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Ref ID: 19702
Ref Type: BAR Section
Authors: Hill, H. Edward
Evans, John
Title: Producing standards for identifying plant food remains on ancient pottery with special reference to Southeast Asia and the Pacific area
Date: 1990
Source: Southeast Asian Archaeology 1986: Proceedings of the 1st Conference of the Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe
Place of Publication: Oxford
Publisher: British Archaeological Reports
Abstract: When pottery is used for cooking or storing foods, chemical residues can be trapped within the fabric of the pot or in charred layers of cooked food remains. Various solvent extractions of residues are analysed using several spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques to identify these organic remains. Standards for their chemical make up need to be developed however from modern samples before they can be used to identify the presence of specific plants. The successful production of standards for the main Pacific staple foods should enable identification of these plants on prehistoric pottery, and preliminary results with infrared are already proving encouraging.
Date Created: 2/18/2001
Editors: Glover, Ian C.
Glover, Emily
Volume: 561
Page Start: 101
Page End: 108
Series Title: BAR International Series