions with a number of individuals over the years, but I particularly wish to thank Calla McNamee, Gerald Newlands, and Arlene Rosen.
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Kooyman, B. (2015). Phytoliths: Preparation and Archaeological Extraction. In: Yeung, E., Stasolla, C., Sumner, M., Huang, B. (eds) Plant Microtechniques and Protocols. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19944-3_28
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19944-3_28
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