Visibility, Preservation and Colour: A Descriptive System for the Study of Opal Phytoliths in (Archaeological) Soil and Sediment Thin Sections. (2nd April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Vrydaghs, Luc; Devos, Yannick
• Is Part Of: Environmental archaeology. Volume 25:Number 2(2020)
• Page Start: 170
• Page End: 177
• Publication Date: 2020-04-02
• Subjects: Opal phytoliths -- guidelines -- visibility -- preservation -- colour; Environmental archaeology -- Periodicals; Environmental archaeology -- Methodology -- Periodicals; Animal remains (Archaeology) -- Periodicals; Plant remains (Archaeology) -- Periodicals; 930.1
• DOI: 10.1080/14614103.2018.1501867
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-4103

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Phytoliths are abundantly reported in (archaeological) soil thin sections. However, standard description systems are largely missing. The purpose of this paper is to present a descriptive system describing three aspects of phytoliths in soil thin sections: visibility, preservation and colour (VPC). The visibility expresses to which extent the phytoliths are masked or surrounded by fine material. The preservation is an indicator for the physico-chemical alterations that affected the phytoliths. Finally, colour is an indicator of the charring of the organic material surrounding the phytoliths.