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Dear George, Many thanks for your helpful suggestions. I will pass them on to Karen Hardy, and hopefully we will report back later this year. Best wishes, Meriel. On 07/03/2008, George Willcox <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Dear Meriel McClatchie (and members), > > Thank you for your reply. It is good news that you have funding to do some > fundamental research on archaeological starch. Could I suggest three > relatively simple experimental procedures which might be of some help to > your research program? > > First try to extract starch from your samples. If you succeed in > extracting "archaeological starch" first do a chemical analysis, probably > the best method would be to use a probe microanalyzer in an SEM which is > capable of quantitatively measuring the abundance of elements on a very > small object. This is to test that "archaeological starch" is chemically > starch and is not a transformation of plant calcium oxalate crystals, a > phytolith or a spherolith, as suggested by some researchers. All are common > on archaeological sites and have similar optical properties. If the sample > corresponds chemically to starch then AMS date it, you should have enough > carbon for an approximate date. If it is ancient then construct an > experiment using blind testing of starch grains from a variety of species > and plant parts within those species, leaf, root, seeds ect. to test the > reliability of identification procedures. If these tests are positive then > you can proceed in using starch grains as an archaeobotanical tool, even if > you cannot explain why they are preserved. > Good luck with your project > George Willcox > Archéorient CNRS UMR 5133, Université de Lyon II. > Antenne d'Archéorient, Jalès, Berrias. > 07460 St-Paul-le-Jeune. > FRANCE > Tel : 00 33 (0)4 75 89 80 24 > Fax :00 33 (0)4 75 89 80 22 > Mob:00 33 (0)6 28 08 24 44 > > Tel pers 00 33 (0) 4 75 39 08 37 > E. mail [log in to unmask] > > http://pagesperso-orange.fr/g.willcox/ > http://www.mom.fr/archeorient/ > > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* Meriel McClatchie <[log in to unmask]> > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Sent:* Friday, March 07, 2008 11:28 AM > *Subject:* Re: starch grains > > > Dear colleagues, > > In Ireland, we have recently received research funding to investigate if > ancient starch grains have survived on stone grinding tools. A colleague > working on the project, Karen Hardy, tells me that she is > currently exploring this preservation issue with Australian cereal chemists > and starch specialists. Currently, there is no answer, but work is > continuing. > > Best wishes, > Meriel McClatchie. > > > >