A morphometric study of variance in articulated dendritic phytolith wave lobes within selected species of Triticeae and Aveneae

An Archaeobotanical Onsite Approach to the Neolithic Settlements in Southern Regions of the Balkans: The Case of Vrbjanska Čuka, a Tell Site in Pelagonia, Republic of Macedonia

“…The samples contain many single-cell phytoliths of Festucoid, Panicoid, Chloridoid and Elongate morphotype-classes (Twiss et al, 1969), indicating a wide spectra of grass species entering the archaeological sediment. Some elongate echinate/ dendriform phytoliths and their skeletons recovered from the Neolithic levels closely resemble residues of Triticum (Ball et al, 1993;Berlin et al, 2003;Ball et al, 2017) and Hordeum (Madella, 2007), but many other skeletons of unidentified chaff were noticed during the analysis, including inflorescences of wild grasses, whose identification is not possible without a relevant reference collection. Inflorescence skeletons with stomata are sometimes referred to as the residues of common reed (Ntinou, Tsartsidou, 2017).…”

An Archaeobotanical Onsite Approach to the Neolithic Settlements in Southern Regions of the Balkans: The Case of Vrbjanska Čuka, a Tell Site in Pelagonia, Republic of Macedonia

“…The samples contain many single-cell phytoliths of Festucoid, Panicoid, Chloridoid and Elongate morphotype-classes (Twiss et al, 1969), indicating a wide spectra of grass species entering the archaeological sediment. Some elongate echinate/ dendriform phytoliths and their skeletons recovered from the Neolithic levels closely resemble residues of Triticum (Ball et al, 1993;Berlin et al, 2003;Ball et al, 2017) and Hordeum (Madella, 2007), but many other skeletons of unidentified chaff were noticed during the analysis, including inflorescences of wild grasses, whose identification is not possible without a relevant reference collection. Inflorescence skeletons with stomata are sometimes referred to as the residues of common reed (Ntinou, Tsartsidou, 2017).…”

Two methods, two views: Integrating phytoliths in thin sections and bulk samples on the urban Dark Earths from the DIVA-site (Antwerp, Belgium)

“…Monocot plants are the most abundant in the three stratigraphic units, particularly Poeaceae (grasses) which have been documented through the presence of the so-called grass silica short cell phytoliths (GSSCP) and elongate with different margins features. GSSCP morphotypes are produced in the epidermal tissue of grasses and have a high ecological value [ 25 , 32 ]. The most abundant GSSCP morphotypes identified in the DIVA samples are those produced by C 3 Pooideae subfamily plants, especially Rondels ( Fig 6a ) (<34%), along with Trapezoid (<4%) and Crenate ( <1%) ( Table 5 ).…”

Petrological Analysis of Late Neolithic Ceramics from the Tell Settlement of Gorzsa (South-East Hungary)

“…It must be noted, however, that the exact taxonomical species identification of the plant used for tempering cannot be carried out on the basis of the botanical evidence encapsulated in the ceramic fabrics ( Figure 8). This statement is in relation with two different issues: 1) based on individual phytoliths, or on small sample sizes of measurable disarticulated phytolith assemblages, it is not possible to distinguish between closely related taxa (for details see Ball et al 2017); 2) morphometric measurements that would facilitate plant identification in these cases are hindered by thin-sectioning and the so-called '2D analytical space'; namely phytoliths and silica skeletons (disarticulated phytoliths) cannot be rotated for the sake of precise morphometric measurements under the microscope within the thin-sections, since they are fixed (for a description of the methodological issues of this field, see Kreiter et al 2013;2014;Pető and Vrydaghs 2016).…”

“…The taxonomical identification of plant species and genera based on archaeological or fossilised phytolith assemblages is a highly debated issue and requires exceptional sample conservation. Based on the so-called cell wall patterns produced by the disarticulated elongate dendritic cells of cereal species, a visual comparison can be the basis of the genera identification, however without a statistically sound number of measurements on these remains a species identification cannot be carried out with high certainty (Ball et al 2017).…”

An Archaeobotanical Onsite Approach to the Neolithic Settlements in Southern Regions of the Balkans: The Case of Vrbjanska Čuka, a Tell Site in Pelagonia, Republic of Macedonia

“…The samples contain many single-cell phytoliths of Festucoid, Panicoid, Chloridoid and Elongate morphotype-classes (Twiss et al, 1969), indicating a wide spectra of grass species entering the archaeological sediment. Some elongate echinate/ dendriform phytoliths and their skeletons recovered from the Neolithic levels closely resemble residues of Triticum (Ball et al, 1993;Berlin et al, 2003;Ball et al, 2017) and Hordeum (Madella, 2007), but many other skeletons of unidentified chaff were noticed during the analysis, including inflorescences of wild grasses, whose identification is not possible without a relevant reference collection. Inflorescence skeletons with stomata are sometimes referred to as the residues of common reed (Ntinou, Tsartsidou, 2017).…”

