Phytoliths - rigid microscopic bodies that occur in most plant species - have gone a long way since that day when Darwin became curious about a fine powder deposited on the instruments of the HMS Beagle. This fascinating subject started because of curiosity, and in that respect it was a good start since curiosity is probably the most important drive behind first-rate research. Fortunately curiosity is still present in phytolith research; the articles in this book are full of curiosity and ingenuity. Phytolith research has grown since the times of Darwin and in the last three decades has bloomed. The papers in this collection span most of the application of phytolith analysis (from archaeology, palaeoenvironmental studies and botany, to name just some) and the majority of them were presented at the 4th International Meeting on Phytolith Research that was held in Cambridge (UK) in August 2002.
Introduction (M Madella)
Methodological Approaches:
Can slide preparation methods cause size biases in phytolith assemblages? Results from a preliminary study (C A E Stromberg)
Phytolith analysis of ploughed land thin sections. Contribution to the early development of medieval Brussels (Treurenberg site, Belgium) (L Vrydaghs et al)
Botanical Research:
A survey of phytoliths produced by the vegetation of Dhofar, Oman (T B Ball et al)
Andean economic plants sphere: Vegetal microfossil characterisation (M A Korstanje and M P Babot)
Morphological characteristics observed in the leaf phytoliths of selected Gymnosperms of eastern Australia (J Parr and L Watson)
Silicification of conifers and its significance to the environment (A G Sangster and M J Hodson)
Applications in Archaeology:
Hearth functioning at level J (50kyr, bp) from Abric Romani (Capellades, Spain): Phytolith, charcoal, bones and stone-tools (D Cabanes et al)
The analysis of phytoliths from Braehead archaeological site (Scotland, UK) (M Madella)
Microstratigraphy of an early historic refuse pit: A phytolithological approach (S P Eksambekar and M D Kajale)
Phytolith analytical study on a late Chalcolithic - early historical archaeostratigraphical sequence from Balathal (south Rajasthan, India) (M D Kajale and S P Eksambekar)
Phytolith analysis, sheep, diet and faecal material at Ambathala pastoral station (Queensland, Australia) (D Bowdery)
Phytoliths as artefacts: Evidence of threshing on silica bodies (L Scott Cummings)
Palaeoecological Studies in Archaeological Contexts:
Phytoliths and micropalaeontological data in boggy soil (A A Bobrov)
Phytoliths from the Pleistocene site of Ambrona (Soria, Spain) (A Pinilla et al)
Phytolith and pedoanthropological analysis of "off site" Holocene sequences from Mondragon (middle Rhone Valley, south of France) (C Delhon)
Applications in Palaeoecology:
Preliminary phytolith analysis of the Sarmiento Formation in the Gran Barranca (Central Patagonia, Argentina) (A F Zucol et al)
Various phytolith forms as bearers of different kinds of ecological information (A Golyeva)
Micromorphology and phytoliths study in coastal dunes of the southeastern Pampean plains (Buenos Aires, Argentina) (M L Osterrieth and M Fernandez Honaine)
Phytoliths in soils and plants of the wetlands of the River Ciguela (Ciudad Real, Spain) (A Pinilla et al)
List of contributors
Bibliography
