Methods in Historical Ecology by Guillaume Odonne Jean-François Molino

Author:Guillaume Odonne, Jean-François Molino [Guillaume Odonne, Jean-François Molino]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Human Geography, Social Work, Anthropology
ISBN: 9780429594472
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2020-10-11T04:00:00+00:00

Identification

Preparation of wood charcoal for identification simply consists of breaking charcoal pieces by hand, following the three anatomical sections of the wood: transverse (which provides up to 70% of the anatomical information), longitudinal tangential and longitudinal radial (Figure 10.2).

FIGURE 10.2 Charcoal fragment observed according to the three anatomical sections: transverse, longitudinal tangential and longitudinal radial

Source: © J. Morin-Rivat.

Description of the anatomical features is then made under a reflected-light microscope using dark and bright fields. Ideally, chemical treatments should be avoided to prevent any problem with 14C dating and because they can dissolve silica bodies, which can be a diagnostic feature. Identification of charcoal fragments is carried out by using atlases and guidebooks (e.g. Détienne and Jacquet 1983; Scheel-Ybert and Gonçalves 2017), computer-aided identification tools (e.g. Bodin et al. 2019), online databases on wood anatomy (Wheeler 2011) or charcoal reference collections (Scheel-Ybert 2016). In most cases, the charring process has little impact on wood anatomy, leaving the main features recognisable and/or measurable during observation. Radial cracks (e.g. Théry-Parisot and Henry 2012) and vitrification (McParland et al. 2010) are the main structural modifications that may occur during charring. If these deformations are not too important (few cracks and incomplete vitrification), charcoals can still be identified.

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