An integrated assessment of archaeobotanical recovery methods in the Neotropical rainforest of northern Belize: flotation and dry screening

Hageman, Jon B.; Goldstein, D.J.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2009.09.013

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…To recover the full range of taxa, both large and small, one should opt for water flotation, even in sandy sediments. Hageman and Goldstein (2009) reach similar conclusions from their comparative study in Belize, where flotation in silt-clay conditions yielded more seeds, while only large wood samples were found using the sieving procedure. For dried food plants in sandy sediments, particularly maize, beans, peppers, large taxa, and feast foods, dry sieving may be preferred.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…The fact that flotation accounts for the better recovery of small seeds could be attributed to the fact that sieved samples appear less ''clean'' and tend to be more dusty in nature, making it more difficult for the sorter to distinguish between seeds and dirt. Clearly, more experiments such as this and Hageman and Goldstein's (2009) work in Belize are needed to clarify the differences in recovery rates among various processing methods. Perhaps a technique involving both flotation and dry sieving could be utilized to get the best of both worlds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flotation versus dry sieving archaeobotanical remains: A case history from the Middle Horizon southern coast of Peru

Chiou

Cook

Hastorf

2013

Journal of Field Archaeology

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During excavations at the site of Casa Vieja located in the Peruvian coastal desert, archaeological plant remains were systematically collected to assess whether it is more productive and informative to sieve sandy sediments in dry environments or to process such samples by water flotation, a persistent methodological concern. At Casa Vieja, dual subsamples were collected and analyzed using both of these procedures. For dry, sandy sediment conditions, each processing strategy was found to yield a different view of the botanical remains. Dry sieving recovers more of the larger plant specimens whereas water flotation yields more of the smaller-sized material. These results should be incorporated into archaeological research designs in the future, especially for desert environments. IntroductionThis project was designed to determine if archaeologists are collecting and processing archaeological plant remains effectively in dry, desert regions, specifically along the drier parts of the South American west coast. In 1995, excavations in a small residential settlement were conducted in the Ica River Valley of Peru to study plant access and local food production. Due to the lack of a clear protocol for processing the collected sediment samples for such a study, a dual processing procedure was devised that consisted of both dry sieving and water flotation with the purpose of determining which technique is better suited for this environment. Archaeobotanists use flotation to recover carbonized plant material while those working in dry, sandy conditions may adopt a recovery strategy that favors dry sieving over flotation in order to collect desiccated remains. Little is known, however, about the relative efficiency of the two different recovery methods. Our study presents concrete results as to the advantages and disadvantages of both methods and offers insight into how archaeological projects excavating in dry, sandy conditions can modify their archaeobotanical processing strategies to ensure optimal recovery. Casa Vieja (ca. A.D. 600-1000) is a late Early Intermediate Period (EIP) and early Middle Horizon (MH) site located in the desert of the Lower Ica Valley.It offers excellent preservation conditions, presenting a prime opportunity to investigate effective ways to extract and identify archaeobotanical samples from sandy sediments. Most South American archaeobotanical research has concentrated on highland or tropical lowland areas with much of the focus on early time periods. Archaeological projects in those regions deal with clay content and regular clumping of the soil and tend to float the site sediment. Ironically, until very recently less archaeobotanical information was available for the coast of Peru, where organic materials are found in large quantities and in excellent condition. Casa Vieja, for example, has yielded much archaeobotanical information: discussion concerning major changes in plant use during the period of Wari presence in the Ica Valley is presented in Cook and Parrish (2005). Roqué Gamarra and c...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flotation versus dry sieving archaeobotanical remains: A case history from the Middle Horizon southern coast of Peru

Chiou

Cook

Hastorf

2013

Journal of Field Archaeology

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“…Significant numbers of carbonized nutshells, seeds of manzanita and manroot, and even corms/bulbs are present in many of these dry-screened samples. We find precedent for this dual-collection strategy in various regions with good preservation (Chiou et al 2013;Hageman and Goldstein 2009). The loci represented here are shell-rich, sandy-soil, toss-zone areas outside defined house depressions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 75%

Botanical Evidence of Paleodietary and Environmental Change: Drought on the Channel Islands, California

Arnold¹,

Martin²

2014

Am. antiq.

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Fluctuations in climatic regimes and biodiversity through time are linked in complex ways to human behavior and socioeconomic processes. We use macrobotanical evidence from Chumash village sites on California’s Channel Islands to investigate the relationship between late Holocene climatic perturbations and one region of the larger Chumash world. Carbonized plant remains provide evidence of the shifting availability of native plants during the Transitional period (A.D. 1150–1300), when droughts impacted island floral diversity and the Chumash had to cope with changes in vegetation regimes that likely curtailed food availability. We find that drought-resistant plant resources appear in higher relative frequencies in proveniences dating to the Transitional era, and at least one food resource was first imported from the mainland around that time. These findings support the proposition that the Chumash intensified cross-channel trade in part to respond to dietary needs during episodic resource stress. This is also the time when several economic specializations blossomed, including intensive shell bead making. These specializations persisted for six centuries and were central to the development of institutionalized leadership and political complexity in the region ca. A.D. 1200. Various strategies to preserve stability in the plant diet were important elements in the broader reorganization of labor in coastal southern California.

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“…As flotation has been suggested to be less effective at recovering denser macrofossils, especially endocarp fragments 41 , both the lighter fraction, or 'flot', and the heavy residue from these contexts were analysed. All charred fragments >1 mm from both fractions were analysed.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The first Australian plant foods at Madjedbebe, 65,000–53,000 years ago

et al. 2020

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There is little evidence for the role of plant foods in the dispersal of early modern humans into new habitats globally. Researchers have hypothesised that early movements of human populations through Island Southeast Asia and into Sahul were driven by the lure of highcalorie, low-handling-cost foods, and that the use of plant foods requiring processing was not common in Sahul until the Holocene. Here we present the analysis of charred plant food remains from Madjedbebe rockshelter in northern Australia, dated to between 65 kya and 53 kya. We demonstrate that Australia's earliest known human population exploited a range of plant foods, including those requiring processing. Our finds predate existing evidence for such subsistence practices in Sahul by at least 23ky. These results suggest that dietary breadth underpinned the success of early modern human populations in this region, with the expenditure of labour on the processing of plants guaranteeing reliable access to nutrients in new environments.

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An integrated assessment of archaeobotanical recovery methods in the Neotropical rainforest of northern Belize: flotation and dry screening

Cited by 29 publications

References 37 publications

Flotation versus dry sieving archaeobotanical remains: A case history from the Middle Horizon southern coast of Peru

Flotation versus dry sieving archaeobotanical remains: A case history from the Middle Horizon southern coast of Peru

Botanical Evidence of Paleodietary and Environmental Change: Drought on the Channel Islands, California

The first Australian plant foods at Madjedbebe, 65,000–53,000 years ago

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