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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
arts and humanities
Starch granules, dental calculus and new perspectives on ancient diet
Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 36, No. 2, Year 2009
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Description
Recent work in various parts of the world has suggested the possibility of ancient starch granules surviving and adhering to archaeological artefacts. Often this information is used to infer aspects of diet. One additional source for recovery of archaeological starch granules is dental calculus. The presence of plant food debris in dental calculus is well known but has not been not widely investigated using archaeological material. The extraction of starch granules from dental calculus represents a direct link to the consumption of starchy food by humans or animals. Using dental calculus also sidesteps many other questions still inherent in using starch granules to reconstruct aspects of ancient diet, such as the effects of diagenesis on their morphology; as the starches are trapped inside a concreted matrix they are less likely to alter over time. We used amylase digestion by a starch-specific enzyme to confirm the material as starch. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Hardy, Karen
United Kingdom, York
University of York
Kirkham, Jennifer
United Kingdom, Leeds
Leeds Dental Institute
Wrangham, Richard W.
United States, Cambridge
Harvard University
Collins, Matthew J.
United Kingdom, York
University of York
Statistics
Citations: 129
Authors: 4
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.015
ISSN:
03054403
Research Areas
Food Security
Health System And Policy