Then additional suggestion…why don’t you brake or cut through one of your
specimens (best in transverse section). If indeed your finds are tubers
then you should be able to see some good storage parenchyma inside. If you
are very lucky, then you should be even able to see some concentrations of
vascular tissue (under high binoc magnification). Under the binoc,
vascular tissue is usually visible as concentrations of solid carbon
within parenchymatous tissue.
If these are buds you should be able to get closer to this suggestion once
you see their internal structure.
All the best, Lucy
> Dear colleagues,
>
> Thank you for all your suggestions to my original inquiry from a couple of
> days ago. To answer you all in turn:
>
> Aldona: Yes, the two macrofossils in the picture are somewhat different.
> Unfortunately the quality of the pictures I not superb as I do not, at the
> moment, have a high-resolution camera for stero-microscope photography. I
> am however convinced that the two specimens belong to the same plant. One
> of them seems to be enveloped by “scales”. This is the only one found
> in this way, all the others are “naked” just like the right example in
> figure 2.
>
> Gill and Ernst: I have found Arrhenatherum elatius bulbosus bulbs
> previously and am fairly certain that these are not it. All I have found
> repeatedly show a slightly asymmetric conical shape, none the “onion”
> shape that A. e. bilbosum often show. Above all, all of these are found
> separately, ever in the “strings” of bulbs that A. e. bulb. often
> display.
>
> Maria: I checked Sanguisorba officinalis, and these are not it.
>
> Lucy: The same went for Anthemis arvensis.
>
> The last suggestion was buds, which could be the case, since one of the
> specimens is indeed encased by “something”. What speaks against buds
> is the fact that all the remaining specimens, the “naked” ones, have a
> solid look to them, not “flaky” as I would expect from a carbonised
> bud.
>
> At the moment I am considering that these macrofossils are either some
> form of buds or perhaps tubers from a species that rarely makes its way
> into the archaeological record (which would explain why no one seems to
> recognise it).
>
> I shall endeavour to make better photographs of these finds. Until then,
> if someone has further suggestions I would be happy to pursue them.
>
> All the best!
>
> Radoslaw Grabowski
> PhD, Archaeology/Environmental Archaeology
> Lecturer, UmeĂĄ University
>
>
>
> FrĂĄn: The archaeobotany mailing list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] För Aldona Mueller-Bieniek
> Skickat: 30 September 2014 21:13
> Till: [log in to unmask]
> Ă„mne: Re: Unidentified macrofossils
>
> Don't you have two types of remains?
> Aldona
>
> 2014-09-30 8:47 GMT+01:00 Campbell, Gill
> <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>:
> I agree. Image 000, 3in particular looks like, an Arrhenatherum elatius
> ssp. bulbosum ' tuber'.
>
> kind regards
>
> Gill
>
>
> Gill Campbell
> Head of Environmental Studies
> English Heritage
> Fort Cumberland
> Portsmouth
>
> T: 02392 856780
> English Heritage Science Network Convenor
>
> www.english-heritage.org.uk<http://www.english-heritage.org.uk>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The archaeobotany mailing list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>]
> On Behalf Of Ernst Ă–rni Akeret
> Sent: 30 September 2014 05:51
> To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: AW: Unidentified macrofossils
>
> Did you try Arrhenatherum bulbs? Best wishes, Ă–rni
>
> Dr. Ă–rni Akeret
> Integrative Prähistorische und Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie IPNA
> Universität Basel Spalenring 145
> CH-4055 Basel
> +41 61 2010233<tel:%2B41%2061%202010233>
> http://ipna.unibas.ch/
> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
> ________________________________________
> Von: The archaeobotany mailing list
> [[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>]"
> im Auftrag von "Radoslaw Grabowski
> [[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>]
> Gesendet: Montag, 29. September 2014 17:34
> An: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Betreff: Unidentified macrofossils
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> Please see the attached photographs.
> I have found these carbonised macrofossils in samples from a AD 1400-1500
> house from Funen in Denmark. The construction was completely burnt and
> excavated and sampled in the form of an extensive charred layer. The
> remaining evidence shows traces of various stages of crop processing
> inside the house in the form of chaff, straw and concentrations of arable
> weeds as well as probable fodder collection in the form of wetland and
> grassland taxa. Storage and probable consumption of cereals is also
> indicated by concentrations of cleaned grain (oat, rye and hulled barley
> but no wheat of any kind). The arable weeds belong both to summer annual
> species and taxa commonly associated with autumn sowing (probably of rye)
> such as Agrostemma githago and Centaurea cyanus.
>
> I have a nagging feeling that I have seen similar specimens illustrated
> somewhere, but my own inquiries have run into dead ends.
>
> Since I have about 50 of these macrofossils distributed over 10 or so
> samples any suggestions you may have concerning these finds would be
> highly appreciated.
>
> Kind regards!
>
> Radoslaw Grabowski
> PhD, Archaeology/Environmental Archaeology Lecturer, UmeĂĄ University
> This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal
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>
> Portico: your gateway to information on sites in the National Heritage
> Collection; have a look and tell us what you think.
> http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/archives-and-collections/portico/
>
>
>
> --
> dr hab. Aldona Mueller-Bieniek
> Institute of Botany PAS
> Lubicz 46
> PL31-512 KrakĂłw
> 0048 12 42 41 754
>
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