Two methods, two views: Integrating phytoliths in thin sections and bulk samples on the urban Dark Earths from the DIVA-site (Antwerp, Belgium)

“…Monocot plants are the most abundant in the three stratigraphic units, particularly Poeaceae (grasses) which have been documented through the presence of the so-called grass silica short cell phytoliths (GSSCP) and elongate with different margins features. GSSCP morphotypes are produced in the epidermal tissue of grasses and have a high ecological value [ 25 , 32 ]. The most abundant GSSCP morphotypes identified in the DIVA samples are those produced by C 3 Pooideae subfamily plants, especially Rondels ( Fig 6a ) (<34%), along with Trapezoid (<4%) and Crenate ( <1%) ( Table 5 ).…”

Petrological Analysis of Late Neolithic Ceramics from the Tell Settlement of Gorzsa (South-East Hungary)

“…It must be noted, however, that the exact taxonomical species identification of the plant used for tempering cannot be carried out on the basis of the botanical evidence encapsulated in the ceramic fabrics ( Figure 8). This statement is in relation with two different issues: 1) based on individual phytoliths, or on small sample sizes of measurable disarticulated phytolith assemblages, it is not possible to distinguish between closely related taxa (for details see Ball et al 2017); 2) morphometric measurements that would facilitate plant identification in these cases are hindered by thin-sectioning and the so-called '2D analytical space'; namely phytoliths and silica skeletons (disarticulated phytoliths) cannot be rotated for the sake of precise morphometric measurements under the microscope within the thin-sections, since they are fixed (for a description of the methodological issues of this field, see Kreiter et al 2013;2014;Pető and Vrydaghs 2016).…”

“…The taxonomical identification of plant species and genera based on archaeological or fossilised phytolith assemblages is a highly debated issue and requires exceptional sample conservation. Based on the so-called cell wall patterns produced by the disarticulated elongate dendritic cells of cereal species, a visual comparison can be the basis of the genera identification, however without a statistically sound number of measurements on these remains a species identification cannot be carried out with high certainty (Ball et al 2017).…”

An Archaeobotanical Onsite Approach to the Neolithic Settlements in Southern Regions of the Balkans: The Case of Vrbjanska Čuka, a Tell Site in Pelagonia, Republic of Macedonia

“…The samples contain many single-cell phytoliths of Festucoid, Panicoid, Chloridoid and Elongate morphotype-classes (Twiss et al, 1969), indicating a wide spectra of grass species entering the archaeological sediment. Some elongate echinate/ dendriform phytoliths and their skeletons recovered from the Neolithic levels closely resemble residues of Triticum (Ball et al, 1993;Berlin et al, 2003;Ball et al, 2017) and Hordeum (Madella, 2007), but many other skeletons of unidentified chaff were noticed during the analysis, including inflorescences of wild grasses, whose identification is not possible without a relevant reference collection. Inflorescence skeletons with stomata are sometimes referred to as the residues of common reed (Ntinou, Tsartsidou, 2017).…”

Two methods, two views: Integrating phytoliths in thin sections and bulk samples on the urban Dark Earths from the DIVA-site (Antwerp, Belgium)

“…Monocot plants are the most abundant in the three stratigraphic units, particularly Poeaceae (grasses) which have been documented through the presence of the so-called grass silica short cell phytoliths (GSSCP) and elongate with different margins features. GSSCP morphotypes are produced in the epidermal tissue of grasses and have a high ecological value [ 25 , 32 ]. The most abundant GSSCP morphotypes identified in the DIVA samples are those produced by C 3 Pooideae subfamily plants, especially Rondels ( Fig 6a ) (<34%), along with Trapezoid (<4%) and Crenate ( <1%) ( Table 5 ).…”

Petrological Analysis of Late Neolithic Ceramics from the Tell Settlement of Gorzsa (South-East Hungary)

“…It must be noted, however, that the exact taxonomical species identification of the plant used for tempering cannot be carried out on the basis of the botanical evidence encapsulated in the ceramic fabrics ( Figure 8). This statement is in relation with two different issues: 1) based on individual phytoliths, or on small sample sizes of measurable disarticulated phytolith assemblages, it is not possible to distinguish between closely related taxa (for details see Ball et al 2017); 2) morphometric measurements that would facilitate plant identification in these cases are hindered by thin-sectioning and the so-called '2D analytical space'; namely phytoliths and silica skeletons (disarticulated phytoliths) cannot be rotated for the sake of precise morphometric measurements under the microscope within the thin-sections, since they are fixed (for a description of the methodological issues of this field, see Kreiter et al 2013;2014;Pető and Vrydaghs 2016).…”

“…The taxonomical identification of plant species and genera based on archaeological or fossilised phytolith assemblages is a highly debated issue and requires exceptional sample conservation. Based on the so-called cell wall patterns produced by the disarticulated elongate dendritic cells of cereal species, a visual comparison can be the basis of the genera identification, however without a statistically sound number of measurements on these remains a species identification cannot be carried out with high certainty (Ball et al 2017).…”