Abstract
Starch granules (also called grains) are the stored carbohydrate food of many plants. Starch granules, which are microscopic, have a number of features that allow them to be identified to various taxonomic levels. The primary archaeological value of starch granule study is to reconstruct the food plants of ancient people. Starch granules can be extracted from sediments but rarely preserved, hence the main source of archaeological starch is from artifact residues, including carbonized residues. Techniques for extracting starch granules from plants, artifacts, and sediments are presented. Modern comparative starch granules are usually prepared by mechanical extraction from plant material. Artifact residue extraction often employs liquids such as weak ammonia or ultrapure water to remove artifact residues. Heavy density liquid flotation is the usual technique used to extract starch granules from soils and sediments, and it is commonly employed in extraction from carbonized artifact residues.
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Acknowledgments
I have benefitted from discussions with a number of individuals over the years, but I particularly wish to thank Gerald Newlands and Sonia Zarrillo.
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Kooyman, B. (2015). Starch Granules: Preparation and Archaeological Extraction. In: Yeung, E., Stasolla, C., Sumner, M., Huang, B. (eds) Plant Microtechniques and Protocols. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19944-3_29
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19944-3_29
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