Archaeology 101: Opal Phytoliths in Archaeology

The analysis of the fossilized plant cells called opal phytoliths has become, over the past thirty years or so, a workhorse of archaeological science. This chapter in the Archaeology 101 series describes what phytoliths are, and how they are used in archaeology. Phytolith analysis is an example of how inventive researchers in archaeology use the hard science processes of botany and geology to illuminate the soft-science interpretations of our human past.