Differentiating banana phytoliths: wild and edible Musa acuminata and [An article from: Journal of Archaeological Science]

This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Archaeological Science, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Recent reports indicate that phytoliths may provide direct archaeological evidence of banana cultivation. However, archaeologists may, in many places, recover phytoliths generated by banana plants with quite different historical backgrounds. Hence the need for a differentiation among phytoliths produced by specific banana groups. The present paper discusses the morphometric distinction between phytoliths produced by the constitutive diploid species Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. Our study suggests that domestication of the banana, which was initiated at the diploid M. acuminata level, does not appear to have influenced phytolith morphometry.