The Archaeobotanical Collection

The archaeobotanical collections are increasing with each new research project. With the help of staff, students, and volunteers, we are assembling a unique and unequalled reference collection of mid-Atlantic plant species and colonial introductions. These reference collections help to better understand the botanical structure of archaeological sites, and ultimately, the lives and activities of colonial Americans as they forged not only new lives, but new ecologies and relationships with plants in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Phytoliths are microscopic silica inclusions produced in many plants that preserve much better than typical organic remains on archaeological sites. The more we study modern plants’ phytolith production, the better we can understand the patterns of phytoliths we see in soil samples taken from archaeological sites.

About Phytoliths

The On-Line Comparative Collection

This new feature is an on-line phytolith collection documenting a large research project involving testing of hundreds of modern plants for phytolith production. Photomicrographs are included for plants that produced phytoliths. The results of this research help interpret archaeological phytolith distributions recovered from sites. The focus of this collection is on native regional species, as well as notable colonial introductions. Many of these plants had not been previously examined for phytolith production.

Search the Phytolith Database