Phytolith Studies Research Articles

Phytolith Analysis: Applications of a New Paleoethnobotanical Technique in Archeology

The purpose of this paper is to acquaint professionals not directly involved in soil phytolith research with its applications in archeology. The potential and limitations of the technique, nature of the remains, and basic procedures for field sampling and analysis will be discussed. Both current research applying phytolith analysis in New World archeology and topics requiring basic research will be reviewed. Study of phytoliths (opal silica bodies) in the soil of archeological sites is a new component of paleoethnobotanical research in the Americas. Although use of this technique to identify cultivated grasses archeologically has a considerable history in the Old World (Neotolitzky 1900, 1914; Schellenberg 1908; Edman and Soderberg 1929; Watanabe 1968, 1970), application of phytolith analysis to detection of New World crops dates from the 1960s with investigations at the Kotosh site in Peru (Matsulani 1972). It was not until the 1970s and publication of Rovner's (1971) stimulating article on the potential of phytolith analysis in archeology that interest in the technique began to grow. Subsequently, phytolith analysis of archeological soils has increased in the Americas (e.g., Rovner 1971, 1975, 1980; Carbone 1977; Lewis 1978, 1979, 1981; Pearsall 1978, 1979; Piperno 1979, 1981; Robinson 1980; Starna et al. 1980). Growing interest in this application of phytolith analysis has led to refinements in processing procedures, classification and identification techniques, and a broadening of problems approached. Increasing interest among paleoethnobotanists and archeologists in phytolith analysis must be tempered with caution, however, because considerable basic research remains to be done. Topics of needed research include movement of phytoliths in soil, development of classfication schemes for regional vegetation formations, investigation of sources of bias in archeological phytolith assemblages, and continued work on classfication and counting procedures.