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Direct evidence for human use of plants 28,000 years ago: starch residues on stone artefacts from the northern Solomon Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Thomas H. Loy ,
Matthew Spriggs  and
Stephen Wickler
Thomas H. Loy
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
Matthew Spriggs
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
Stephen Wickler
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu HI 96822, USA
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Extract

The excavation of Kilu Cave and the discovery of a Pleistocene prehistory for the Solomon Islands have already been reported in ANTIQUITY by Wickler & Spriggs (62: 703–6). Residue analysis of stone artefacts from the site now provides the earliest direct evidence for the prehistoric use of root vegetables, in the form of starch grains and crystalline raphides identifiable to genus. The direct microscopic identification of starch grains opens new avenues for the study of the plant component of human diets in the distant past.

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Antiquity , Volume 66 , Issue 253 , December 1992 , pp. 898 - 912
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1992

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