Phytolith taphonomy in the middle- to late-Holocene fluvial sediments of Ounjougou (Mali, West Africa)

Abstract

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Testing phytolith analysis approaches to estimate the prehistoric anthropogenic burning regime on the central California coast

“…Since the technique was first suggested almost 30 years ago (Piperno 2006), visual identification of burned phytoliths has been increasingly used in the literature to document fire in a variety of environments (Kealhofer 1996;Boyd 2002;Gu et al 2008;Morris et al 2010;Cordova et al 2011;Garnier et al 2012;McMichael et al 2012;Jones et al 2013;Aleman et al 2014;Selkin et al 2015). However, no researchers to date have adequately addressed the issue of distinguishing burned from unburned phytoliths in a typical soil phytolith assemblage that includes phytoliths with a wide range of ages and degrees of weathering.…”

“…Although these approaches have not been adequately tested and calibrated for quantitatively estimating long-term fire frequency from soil samples, each has been used to identify individual burned phytoliths. The first approach, using changes in the proportion of darkened phytoliths to total phytoliths in the soil profile, has been used by numerous researchers to qualitatively infer changes in fire frequency over time (Kealhofer 1996;Boyd 2002;Gu et al 2008;Morris et al 2010;Cordova et al 2011;Garnier et al 2012;McMichael et al 2012;Jones et al 2013;Aleman et al 2014;Selkin et al 2015). The second approach has been used successfully by archaeologists to identify phytoliths burned at high temperatures in hearths (Elbaum et al 2003).…”

The FLK Zinj paleolandscape: Reconstruction of a 1.84 Ma wooded habitat in the FLK Zinj-AMK-PTK-DS archaeological complex, Middle Bed I (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)

“…Phytolith descriptions follow the international code for phytolith nomenclature (Madella et al, 2005). Phytoliths were classified according to their morphology and size, and compared against photographs and descriptions from previous work (Arraiz, 2016;Albert et al, 2016;Barboni et al, 2010;Collura and Neumann, 2016;Eichhorn et al, 2010;Garnier et al, 2012;Mercader et al, 2009;Novello et al, 2012;Piperno, 1997Piperno, , 1998Ollendorf, 1992;Strömberg, 2003). Phytoliths were subsequently grouped according to their most probable botanical origin (Appendix A).…”

L’incision généralisée de la vallée du Yamé (Mali) entre 2 350 et 1 700 ans cal. BP : quelle signification paléoenvironnementale et archéologique ?

“…BP. La plupart de ces recherches ont été conduites avec l'objectif d'étudier le rôle des changements orbitaux sur la dynamique des milieux et notamment de caractériser l'extension spatiale et temporelle de l'optimum humide africain (Servant, 1983 ;Ballouche & Neumann, 1995 ;Salzmann & Waller, 1998 ;Gasse, 2000 ;Salzmann et al, 2002 ;Hoeltzman et al, 2004 ;Kröpelin et al, 2008 ;Garnier et al, 2013). En effet, cette période qui a pris fin il y a environ 4 000 ans en raison principalement d'un changement orbital (Solanki et al, 2004), représente un tournant dans l'évolution climatique et environnementale de l'Afrique tropicale.…”