An archaeobotanical perspective in the study of inflorescence phytoliths of wild grasses from arid and semi-arid environments of Argentina

BABOT, M. DEL PILAR; MUSAUBACH, M. GABRIELA; PLOS, ANABELA

QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016

1040-6182

Wild cereals have beenharvested all over the world by hunter-gatherer with evidences as much in SouthAmerica as in Australia, North America and Subsaharian Africa. In some placesthere are still used for human consumption. The goal of this paper is todocument phytoliths in bracts, kernel/inflorescences as well as in of severalnative Argentinian wild grass es in order to get an archaeobotanicalcomparative referential for the an alyses of residues from both food plantprocessing activities and consumption. We could observe typical phytolithmorphotypes from specific anatomical parts of grasses, but non-taxon specific,as well as non-diagnostic phytolith morphotypes, but characteristic of the phytolithassociation of a certain taxa. They all allow us to get a more complete visionof the phytolith production for each specific taxon. Results obtained by MorisitaTest -Past Program- suggest a trend to the organization at the level of subfamiliesfor the phytoliths production in the 14 species studied. Species of the genus Aristida and Cynodon show an intra-generic consistency in theproduction of phytoliths morphotypes per organ, and tend to be grouped incluster analysis. In some species as Cynodon dactylon, Bromus catharticus,Aristida adscensionis, Sorghastrum pellitum and Paspalum dilatatum it can benoted a similarity in the morphotype production as much in inflorescence axis asin  kernel/inflorescences/bracts. A morphologicalcontinuum between similar morphotypes could be also established, by comparing seriesof shapes within fragments of silicified plant tissue. We focus here on thephytolith production from potential useful plant parts for human consumption, ina way as their presence alone, or associated with starch grain analyses, as showedby a previous work, could be used for regional dietary reconstructions. Finallyresults from inflorescence phytolith production give us good expectation to be able toidentify them in archaeological contexts.