Phytoliths, Geochemistry and Ethnography: A Multi-method Approach for Interpreting the Neolithic Sites of WF16 and ‘Ain Ghazal

Summary

Understanding Neolithic sites in southwest Asia is often difficult because of the lack of preservation of organic remains and the effects of various taphonomic processes that alter the original record. It is, therefore, critical that we maximise the information that can be acquired from these sites. Here, we use an ethnographic approach to test the potential of using plant phytoliths and geochemistry to aid our interpretation of southwest Asian Neolithic sites. We sampled two Neolithic sites-WF16 and Ain Ghazal-and one ethnographic site-Al Ma’tan-a recently abandoned stone and mud constructed village. Here sampling could be supplemented by information gained from informal interviews with former residents, which furthered our understanding of how the phytolith and elemental concentrations formed. We sampled distinct context categories such as ‘middens’, ‘storage features’, and ‘roofs and roofing material’. Our results found that certain categories from all three sites showed similar patterns in their phytolith and elemental signatures such as ‘storage features’, ‘floors and surfaces’ and ‘fire installations’ whereas others were quite distinct for example ‘pisé walls’. These results demonstrate that phytolith and geochemical analysis can greatly improve our understanding of southwest Asian Neolithic sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22063