Anthropology 2229F/G Lecture Notes - Phytolith, Palynology, Trowel
18 Jul 2012
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Lecture 21 part 1 subsistence-settlement patterns: floral remains. Floral/plant remains: types of plant remains: Difficult to recover from sites; need highly specialized refined techniques: plant macrofossils. Can"t find them using normal methods (e. g. screens) Need to take bulk samples of the sediments to find the macrofossils. Usually used floatation: pour bulk sediment into a container with a screen and pour water through it or agitate it in water to separate out tiny artifacts/items from the others. Heavy fraction: heavier than water, end up sitting on the screen. Light fraction: wont sink to the bottom of the screen, floats to the top of the container. Sorted out under a microscope once they are dried; very time consuming. Quantification: extremely difficult to do, no hard tissues like bone, preserve relatively poorly, representation difficult; most can only be preserved unless it is charred, mostly completely gone because people eat the entire thing.
