Tag Archive for 'Phytolith'

Rice phytoliths from excavations at Ritidian Beach Cave, Guam. Scale bars - 10 μm. Image credit: Carson et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adw3591.

Archaeologists Find 3,500-Year-Old Traces of Rice in Guam

Jun 25, 2025 by News Staff

Rice was a staple crop in the ancestral Austronesian regions of Taiwan and Island Southeast Asia, but it was unknown in any of the Pacific Islands at the...

Palm phytoliths from the Eocene Giraffe locality (a-q) and modern phytoliths extracted from foliage of the coryphoid palm Trachycarpus fortunei. Image credit: Siver et al., doi: 10.1093/aob/mcaf021.

Palm Fossils from Subarctic Canada Imply Ice-Free Winters 48 Million Years Ago

Feb 20, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Palm trees of the tribe Trachycarpeae once thrived in what is now subarctic Canada, according to an analysis of fossilized phytoliths — microscopic...

The site locations and artifacts of the Shangshan culture: (A) locations of the Shangshan, Qiaotou, and Xiaohuangshan sites (dots) and the distribution area of the Shangshan culture (red circle); (B) selected pottery sherds analyzed: 1 - cup sherd; 2 - jar sherd; 3 - jar sherd; 4 - rim sherd from sand-tempered cooking pot; 5 - large basin sherd; 6 - base of the ring foot bowl; (C) corresponding complete vessels: 1 - globular jar; 2 - ring foot bowl; 3 - cup; 4 - flat-based jar; 5 - large basin. Image credit: Liu et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2412274121.

Traces of 10,000-Year-Old Rice Beer Found in China

Dec 10, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Shangshan culture in ancient China’s Lower Yangzi region is central to understanding the origins of rice domestication and early alcohol fermentation....

An artist’s reconstruction of Jeholornis prima with potential angiosperm arboreal herbivorous feeding ecology. Image credit: Wu et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-40311-z.

Early Cretaceous Bird Consumed Leaves of Magnolia-Like Flowering Plants

Aug 4, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Fossil plant phytoliths from the digestive tract of Jeholornis prima — an extinct species of bird that lived in what is now China during the Early...

Panicum miliaceum (left) and Echinochloa crus-galli. Image credit: Otto Wilhelm / Biolib.de.

Archaeologists Unearth Earliest Evidence of Multi-Cropping

Jan 13, 2022 by News Staff

Archaeologists have unearthed the earliest micro-botanical evidence of the summer grain broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Mesopotamia, identified...

The 2,400-year-old tea residue from a bowl found in the ancient capital of the Zhu Kingdom in Zoucheng, Shandong province, China. Image credit: Jiang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-95393-w.

2,400-Year-Old Tea Residue Found in China

Dec 13, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have found the ancient charred remains of tea in a bowl from a Warring State period tomb in the ancient capital city site of the Zhu Kingdom,...

This is an artist’s impression of Çatalhöyük. Image credit: Dan Lewandowski.

New Research Sheds Light on Foodways and Plant Processing at Neolithic Çatalhöyük

Jul 19, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists have analyzed a rich microbotanical assemblage from Çatalhöyük, a renowned archaeological site in central Anatolia, Turkey, best known...

Aerial view of Tel Megiddo in northern Israel. Image credit: Avram Graicer / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Turmeric and Other Exotic Foods Reveal Contacts between Near East and South Asia 3,000 Years Ago

Dec 28, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

In new research, an international team of scientists examined the dental calculus of individuals who lived during the 2nd millennium BCE in the Southern...

A forest island in the Llanos de Moxos region of Bolivia. Image credit: José Capriles, Penn State.

Earliest Inhabitants of Amazon Created Thousands of Artificial Forest Islands

Apr 8, 2020 by News Staff

A University of Bern-led study shows that, starting at around 10,850 years ago, inhabitants of the Llanos de Moxos region in northern Bolivia began to...