Search results for "Archeobotany"
showing 2 items of 2 documents
Archeobotanical study of traditional agroecosystems based on SEM-EDX analysis of buried phytoliths
2015
The FP7 Project "MEditerranean MOntainous LAndscapes: an historical approach to cultural heritage based on traditional agrosystems (MEMOLA)" (http://www.memolaproject.eu/it) is studying past landscapes using ancient soil horizons as archaeological records. The project aims at evaluating the biodiversity of no longer existing environments, in order to reconstruct the past agroecosystems. One of the approach used in the study consisted in the selective sampling of buried paleo-soil horizons for the search of “testimonials” or useful pedo-archaeological "indicators" that can tell something about past environments and peculiar ecosystems no longer present. To this purpose it was decided to star…
A new method for morphometric analysis of opal phytoliths from plants.
2014
Micro-morphometry has substantially gained ground in the field of phytolith analysis, but the comparability of results is limited due to the use of different methods. This paper presents a new, user-friendly method based on open-source software (FIJI) that is proposed as a step towards the introduction of a standard method. After obtaining a mask of a phytolith by making a digital drawing, 27 commonly used variables of size and shape are measured automatically. This method is not only useful for phytolith analysis, but may also be used for other fields of morphometric research. Users can furthermore customize the software tool when additional variables are required.