Effects of Acetolysis on Starch Granules

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The ability to concurrently analyze multiple microfossils from the same palaeoecological or archaeological sample would allow for faster and multi-evidenced analyses. Most microfossils require chemical processing to become identifiable under different types of microscopy; acetolysis is commonly employed in palynological study. We present the effects of acetolysis on four starch taxa. Acetolysis differentially affects starch granule morphology. While all of the native (undamaged) starches were unaltered from acetolysis, the exterior texture of two ground (damaged) starch taxa were noticeably impacted after acetolysis. Acetolysis caused slight shrinkage in the average size of starch granules, but not at a statistically significant level. The capacity to conduct starch analysis from acetolyzed samples is discussed for archaeological and palaeoecological study.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33397