Search results for "Phytolith"

Phytolith analyses from Khil and Kaf Taht el-Ghar (Western Maghreb): Plant use trajectories in a long-term perspective

2021

In this paper we present the results of phytolith investigations at two archaeological sites in northwestern Morocco: Khil (Tangier) and Kaf Taht el-Ghar (Tétouan). The two sites located in Western Maghreb, one on the Atlantic and one on the Mediterranean coast, were investigated in the framework of the AGRIWESTMED project. Phytolith analysis complemented archaeobotanical, geoarchaeological and archaeological investigations to better identify plant use during the entire occupation sequence. At Khil 16 samples have been studied, coming from two profiles excavated in two different caves of the same system – grotte B and grotte C – that span a chronology comprised between the early Neolithic a…

New insights on Neolithic food and mobility patterns in Mediterranean coastal populations

2020

OBJECTIVES The aims of this research are to explore the diet, mobility, social organization, and environmental exploitation patterns of early Mediterranean farmers, particularly the role of marine and plant resources in these foodways. In addition, this work strives to document possible gendered patterns of behavior linked to the neolithization of this ecologically rich area. To achieve this, a set of multiproxy analyses (isotopic analyses, dental calculus, microremains analysis, ancient DNA) were performed on an exceptional deposit (n = 61) of human remains from the Les Breguieres site (France), dating to the transition of the sixth to the fifth millennium BCE. MATERIALS AND METHODS The sa…

Everything matters: Molar microwear texture in goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) fed diets of different abrasiveness

2020

There is an ongoing discourse about whether or not external abrasives influence the microscopic wear in herbivore teeth, including a statement that “dust does not matter”. We submitted the maxillary and mandibular second molar of 28 goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) to dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA). The study animals were divided into four groups, which received diets of increasing phytolith-based abrasiveness (L: lucerne based pellets, very low phytolith abrasion diet, acting as control; G: grass-based pellets, medium abrasive phytolith diet; GR: grass and rice husk pellets, high abrasion phytolith diet), or a diet with added external abrasives (GRS: the GR diet with add…

Dépiquage au tribulum au Néolithique final dans le sud-est de la France

2002

Microscopic findings and soil genetic “indicators” in support of pedoarchaeological studies

2015

Archaeologists use historical artefacts and archaeological records to reconstruct the communities that produced them and the environment in which they lived. Soil protects our buried or damaged heritage of archaeological and historic remains from depletion, damage, and any disturbance. Here are presented some preliminary results obtained in the framework of the FP7 Project "MEditerranean MOntainous LAndscapes: an historical approach to cultural Heritage based on traditional agrosystems (MEMOLA)" where ancient soils horizons are themselves archaeological records. In order to implement the MEMOLA archaeological study and to identify soil genetic "indicators", two integrated approaches were us…

Soils, Past Landscapes and Cultural Heritage: Phytoliths as Indicators of Ancient Crops

2016

Soils, Past Landscapes and Cultural Heritage: Phytoliths as Indicators of Ancient Crops