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Diagnostic Opal Phytoliths from Rinds of Selected Cucurbita Species

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Steven R. Bozarth*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 6604

Abstract

Based on examination of an extensive phytolith reference collection of domesticated and nondomesticated plants, it was determined that spheroidal and hemispheroidal phytoliths with deeply scalloped surfaces of contiguous concavities can be used as indicators of selected varieties of squash in archaeological sites in the central United States. Based on this classification and the distribution of the wild buffalo gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima), squash was identified in prehistoric sites in Nebraska and Arkansas.

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

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References

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