Congruence or Concordance in Archaeobotany: Assessing Micro- and Macro-botanical Data Sets from Icelandic Middens

Zutter, Cynthia

doi:10.1006/jasc.1998.0349

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Taphonomic factors that influence the composition of micro-and macrobotanical assemblages in caribou dung and ice samples must be identified, as they will influence the record and subsequent interpretations (cf. Moe, 1983;van der Knapp, 1989;Bourgeois, 1990Bourgeois, , 2000Rasmussen, 1993;Gajewski et al, 1995;Zutter, 1999). To address this issue, modern caribou dung from the study region has been collected to document seasonal differences (V. Bowyer, unpubl.…”

Section: Paleoenvironmental Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multidisciplinary Investigations of Alpine Ice Patches in Southwest Yukon, Canada: Paleoenvironmental and Paleobiological Investigations

Farnell¹,

Hare²,

Blake³

et al. 2004

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. Since the discovery of dung-rich alpine ice patches in southwest Yukon in 1997, continuing multidisciplinary studies have provided a unique window on the biology, climate, and hunting activity in this region over much of the Holocene. Aerial surveys have identified 72 ice patches of variable size, and 65 patches have been ground-surveyed for organic remains. Of these, 35 yielded an abundance of biological specimens, including caribou and other rare large mammal remains, mummified small mammals and birds, and artifacts spanning 8000 years. The dung provides pollen and plant macrofossils for analysis and paleoenvironmental reconstruction, as well as dietary, genetic, and parasitic information. Stratigraphically controlled sampling of dung within ice layers has yielded a geochronology placing their formation as early as 8300 to 8000 years BP. Ice patch formation was nearly continuous except for an interval between 6700 and 4700 years BP and another between 1440 and 1030, when warm or dry conditions (or both) resulted in no net ice accumulation. Resumption of ice accumulation over the following 500 years likely culminated in the Little Ice Age. The size of the ice patches during this period is made evident by a lichen-free zone that haloes each patch. More recently, interpretation of air photos from 1946 to 2001 has found a significant reduction in ice patch dimensions. Daily temperature records for Whitehorse (1942 -2001) were used to calculate melting degree-day values that account for a large part of the variation in ice patch size, indicating that while considerable melting has likely occurred since the end of the Little Ice Age, the ice patches are highly sensitive to decadal changes in temperature.

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Section: Paleoenvironmental Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multidisciplinary Investigations of Alpine Ice Patches in Southwest Yukon, Canada: Paleoenvironmental and Paleobiological Investigations

Farnell¹,

Hare²,

Blake³

et al. 2004

ARCTIC

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“…Maintaining at least a subset of unwashed artifacts is critical, including at least sev-eral specimens of chipped stone, ground stone, and ceramics. Such research activities are necessary to obtain a more holistic view of economic plant practices and have already had enormous success across a wide variety of environments and time periods (e.g., Dickau 2010;Hamilakis 1996;Mercader et al 2003;Zutter 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Proxy Analysis of Plant use at Formative Period Los Naranjos, Honduras

Morell-Hart¹,

Joyce²,

Henderson

2014

Latin Am. antiq.

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Paleoethnobotanical analyses of samples excavated at Los Naranjos, Honduras, provide an unprecedented record of the diversity of plants used at an early center with monumental architecture and sculpture dating between 1000 and 500 B.C. and contribute to understandings of early village life in Mesoamerica. Los Naranjos is the major site adjacent to Lake Yojoa, where analysis of an important pollen core suggests very early clearing of the landscape and shifts in the relative prevalence of certain plants over time, including increases in maize. Our results from starch grain, phytolith, and macrobotanical analysis complicate interpretation of previous pollen core dates, suggesting that maize was not as central as expected to the early inhabitants of the settlement. Moreover, with identification of macrobotanical remains recovered from flotation of sediments and extraction of microbotanical remains from adhering sediments and the surfaces of obsidian tools, we can compare the potential of each analysis in interpretations of plant use. No single method would have allowed recovery and identification of all the plants documented across sample types. The presence of botanical residues on the obsidian tools provides direct evidence of processing. Even in the small sample analyzed, we can recognize tools used exclusively for culinary processing, tools used only for non-culinary tasks, and multi-purpose tools.

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“…Alternatively, pollen can be extracted from within the archaeological context, e.g., floor layers, middens, drains, wells, barrels, and other containers in order to gain information about the surrounding landscape or to provide insight into the utilisation of plants in association with the archaeological context (Bakels 2020). Compared to the more conventional evaluation of pollen from wetland or lake sediments, this approach has featured much less in Iceland, only at Gjögur and Svalbarð (Zutter 1999), Skriðuklaustur (Kristjánsdóttir et al 2014), and Reykholt (Sveinbjarnardóttir et al 2007). The palynological material is primarily derived from midden contexts with pollen either sampled directly from the archaeological context or subsampled from bulk samples acquired for other palaeoecological purposes, e.g., macrofossils (with variation in the refinement of stratigraphies).…”

Section: Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Potential of Palynology with Regard to the Archaeology of Medieval Monastery Sites in Iceland

et al. 2023

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In 2014, as part of the Kortlagning klaustur á Íslandi (Mapping Monasticism in Iceland) archaeological project, bulk samples retrieved from various archaeological sites associated with Icelandic monasticism were subsampled for pollen analysis. The objective was to discern something about the character of the past vegetation that surrounded the sites under archaeological investigation as well as to detect the presence of exotic pollen derived from plant species with medicinal, culinary, and other utilities. Two methods were applied: a standard pollen count (up to 300 pollen grains) and rapid scanning (where all pollen were examined but only exotics were recorded). The pollen surveys showed mixed results in achieving the intended insights, mostly due to taphonomic processes (wind and depositional environments), exacerbated by poor chronological resolution. However, there was sufficient data to suggest that careful selection and analysis of subsamples from archaeological contexts can allow some reconstruction of past vegetation communities and land use practices. The presence of cereal type pollen might suggest cultivation and/or storage of grain in association with medieval archaeological contexts. Furthermore, palynology was able to discern some evidence of the importation of plants for medicinal purposes to Iceland.

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Congruence or Concordance in Archaeobotany: Assessing Micro- and Macro-botanical Data Sets from Icelandic Middens

Cited by 13 publications

References 12 publications

Multidisciplinary Investigations of Alpine Ice Patches in Southwest Yukon, Canada: Paleoenvironmental and Paleobiological Investigations

Multidisciplinary Investigations of Alpine Ice Patches in Southwest Yukon, Canada: Paleoenvironmental and Paleobiological Investigations

Multi-Proxy Analysis of Plant use at Formative Period Los Naranjos, Honduras

The Potential of Palynology with Regard to the Archaeology of Medieval Monastery Sites in Iceland

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