Abstract
Opal phytoliths can easily be extracted from herbivore dental calculus and examined to gain data for the reconstruction of prehistoric herbivore diet. The extraction process is a simple, quick and inexpensive three-step procedure. It consists of one or two distilled water washes to control and assess contamination and a final wash with dilute hydrochloric acid. A pilot study conducted on barnyard animals (cow, sheep and pig) from the American Colonial period site of Hampton, Virginia, demonstrates that dental calculus phytolith assemblages can provide data on herbivore diet that can be used to reconstruct livestock management practices and ecological change.
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