6 New Archaeobotanical Information on Early Cultivation and Plant Domestication Involving Microplant (Phytolith and Starch Grain) Remains

摘要

Archaeobotanical information relating to early plant cultivation and domestication and derived from microfossil research is rapidly expanding. In this paper I review recent data, focusing on the lowland tropics of Central and South America and primarily on phytolith, starch grain, and where available, ancient DNA remains. New and important macrobotanical evidence is also discussed. I more briefly review recent developments in other regions of the Americas and the Old World, in order to provide a broader survey of microfossil contributions to early agriculture studies. Data generated during the past ten years impact old and newer debates concerning how and when important crop plants arose and spread, and when effective food production - defined as systemic cultivation that supplied stable and significant dietary inputs - began. Phytolith and starch grain applications provide information at various, fundamental levels of understanding ranging from basic identifications of wild and domesticated species, to the direct documentation of ancient diets through recovery from the calculus of human teeth, to the generation of data on the evolution of domestication genes in some major crops.