Microscopic Charcoal Signal in Archaeological Contexts

Marquer, Laurent; Otto, Thierry

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-42622-4_10

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Charcoal particles (particles <160 μm; Marquer and Otto, 2020) are regularly found in palynological samples and counted alongside or in addition to pollen and non‐pollen palynomorphs (NPPs). Charcoal particles provide important information on past wildfires, human activity or even redepositional processes (Clark et al , 1998; Edwards et al , 2000; Krüger, 2020; Patterson III et al , 1987; Whitlock and Larsen, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential critical sources of error in the analysis of microcharcoal in Greenlandic palynological samples – an initial study

Krüger

Schnetger

Strunk

et al. 2023

J Quaternary Science

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It is common practice to count charcoal particles alongside pollen and non‐pollen palynomorphs in palynological samples. The classification of material as charcoal is dependent upon a number of morphological criteria which, in certain geological zones, could be misclassified. In a preliminary study we tested the effects of different preparation techniques on the count result of charcoal from the same samples of Greenland lake sediments. We demonstrate that the use of hydrofluoric acid has a major impact on the number of recorded charcoal particles. We show that detrital biotite is responsible for a large fraction of the particles misclassified as charcoal and suggest that by using a neodymium magnet any inaccuracy can be minimised. This protocol was then applied to further samples which removed the biotite fraction from the total charcoal count.

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